Residents in parts of Ennerdale have been affected by power cuts amid reports of cable theft and damaged electrical infrastructure, with the Ward 7’s, Lois Simonse, confirming that operators have located a cable fault. In a recent video recorded, Cllr Lois visited the switching station at Percy Street and 5th Avenue, where electricity operators were conducting tests to establish the cause of the outage.
Cllr Lois said the electricity supply went off at approximately 10 pm on Friday, 24 October. Operators who attended the site that night were reportedly unable to identify the cause and returned the following morning to continue their investigations. The outage initially affected areas from 5th Avenue, Extension 5 and part of Extension 3. The councillor later indicated that other avenues were also affected. During her visit, she pointed out damaged electrical components and missing protection cables, alleging that the infrastructure had been deliberately sabotaged leaving all areas in the dark.
“Protection cables are stolen, switches are broken and stolen,” Simons said in the video.
The councillor expressed frustration over repeated incidents of infrastructure vandalism, warning that the damage leaves residents without electricity and places additional pressure on efforts to maintain a reliable power supply. She urged community members to take responsibility for protecting public infrastructure and to report suspicious activities that could lead to further damage.
In a subsequent video update on Monday, 26 October, the councillor said she was back on site with the electricity operators, who had located the cable fault. She added that the material needed for the work was available at the site. The update brings further information on the technical team’s efforts to address the outage. However, the expected completion time for repairs and the restoration of electricity to all affected households had not yet been confirmed.
Separately, the OurPower electricity-outage tracker reported on 26 October that approximately 54% of the electricity supply had been restored to Mid-Ennerdale and Ennerdale Extensions 3 and 5 by around 11:33. The tracker said the Test Branch team was assisting with efforts to locate a cable fault.
The councillor also referred to a separate incident in 7th Avenue, where a cable was reportedly stolen, leaving residents without electricity for several days. She called on community members to help protect public infrastructure, stressing that vandalism affects residents and contributes to repeated power interruptions. The cause of the outage and the allegations of deliberate vandalism had not been independently confirmed at the time of writing.
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