A power cut left thousands of homes and businesses without electricity this morning (Monday 14 July).
UK Power Networks said: “An underground electricity cable has faulted on our high-voltage network, causing an area-wide power cut.
“We’re currently estimating power will be on between 1pm and 2pm.”
The initial area affected (see the map below) included the east side of much of the Valley Gardens area as well as much of Hanover up to the top of Elm Grove including doctors’ surgeries and the law courts.
Within a short time, UK Power Networks updated its map to include Queen’s Park and much of the north side of Edward Street and Eastern Road (see the map above).
The company said: “We became aware of this power cut at 10am. We’re sorry for any disruption this may have caused you.
“We didn’t know in advance there would be a power cut but now that we know, our teams will do everything they can to get your power back quickly.
“Engineers in our control room have switched some customers’ power back on in your area.
“To get everyone’s power back on we may need to attend to investigate and make repairs.
“We’ll continue to update you until everyone’s power is back on.
“We have engineers on their way. As this is affecting your area, they will not need to attend your property. Rest assured once they arrive, they’ll work as quickly as is safely possible to get your power back on.”
In an update shortly afterwards, UK Power Networks added: “Our engineers are on their way. We believe the issue is an underground fault that initially interrupted power to 2,491 properties.
“However, we have managed to divert power back to some properties so 208 properties are still affected.
“Specialist engineers from our control room will continue to divert power remotely so your power may come back on at any point.
“Sometimes we can’t restore everyone this way so we’re also sending staff to check our equipment.
“We’re currently estimating power will be on between 1pm and 2pm but this may change depending on what our staff find.
“This outage is affecting multiple areas so locations we mention may be further away than you’d expect.
“We have already sent staff to the area but, at the same time, we try to restore power remotely by redirecting the electricity around the faulty section.
“It’s possible your power may go on and off as we try to restore as much power as we can.
“The engineer will head to the local substation and, after checking the network, will attempt to restore more power from there.
“If unsuccessful, they will locate and repair the issue which will take longer to get the lights on.
“Our staff work as quickly as they can so you might not hear about everything we’re doing but we’ll always try to give you the clearest information we have.”
