Electrical cable faults in Guernsey 'caused by weather'

An increase in the number of road closures in order to fix electrical cable faults has been blamed on the wet and wintry weather.

Guernsey Electricity said the increase was not unusual for the time of year as the network was more susceptible to faults as consumption rose.

It said the most common cause was a breakdown of the joints used to link power cables.

The company said 10 faults had been recorded since November.

It said between April and December last year the electricity supply to about 2,900 homes or businesses on the island had been cut off at some point, with the majority being re-connected within three hours.

Guernsey Electricity said during 2009 and 2010 customers lost 22.6 minutes of supply on average, but reliability on the island was significantly better than the European average.