POWER cuts in a Suffolk village have been causing chaos and have left one high school striving to make sure students taking critical GCSE and A level exams can carry on.

POWER cuts in a Suffolk village have been causing chaos and have left one high school striving to make sure students taking critical GCSE and A level exams can carry on.

At Stowupland, near Stowmarket, recent energy problems have effected more than 1,600 customers, including inconveniencing the high school and those living at a residential home in the community.

At Stowupland High School teachers have had to send some pupils home and move students aged from 14 to 18-years-old taking exams into rooms with the most natural light to ensure they can carry on.

Exams underway yesterday included science GCSEs and today will see students sitting GCSEs in German and Cantonese and A levels in geography, philosophy, ethics and maths.

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council, the education authority, said: “We are using every means to keep parents informed of the latest situation.

“The underground cables that provide power to the school are still damaged, so there will be no power Thursday or probably Friday.

“Pupils who have exams on these days are asked to come into school, where they will use rooms with the best natural light.”

Rajan Lakhani, a spokesman for EDF Energy Networks, said the firm apologised to customers in the Stowupland area who have been experiencing power problems recently.

He said: “Power was interrupted to 1,614 customers at 3.54pm on May 26 after a complex fault on the local high voltage network.

“Our engineers tried to re-route supplies and some customers may have noticed their power going on then off again as they carried out this operation.

“Power was restored to all customers by 8.59pm, with 89 customers restored via generators as a temporary solution while permanent repairs are carried out.

“Regrettably, there has been an intermittent problem with one of the generators, affecting 15 customers on Thursday.”