Electricity has been restored to shops in Worthing town centre after a power cut led to closures.

Greggs, in Chapel Road, posted a sign on the door to say it had to close on Thursday, November 12. 'Power cut' was the explanation.

Neighbouring B&M in the Guildbourne Centre remained open but it could take cash payments only and the rear part had the lights off.

UK Power Networks says the power cut was caused by an electrical fault. Engineers were able to restore power to Chapel Road just before 5pm.

Greggs has posted a sign on the door to say it has had to close due to a power cut

placeholder image — Greggs has posted a sign on the door to say it has had to close due to a power cut

The customer service team said: “They have thoroughly investigated our network equipment in the area, but the underlying network fault has not yet developed to a point for it to appear on any of their diagnostic tests. As such, they have replaced our substation equipment to restore power as quickly as possible.”

The team thought they had restored power earlier this afternoon but there was another cut. Engineers say this may happen again before they are able to pinpoint the issue and fix it.

They arrived on site around 1.30pm and it was initially estimated that power would be back on between 5pm and 6pm.

UK Power Networks said equipment at the substation was affected, so engineers started their testing there.

It was noted that 72 customers were initially affected in two postcode areas, including seven smart meters without power.

Power was restored to most properties this afternoon but at least three customers remained affected by the cut.

An afternoon update said: “We believed all power was restored but it seems there may be a bigger underlying issue which is causing our substation equipment to operate repeatedly.”