Homes and businesses in Bodiam were plunged into darkness yet again as the village suffered it's second major power cut in just over a week.
More than 400 buildings in the Bodiam Road area were left without electricity when the power cut out just after 1.30am last Thursday.
Although most of these were reconnected by 4.30am, some residents found themselves without power for nearly 13 h
ours.
Jo Knapp, who lives in the village and works at C J Burgess, was amongst those affected by the blackout.
She said: "We are affected more than the rest of the village. We are quite used to it.
"It's unusual for us to be without power in the summer.
"It's usually in the winter with a bit of wind and rain."
Her home, along with around 30 others, was without power for most of the day until generators were set up that afternoon.
Jo said: "I rang up EDF and they told me a generator would be here at 8.30am.
"The generator turned up, but by the time the blokes arrived to set it up, it was 1pm.
"It's not the workers fault, just a lack of communication somewhere."
Jo says her part of the village has experienced four or five power cuts since the beginning of the year.
She said: "I am angry but at the same time we are used to it and I have candles and Calor gas bottles. You have to.
"We had new neighbours at Christmas and the first thing we warned them about was that the electricity goes off quite a lot, so get some candles!"
Jo added: "It's a bit ironic our electricity was off all that time on Thursday and in the post the next morning we got a letter from EDF saying the electricity bills are going up!"
A spokesperson for EDF Energy said: "A fault on our underground electricity distribution network interrupted power supplies to 415 customers in Bodiam at 1.33am on Thursday (August 21).
"Customers may have noticed their power flickering on and off a few times in the early hours of the morning as EDF Energy Networks engineers worked to restore supplies.
"The area affected included Bodiam Road, Blacksmiths Field, Junction Road, Northlands, Castle Hurst and Peter's Green.
"Power was restored to the majority of customers at 4.27am.
"It was not possible to restore normal supplies to the last 34 customers so three temporary generators were ordered and connected in stages throughout the morning at 10.50am, 12.07pm and the final restoration was made at 2.07pm.
"We do understand how much inconvenience any interruption to power can cause and apologise to all those who were affected."
On August 12, a fallen tree cut power to 306 homes in the Levetts Lane area, some for up to four and a half hours, and on January 9 a damaged cable left 321 homes without electricity, with some buildings in the dark for 16 and a half hours.
Earlier this month, EDF Energy announced plans to invest around £104,000 to upgrade low voltage overhead power lines to improve electricity supplies to Bodiam.
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