of linesmen and other field staff, communications with customers and the media, and resourcing. 5% of NIE Networks' staff are paid a retainer to be available on-call. Every member of staff has a secondary role, right up to the Managing Director. During a major incident, staff may be called upon to fulfil their secondary role, which may involve answering calls from customers in the Contact Centre or helping to co-ordinate operations. Customer communication One of the major criticisms levelled at NIE during the Boxing Day Storm was the inability of customers to obtain up-to-date and accurate information on the expected resolution time of faults, and in many cases customers simply could not contact the company at all. To prevent this from happening again, NIE have retained Eckoh plc to provide the High Availability Call Answering system (HVCA) from Twenty First Century Communications. This system automatically directs callers to an automated IVR system when all of the company's call handlers are unavailable. This system captures information from the caller to identify their premises, and automatically links them to a known fault if possible. Once tagged to a fault, the customer is provided up-to-date status information by the automated system. HVCA operates at the telecoms network level, and means that thousands of simultaneous calls can be handled, ensuring that customers never hear an engaged tone. Normally staffed by 6 people during the day (overnight, calls are taken by the Dispatchers), the Contact Centre has the capacity to be expanded up to 70 call handlers during a major incident. See also List of Irish companies Energy policy of the United Kingdom Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom Green electricity in the United Kingdom Electricity sector in Ireland List of power stations in Northern Ireland References External links Electric power companies of Northern Ireland Electric power distribution network operators in the United Kingdom British companies established in 1991