Jersey power cut caused by loss of cable with France

Homes and businesses in Jersey lost power for up to four hours due to the failure of the submarine supply cable from France.

A Jersey Electricity spokesman said the link failed at 23:45 BST on Tuesday, and power was restored using on-island generation by 02:00 on Wednesday.

He said there were further problems in the west of the island before the cable link was back in action at 05:00.

It was the third island-wide power cut time in six years.

The last one happened on 17 June when both supply cables from France failed, one of which the company described as failing "permanently".

A third cable is due to be ready for use in 2015, after a project to install the link started in 2004.

Chris Ambler, chief executive of Jersey Electricity, said there was a problem with the connection between the cable and the French grid.

He said as French engineers were unable to resolve the problem quickly, Jersey Electricity started generating at La Collette and Queens Road using a combination of gas turbines and diesel engines.