POWER suppliers have apologised to a Forest estate's residents and will shortly announce that most of the supply cables have to be dug up and replaced.

This follows a series of incidents at the 1980s-built Maypole Estate, Bream, in which thousands of pounds worth of household equipment has been 'blown up' by excessive voltage.

Householders have also had to suffer power cut after power cut, and pavements are repeatedly dug up to no avail.

"We will shortly be writing to householders on the estate to tell them that we will carry out the extensive remedial work needed," said a spokeswoman for GPU Power UK, which manages the supply network for n-power, formerly MEB.

"In the meantime we apologise to the residents for any inconvenience caused and we will of course replace any equipment lost.

"Unfortunately we cannot start the work until early in the New Year because we have to negotiate rights to excavate the roads and pavements. Obviously we cannot guarantee that there will be no interruptions until then or that more equipment will not be lost."

The spokeswoman said the problem appeared to be that power was temporarily increasing from the normal 240 volts to more than 300 volts, which would blow fuses and in some instances severely damage equipment.

It was impossible to pinpoint the cause – materials might be worn or damaged, and in some places the nature of the ground put stress on cabling.

Resident Vicky Bagley told the Review: "My mother lost her TV, which literally went up in smoke, a video and a microwave. Other people have lost answerphones, fridges, freezers and computers.

"Every time this happens they come and dig up another bit of pavement. They have done this twice outside my house, but could not tell me what was going on."

She says it is all very well to apologise and replace equipment but worries for the safety of smouldering equipment in homes. And she points out that computer users lose not only equipment but all their hard disc files.