HOMES to the north and east of Basildon were affected by a major power outage this afternoon (Sunday, 13 March).

More than 2,000 homes in the Wickford and Benfleet area were initially left without power following the outage causes by a faulty underground cable around 11am.

Initial expectations by UK Power networks were that the cuts would be dealt with by around 1.30pm but a couple of hundred homes remained without power as the afternoon wore on.

UK Power said 292 homes were affected for the longer period of time but it was hoped no one would be without power after 6.30pm today.

In a message update to those customers, UK Power said: "We want to reassure you that we've certainly not forgotten about you and we know that the estimated time frame has now passed.

"Getting you an update is our priority."