Homeowners and tenants can insure power installations in residential buildings and electrical appliances against surge damage caused by lightning strikes. Mittelhessen Netz GmbH takes care of the power grid in the region. Interruptions during thunderstorms are becoming increasingly rare.
Weather experts expect more and more thunderstorms to hit Germany in the future, and increasingly stronger ones too. This trend is confirmed by a study by the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research at the University of Karlsruhe, among others. As a result, the risk of lightning striking residential buildings or their immediate surroundings will also increase in the coming years. The possible consequence: considerable damage to the electrical installations of houses as well as to consumer electronics, IT and household appliances. Homeowners and tenants should therefore take precautions and arm themselves against lightning strikes. However, a lightning conductor alone is often not enough to prevent voltage peaks in the power lines, for example. Frank Hoffmann, Managing Director of Mittelhessen Netz GmbH (MIT.N), advises more comprehensive precautions: "Additional surge protection installed in the electrical system shields the lines in the building and protects electronic devices. With a 3-stage concept, the high-quality electronics now used in the home can be protected. Incidentally, a specialist should be involved here, as only specialised electrical companies can install this three-stage surge protection adapted to the existing electrical installation. The cost of comprehensive surge protection for buildings is around 1000 euros for a detached house and around 500 euros for flats."
Although all precautions minimise the risk of damage from lightning strikes, they do not guarantee one hundred percent protection. If you want to be even better equipped for an emergency, you should therefore take a close look at your insurance policy. One important question: does liability only apply to damage caused by a direct lightning strike or also to surge damage resulting from a strike in the surrounding area?
Network in the region covered
Homeowners and tenants do not have to worry about their electrical appliances being damaged by a lightning strike at a great distance. However, they will notice the effects of a strike on the power grid at the latest when the light flickers or even goes out. Such outages used to occur more frequently. Over the past few years, grid operators such as MIT.N have invested in the infrastructure and thus steadily improved the security of supply. There are usually no disruptions during heavy thunderstorms and storms. In 2011, the average interruption time per household in Germany was just around 15 minutes - in the MIT.N grid area it was just 4.9 minutes in 2012. By comparison: in 2006, the figure in Germany was around 21 minutes - and in neighbouring countries Austria and the Netherlands it is currently just over 30 minutes, in France over 60 minutes and in Sweden as much as 80 minutes.
Frank Hoffmann explains why the outage time has been reduced: "Overhead lines are particularly at risk during thunderstorms and storms. This is why we have gradually replaced them with underground cables over the past 20 years. In the meantime, 96 per cent of the power lines in our grid area are already underground."
Another important factor, according to Frank Hoffmann, is the grid control centre. The experts monitor all important values around the clock, 365 days a year, and can react immediately to problems with voltage or frequency. This enables a high level of supply security, which Frank Hoffmann also considers to be a decisive location factor: "Even a few minutes without electricity costs companies in the manufacturing industry a lot of money. We are therefore constantly investing in our systems and the power grid - with success, as the very short downtimes prove."