BOSCOMBE residents were left without electricity for nearly 48 hours following a major power outage on Friday evening.

Electricity company SSE is investigating the cause behind an equipment failure at a high voltage substation, which led to a power surge in several roads on Friday evening.

The issue meant residents in Walpole Road, Hamilton Road, and St Clements Gardens were forced to evacuate their homes.

Firefighters were called out at around 6.30pm after numerous calls from people reporting their appliances had blown and smoke was filling their properties. Several fires were also reported, with ten crews and an aerial appliance called to tackle a roof fire in Hamilton Road.

A spokesperson for SSE said around 470 of its customers lost their supply following the incident. Around 150 were still without power this morning. All but eight of its customers had their supply restored by 4pm.

The company is urging those still affected to get in touch by calling 105 so “necessary safety checks can be taken" before the power supply is restored.

A spokesperson said: “As of 4pm this afternoon, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has successfully reconnected the vast majority of customers affected by Friday’s loss of supply. 

“Teams from SSEN have been working all day to restore the remaining customers affected but, despite numerous attempts to gain access and make contact, SSEN has been unable to carry out the necessary safety checks in eight properties.  Information has been left at each property asking customers to make contact to arrange a visit and SSEN is tonight appealing for those remaining customers to get in touch by calling 105.”

Jo Niven, SSEN’s head of region, added: “Our teams have made excellent progress today to get the vast majority of our customers back on supply (…) Our teams will remain on standby to respond promptly as soon as customers get in touch and we will also continue to try and make contact with our customers to arrange for our teams to visit.

“I would again like to thank the local community for their ongoing patience and also place on the record our gratitude to the various authorities and partners who have supported efforts to safely get the lights back on for our customers.”

The Daily Echo has asked the company if work was carried out at the substation the morning of the incident following reports engineers were seen in Walpole Road.

We have also asked if and how those affected will be compensated by the company.

An earlier statement by the company said: “At around 6.40pm on Friday evening, a fault on SSEN’s high voltage network resulted in approximately 470 customers losing supply. Following the initial incident call, SSEN worked continuously with all of the responding agencies to ensure the safety of the community and to start the process of restoring electricity supplies as quickly and safely as possible.

“As of 11.30pm (on Saturday), SSEN safely restored power to approximately 200 customers. Due to the unusual and rare nature of the fault experienced, SSEN had to individually disconnect each of the remaining properties at the meter point before it could re-energise the power supply to those customers affected. Once this work had taken place, SSEN then had to check the integrity of the internal electrical installation at each property to ensure its safety. It was only once this work was completed could SSEN finally restore supplies safely for its customers.

"Throughout this period SSEN proactively contacted customers who are on the company's Priority Service Register to check on their welfare, provide updates and offer additional support until their supplies were restored.

“SSEN can now confirm the fault was caused by a piece of equipment at the local substation. Investigations are continuing to fully understand what caused the piece of equipment to fail and to ensure lessons are learned so there is no repeat.”

Members of the community rallied around those who were unable to return home on Friday night, and Bournemouth council provided overnight accommodation for five families.

Dave Edwards, a volunteer for British Red Cross, said a team supported those affected at a rest centre at Boscombe Baptist Church.

“We made sure everyone was safe and well. I’ve been to quite a few incidents, but nothing on this scale,” he said.

A house in Borthwick Road opened its doors to the community and offered hot drinks and bacon sandwiches to people without power on Saturday.

Ward councillor Chris Wakefield said welfare visits had been conducted at properties affected by the incident.

“We are getting some very, very positive responses about the way the council, police, the fire service and SSEN have come together to deal with this. Most importantly of all, the community itself has come together so everyone is supported,” he said.

“This was a very unexpected thing to happen, but it’s wonderful to see people taking care of each other here.”

Peter Wallace, a resident of Jasmine Court, which suffered a roof fire following the power surge, said: “We have all had to leave. The two top floor apartments are gutted. There’s a family in this building with two kids, and they will have nowhere to go. It’s unbelievable. It’s an awful situation.”