Kent power outage: Thousands plunged into darkness amid power cut in Maidstone
THOUSANDS of people have been "left in the dark" as a power cut has hit Maidstone, in Kent, this evening.
Kent: Power outages reported for residents across Maidstone
At least 3,331 homes have been affected by the power cut after a high voltage cable was damaged, UK Power Networks has confirmed. Power wasn’t restored until at least 9.30pm tonight as engineers were working on the problem. The company said: "We're sorry for any disruption this may be causing you.
"We may be able to get some customers on sooner."
Homes are said to have lost heating and light just after 6pm.
The outage caused an "area wide power cut".
UK News in Pictures tweeted: "Thousands of people left in the dark after major power cut hits in #Maidstone."
People also took to social media to share their frustration at the power outage.
One person wrote: "We’ve had the lights flicker for a bit."
Another person added: "In complete darkness #Maistone."
Gas and electricity company Jemena kept customers updated over the power outage.
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They tweeted: "We’re aware of a power outage affecting customers in Maidstone.
"We have a crew working to safely restore power."
The outage came after hundreds of people were also left without power near Maidstone on March 30 this year.
UK Power Networks (UKPN) has apologised after a faulty underground cable caused a power cut in 375 homes.
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The area affected was the Fauchons Close area of Bearsted, at around 1.15pm.
A spokeswoman for the company said at the time: "Our engineers worked as quickly as possible to restore power supplies to customers.
"A fault on an underground cable interrupted supplies to 375 customers at 1.13pm.
"All supplies were restored by 2.02pm.
"We understand how difficult it is being without electricity.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
There was also a power cut in West Malling earlier in the day.
