A SECOND power cut in two days hit several dozens of homes and businesses in Wellington on Sunday morning (July 12) as the town faced a fourth day of an amber heat health alert.

Temperatures were forecast to again reach 32C in the third heatwave of the year to date.

Properties on the Mill Stream Gardens estate, in Tonedale, lost electricity supplies at 3.10 am and and after initially not having any idea when they might be reconnected, National Grid has now said it should be 3.30 pm at the latest.

Later, the outage was said to have affected a larger area of Tonedale, including some properties in Wardleworth Way.

A National Grid spokesperson said there was a fault on an underground low voltage power cable in the area, and engineers were working to fix it.

A National Grid map showing the area of Wellington without power on Sunday shaded in brown.
A National Grid map showing the area of Wellington without power on Sunday shaded in brown. (National Grid)

They said: “Our engineers are working hard to get power back on.

“We give our best estimate for when power will be back on, based on what we know at the time.

“Times might change if we face unexpected challenges getting to the fault.

“These times show when the last person in the area will have power back - most will be reconnected before this.”

The spokesperson upped the first report of 10 properties affected to say the number had since risen to 75.

On Saturday, another fault on an underground low voltage cable saw nearly 40 premises in the Buckwell and Scotts Lane area go without power from early morning until mid-afternoon in similarly hot conditions.

  • This is an evolving story which will be updated as the Wellington Weekly learns more.