AROUND 1,600 households were left without electricity yesterday morning.

Homes across the Westham and Radipole areas of Weymouth were left without power for up to one and a half hours.

An underground fault with Southern Electric’s high voltage network caused the power cut around 7.45am.

Power was restored to many residents shortly after the power company were notified of the failure. All households had their electricity supply restored by 9.15am.

Southern Electric spent yesterday investigating the cause of the power failure.

A Southern Electric spokesman said: “The problem was with an underground cable, there was a fault with that which we managed to identify and fix. We are not 100 per cent what caused it but we were able to get the problem fixed quickly.

“We cannot guarantee it won’t happen again, but because the problem was identified it’s highly unlikely to happen again.”

The power cut affected Adelaide Crescent, Corporation Road, Old Parish Lane, Barclay Road, South View Road, Knightsdale Road and Emmadale Road in Westham. Parts of Dorchester Road and Argyle Road in Radipole were also affected.