NEAR-monthly power cuts have become a reality for people living in the Wellington area.

A ninth power cut in the past eight months hit several hundred homes and businesses in the Rockwell Green area on Monday (February 16).

The blackout also caused the Rockwell Green crossroads traffic lights to go out and left many homes without power for several hours on end.

A National Grid Electricity Distribution spokesperson said: “A fault on overhead lines caused disruption to electricity supplies for 362 properties in Rockwell Green on Monday afternoon.

“All customers had their power reconnected by 7.54 pm.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this power cut caused.”

The incident came just three weeks after Rockwell Green campaigner Andy Denison questioned National Grid chief executive Zoë Yujnovich on the resilience of the local network.

Mr Denison, who recently contested a by-election for Wellington Town Council, said: “The sheer number and frequency of outages have caused frustration across the community and prompted serious questions about the reliability of the local power infrastructure.

“These repeated outages have caused significant inconvenience for households, businesses, and vulnerable residents who rely on a stable supply of electricity for daily living, work, and essential care.

“With Wellington continuing to expand through new housing developments, it is reasonable to ask whether the existing power network is keeping pace with the area’s rapid growth.

“Can the current supply cope with the increased demand brought about by years of development, or is it time for a long‑overdue upgrade to the local grid?”

A spokesperson for Ms Yujnovich, who was appointed last November, said her ‘local team’ would investigate and ‘provide an update on the network performance and availability’.

Some of the outages since last summer were put down to accidents involving farmers using agricultural machinery, while in early January there was a swan strike in which the bird died.