NAILSEA residents are being left in the dark after a freak number of power cuts in the town.

NAILSEA residents are being left in the dark after a freak number of power cuts in the town.

People living in the town claim they have a power cut every couple of months and are demanding answers from the company which supplies their electricity.

After a number of complaints to Nailsea Town Council, members wrote to Western Power Distribution to ask why Nailsea had more power cuts than other areas.

But the council said it received a letter from the company claiming Nailsea is no different than anywhere else and now members are now demanding proof.

The town council's planning and environmental committee agreed to invite a member of Western Power Distribution to a council meeting to provide evidence backing up its statement.

Councillor Rod Lees, of Trendlewood Way, said: "I've lived in Nailsea for 20 years and I've never experienced quite so many power cuts.

"Lots of people have also said they have experienced the same and not just power cuts, but power surges.

"It's time we asked Western Power Distribution why. I used to live in South Gloucestershire and we hardly ever had a power cut. Here we're getting them every couple of months."

The power cuts can last for hours or just minutes. The last one occurred three weeks ago when a power surge took out the electricity supply to 30,000 homes.

Sarah Bullock, spokesman for Western Power Distribution (WPD), said: "In 2007 there were seven high voltage faults affecting the same circuit breaker feeding Nailsea.

"In response to this, WPD carried out some reinforcement to the network in the area which was completed in December 2007 and since then the number of high voltage faults has reduced.

"We are aware that there have been a number of low voltage faults that have occurred since. This problem is still being investigated and we want to assure customers that we are doing all we can to locate and rectify this subsequent problem.

"We realise that these short interruptions are inconvenient and apologise to all affected. We will continue to keep customers informed of our progress.