BUSINESSES at an industrial estate in Ringwood are furious after being told their electricity supply will be cut off for a full day in the middle of a working week.

Carvers Industrial Estate, on Southampton Road, will have its power turned off on Thursday February 26 between 9am and 4pm, affecting 12 businesses along with a further 50 nearby households.

Denis Hann, who runs mechanics HDM Autos, said he had been told by Scottish Southern Energy that the work could not be done at a weekend or at night because they do not pay their staff overtime.

He added: “I feel angry and frustrated.

“They are doing it to save money – but it will cost me and the other businesses on the estate thousands.”

The garage owner is also a community first responder for the ambulance service, attending between one and three 999 call-outs a day.

However, the volunteer paramedic said he would not be able to receive emergency calls on the day of the power-out and estimated it will cost his car repair business around £3,000.

The largest business at the industrial estate, insurance claims company BLD, which employs 80 people, said they were hiring a generator at a cost of £2,500 and that disruption to the power supply would have a significant impact on productivity.

David Hancox, finance director at BLD, said: “They are turning off the electricity during our main working hours but we have to keep running.”

The power giant is undertaking the work to install a power supply to a building site owned by developers McCarthy and Stone, which specialises in building retirement apartments.

A spokeswoman for SSE denied the times had been chosen to save money and said they had to co-ordinate times with the developer and third party contractors.

“We have phoned each business and given them one month’s notice of the work rather than the usual 48 hours,” she added.

“We pass on our sincerest apologies to all customers affected.”