NEARLY two thousand homes in Highcliffe were without electricity this morning.

The power went off at 9.46am for 1,777 houses in areas including Waterford Gardens and Bute Drive.

A spokesman for SSE said that within an hour more than a thousand properties had the power restored.

There were still 755 homes affected but SSE said power was fully restored to all houses in the area just before midday.

“We would like to apologise to those customers affected and we assure you we are doing everything we can to restore their supplies as quickly and as safely as possible,” he said.

Investigations into the cause will begin once the power is back up and running, the spokesman added.