Power company 24 seven is leafleting homes to apologise for its poor service in the past and explain how improvements will be made

The electricity supplier is hand-delivering leaflets to residents in Great Notley, where frequent power blackouts over the past 18 months have left many residents without electricity for several hours at a time.

The leaflet states: "We know the service we're providing for you isn't up to standard and for that we apologise.

"Our aim is to drastically reduce the number of power interruptions and ensure you enjoy a more reliable electricity supply in future. We're not there yet, but we soon will be."

A 24seven spokesman said: "We're going to be doing a lot of work and we thought it was right to let people know what's going on.

"It's positive news and another way of letting them know they haven't been forgotten."

He added that although residents would be told in advance of any power cuts while work was carried out, most of the improvements would not entail any disruption to power supplies.

24seven blamed the blackouts on a number of causes and said all were being worked on.

A new sub-station in Great Notley aims to meet the expected growth in electricity demand for at least ten years, while localised work on the low voltage network will be carried out so faults can be more easily isolated and dealt with.

A programme of tree trimming and laying more cables underground also aims to reduce the number of wires damaged by branches during high winds.

Roger Walters, county councillor for Braintree West, has organised meetings between 24seven and its customers to discuss the issue.

He said: "Hopefully, that's the beginning of them finally starting to cure it."

Roger Walters is a Conservative candidate in the elections to Braintree Council on May 1 in the Great Notley and Braintree West ward. Other candidates are Lucy Barlow (Lab), Lesley Beckett (Lib Dem), Peter Braley (Lib Dem), Terrence Brooks (Lib Dem), Graham Butland (Con), Arthur Jenner (Con), Basil Tate (Lab), Anthony Tearle (Lab) and Anthony Watts (Ind)

Published Tuesday, April 22, 2003

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