ELECTRICITY bosses have denied that power cuts and low voltage have hit street lighting in Felixstowe and blamed the failure of some lights on another problem.
By Richard Cornwell
ELECTRICITY bosses have denied that power cuts and low voltage have hit street lighting in Felixstowe and blamed the failure of some lights on another problem.
Residents believed the recent electricity supply problems at the resort was the reason why a number of lamps in the town were not working properly.
But electricity company engineers say the vast majority of lights are working normally and it is understood the two power cuts and evening of low voltage suffered at Christmas had no affect on timers.
Parts of the resort's street light network is also light sensitive - coming on when the day darkens - and so does not run on timers.
However, there have been problems at the dock spur roundabout, where lights have been off for several days, and in High Road East in Old Felixstowe.
A spokeswoman for EDF Energy Networks said they had been told on Tuesday by the highways department at Suffolk County Council about 11 streetlights in High Road East not working.
She said: “We sent an engineer out on the same afternoon to inspect the lights and he discovered that there is a fault on an underground cable feeding the lights.”
“We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused and would like to reassure residents that we are working to restore service to these streetlights as soon as possible.”
Power cuts over Christmas were caused by an intermittent fault in the high voltage underground network, which proved particularly difficult to trace.
Hundreds of homes were later left with reduced power for several hours, with lower than normal voltage leaving people sitting in a dim, half-light watching TV, street lights less bright, while many electrical appliances failed.
Electrician John Cook, of Heathgate Piece, Trimley St Mary, measure the electricity supply voltage and found it was only 192 volts. The UK supply should be 230 volts with an allowed variation of minus six per cent to plus ten per cent - 216.2 volts to 253 volts.
WEBLINK: www.edfenergy.com
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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