Power cut hits 1,700 properties in St Albans

ABOUT 1,700 properties throughout St Albans, including in the city centre, were without power this afternoon (Monday) following a fault on UK Power Networks’ high voltage network.

A spokeswoman has apologised to customers for the interruption, which is understood to have ranged from a few minutes at some places to over an hour in others.

The Herts Advertiser office in Market Place was among those affected by the sudden power cut.

The UK Power Networks spokeswoman said: “Power was interrupted to 1,696 properties including the Market Place and Upton Avenue at about 2.55pm.

“Further customers would have seen a brief interruption of about two minutes to their supply when the initial fault occurred.”

Radio Verulam and St Albans resident Danny Smith said the electricity in his home went off four times within one hour from 3pm, adding, “it is very annoying and an inconvenience”.

The UK Power spokeswoman said: “Our engineers restored power to 829 properties between 4pm and 4.20pm.

“Some customers may have experienced flickering supplies while we were trying to restore their supplies to normal.

“We are now working hard to restore power to the remaining 867 properties. The cause is still being investigated.”

She added: “We would like to reassure our customers that we are working as quickly as is safely possible to restore their supplies to normal as soon as we can. We realise how difficult it can be to be without power and apologise for any inconvenience.”

With shops and offices plunged into darkness, employees in the city centre sat in doorways chatting to customers, while drinking bottles of water to keep cool in the warm weather as they waited for the power supply to return.

Locals took to Twitter to comment on the outage, with Anna Rowntree joking: “Time for ice lollies outside and think about solar energy.”