POWER cuts in the Sittingbourne area yesterday were caused by underground cable faults and a contractor damaging another cable.

Businesses in the High Street, including the Kent Messenger office, were affected by two cuts in the afternoon.

A spokesman for EDF Energy, formerly Seeboard, said: "We would like to apologise to customers. The first cut occurred at 8.25am when an underground cable fault interrupted power supplies to 4,000 customers in the Milton Regis area. Engineers restored power via an alternative circuit shortly after 9.45am.

"Unfortunately at 1.50pm a second, unrelated fault occurred on the alternative circuit, interrupting power supplies to 4,200 customers.

"Most supplies were restored during the afternoon. However, a further power cut was experienced shortly before 9pm while repairs were being carried out. Engineers worked throughout the evening to restore power supplies via generators while the first fault was repaired.

"All customer supplies were restored between 11pm on Monday and 5am the next day when the work was completed.

"This fault is believed to have been caused by a third party contractor damaging one of our underground cables."