RESIDENTS who faced 12 years of misery because of repeated power cuts are finally breathing a sigh of relief after the problem was fixed.

More than 20 households in The Finches and Abreys, Thundersley, were regularly left in the dark for several hours at a time because of an ongoing electrical fault.

When the problem reached a head last month, with the power going out almost every other day, residents asked Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris to help.

She wrote directly to Basil Scarsella, chief executive of UK Power Networks, asking him to look into the issue urgently as she felt the company had not done enough to fix the problem, which forced residents to throw away food because their fridges were not working.

Linda Arthey, of The Finches, said: “I am grateful to Rebecca for helping us sort this problem out.

“Our lives had been a complete misery from the constant power cuts and, despite contacting UK Power Networks several times, we were no closer to getting the problem resolved.

“So it was great Rebecca was able to intervene and get it fixed straight away.”

Engineers from UK Power Networks have since located and fixed the fault.

Mrs Harris said: “It was not enough that the power company had been aware of the problem for so long, but had done little to resolve it.

“I could only imagine the inconvenience this situation was causing.

“I am therefore pleased the company has now successfully fixed the problem and has assured me there will be no further problems.

“I have, however, told the residents to contact me immediately if they have any further power cuts and I will get straight on to the chief executive again.”

Mr Scarsella said: “I would like to apologise for the inconvenience these power cuts may have caused. I completely understand how disruptive it can be.

“I am happy to say our engineers were able to find the fault causing the continued problem and have now replaced this with a more reliable piece of equipment.

“Since we carried out this repair, there have been no further power cuts in the area.”