Stream of power cuts plague homes in South Downs village

Some homes in Henfield suffered eight power cuts in the past two weeks and, on one occasion, three in just one day.

Former hotel businessman John Wharton says that the loss of power is sometimes for just a short period “but everything is upset by it”, adding: “I really don’t understand why they cannot maintain the power supply here.”

He said he first encountered problems when he moved to the village 26 years ago. “The reasons given at that time were ‘a fault on an underground cable’ and that’s the same reason given now. Why then, in 26 years, have they not repaired the underground cables in this area?”

He said the power cuts, even if they were short, “upset all our electronic equipment. Everything goes off. My phones don’t work because they are mains power.”

A spokesperson for UK Power Networks said: “We apologise to residents in Henfield for some recent power interruptions which have occurred this month and our teams have been working hard to resolve this.

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“Engineers have located and repaired a fault on an underground cable which occurred on February 12 and, following an unrelated combination of faults on the underground network on February 24, our teams are currently completing permanent repairs.

“Tree trimming is also planned where we believe some tree branches have been coming into contact with an overhead line.

“We will monitor the network and take any further action required to ensure reliable supplies.”