TOWN chiefs are to consider spending more than £150,000 on a back up electricity generator in response to a power cut that caused havoc earlier this year.

TOWN chiefs are to consider spending more than £150,000 on a back up electricity generator in response to a power cut that caused havoc earlier this year.

Work at one of the newest office blocks in Suffolk ground to a halt on Friday March 7 after its electric system was blown by a massive power cut.

As well as losing electricity, the phone system and the council's website also went down after a freak outage.

A report into the situation and measures that can be taken to prevent a similar thing in the future will go before town chiefs this week.

It reveals that there were four faults on two separate cables - an extremely rare occurrence meaning that Grafton House received no electricity.

The report reveals that systems need to be put in place to ensure telephone lines and the council's website remain accessible.

Meanwhile consideration will be given to buying an emergency generator.

John Carnall, deputy leader at Ipswich Borough Council, said: “This power cut had implications, particularly for our IT systems and these days we are very dependant on IT for a whole range of services we offer.

“We asked officers to look into this and make recommendations on action that could be taken to avoid this sort of thing happening in the future.

“We will now be looking in more detail to find out the costs and implications of various options to try and prevent difficulties in the future.”

n. Should the council spend thousands on a back up generator? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk