HOUSEHOLDS in Hannington and Highworth woke up this morning to the third prolonged power cut in the area within 36 hours. 

Scottish Southern Energy Networks (SSEN) is the provider for the area and its live power cut map showed an unplanned outage in the area, over Hannington specifically.

Sarah Brett, 54, from Highworth told us that she had been told by SSEN the first power cut was caused by an overhead cable coming down, but she did not know the cause for the following power cuts. 

"When I rang them last night they said an over head cable had come down. Not sure what the reason was for the two power cuts early hours this morning."

Sarah explained that the power cuts began mid-afternoon and continued throughout the day.

"I am a carer and came back from work yesterday at 3.30pm only to find the electric off again. It went off the day before, we only knew that as the cooker clock was flashing. I received a text to say it would be on at 4pm. It came back on at 9pm. It went off twice more in the early hours this morning.

"It effects us badly as we are all electric. When you come home from work, to put the kettle on and find you can't it's so annoying, could not even take a shower. As I said I am a carer and with the current situation I like to shower straight away after work. My partner works outside and was not happy at all."

SSEN have provided a statement on the power cuts, saying that they are separate issues affecting the same areas.

The first power cut was caused by a cable coming down in Stanton Fitzwarren, which includes Hannington and that 730 customers were affected.

Repairs were made by our engineers and all customers were reconnected by 9pm last night.

The subsequent issues which began around 3.10am are still being investigated and repairs are ongoing. Some customers have had power back already and all customers should be reconnected by midday today. 

A spokesperson for SSEN also issued an apology for the inconvenience: 

They said: “We’d like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by the recent faults and thank the local community for their patience as our teams work to restore remaining supplies as quickly as possible. If anyone requires further assistance, please call us on our power cut helpline, 105.”

There are other power cuts currently in the Swindon area, with a list of affected postcodes below:

  • SN5 4HD
  • SN6 6HA
  • SN6 6HP
  • SN8 3AZ
  • SN8 3BH
  • SN8 4NG
  • SN10 4NW
  • SN10 5RH
  • SN10 5RJ
  • SN10 5RP
  • SN10 5RQ
  • SN10 5RW
  • SN11 0FU
  • SN11 0FW
  • SN11 0FX
  • SN11 0GA
  • SN11 0NB
  • SN16 9GA
  • SN16 9QA
  • SN16 9QF
  • SN16 9QP
  • SN16 9RQ