HUNDREDS of people in the Wiveliscombe area woke up to find they did not have any electricity on Wednesday morning (September 30).

A massive power cut hit nearly 250 homes and businesses as a fault on high voltage lines was reported to National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED).

It was the second such fault in just over a week the Wiveliscombe area after 580 premises were cut off early on Monday, September 21.

Wednesday’s fault was reported just after 7.20 am and NGED said it expected to have the issue fully repaired by 10.30 am.

An NGED spokesperson said: “We are getting this sorted as a priority.

“Our engineers are working to get electricity back on as quickly as possible.

“We are sorry for the disruption.

“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.”

The spokesperson said the estimated reconnection time was when the last person in the area had their power back, while most people would be reconnected quicker.

The area affected stretched from the eastern edge of Wiveliscombe to beyond Chipstable and Waterrow and almost to Stawley and Huish Champflower.

Last week’s outage went from Hartswell toward Langford Budville.