More blackouts in Carnaby Street

About 180 properties had power cuts from about 1620 BST, but EDF said it had generally avoided a repeat of Thursday's wide-scale blackouts.

The Carnaby Street problem was due to a "localised fault", which the company said was being fixed.

More than 3,000 properties were without electricity for four-hour periods in the Soho area on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for EDF apologised to customers, adding some in the Carnaby Street power cut would also have been affected on Thursday.

'Returning to normal'

"Power supplies have generally returned to normal in the Soho area today," she said.

"However, approximately 180 customers have experienced a further interruption in the last hour after a localised fault.

"We have, thankfully, managed to avoid a repeat of yesterday's interruptions but have stressed throughout today that further problems could occur while emergency repairs are still being carried out. "

EDF said four unrelated faults had caused the initial blackouts, but the problem was exacerbated by a high demand for air conditioning putting the system under pressure.

Traffic lights out

Businesses were urged to switch off air conditioning and limit "non-essential use of electricity", to reduce pressure on the grid.

Carnaby Street, Oxford Circus Tube station, some traffic lights and Piccadilly Circus's giant illuminated signs all lost power on Thursday.

Some companies evacuated their buildings because it was becoming too hot inside and many employees went home.

EDF emergency teams worked through the night to fix the problem - caused by faults at two substations and on two underground cables.

Jace Tyrrell, of the New West End Company, which represents businesses on Oxford Street and Regent Street, said it was too early to say how much the blackouts had cost shops.

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