GROWING concerns were being voiced today over the state of the power network for the Felixstowe area with families yet again suffering major electricity supply problems.
GROWING concerns were being voiced today over the state of the power network for the Felixstowe area with families yet again suffering major electricity supply problems.
Parts of the resort had their second power cut in five days, while hundreds of homes were left with reduced power for several hours.
Engineers were today investigating the cause of the problems, but there is concern the town's supply network may not be adequate during huge supply demands.
At Christmas-time last year, the town was plunged into total darkness when two electricity sub-stations failed, leaving 10,000 homes and businesses without power.
Electrician John Cook, of Heathgate Piece, Trimley St Mary, first noticed the low voltage problems yesterday when the extractor fan in his shower would not start, then the central heating made strange noises and later failed completely.
He said: “I went to look at the boiler and its wiring assuming it had just packed up for some reason.
“After doing some tests I was amazed to find the electricity supply voltage was only 192 volts, this is very low as the UK supply should be 230 volts.
“I then went to see the neighbours to see if they were experiencing any electrical problems and found some were not, but another neighbour had boiler failure and electric cooker failure. Another also had boiler failure.”
EDF Energy Networks said the interruptions to the power supply had been caused by an intermittent fault in the high voltage underground network, which proved particularly difficult to trace, but they had sent out generators to connect to boost the supply.
Power was lost to the town centre, north and south Felixstowe, for four hours on December 23 and up to four hours from 5.30am yesterday.
A spokeswoman said: “We sincerely apologise to customers in Felixstowe for the recent interruptions to their power supply.
“We are committed to providing a reliable service and would like to reassure customers that we are investigating the underlying cause of these interruptions.”
Have you been affected by the power problems? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk
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