EDF apologises after power cuts

Candles and headlamps were the order of the day at dinner time

Nearly 400 electricity customers in east Kent have had three power cuts in the space of less than a week.

EDF Energy said it worked to rectify an underground cable fault on Monday, but 390 addresses had to be reconnected via a generator at a substation in Deal.

However, those customers served by the temporary supply have since experienced "two longer power interruptions" on Thursday and Friday.

EDF said it apologised unreservedly for the inconvenience caused.

Replacement generator

A statement said: "We can fully appreciate how important electricity is to all our customers and how difficult these interruptions to their service will have been."

The company said it was unable to carry out permanent repairs to the cable until Monday, because the local authority said other conflicting works were already taking place in the area.

A replacement generator has now been brought in to try to prevent any further power outages for the addresses still on temporary supply.

EDF said it had written to the worst affected customers.

'Increasingly exasperated'

The interruption on Thursday was for three hours, but the third one on Friday lasted for 12 hours during the day.

The Royal Hotel in Deal said it had to turn customers away because of having no electricity supplies.

Paul Douglas Clayton, who owns the Black Douglas Coffee House and lives above it with his wife and three children, said the situation had left him "increasingly exasperated".

"What started off as a sort of fun thing where people pulled together has actually become a bit ridiculous," he said before supplies were restored on Friday night.