The electricity supply to 24 customers went off in the early hours of Sunday and was off for at least eight hours. Power supply to some businesses in the town centre has been plagued with problems over the past few years with regular blackouts. Following a power cut on Christmas Eve which affected many businesses in Sheaf Street and the High Street, Central Networks dug up the cables and said it had solved the problem.

One angry businessman, who asked not to be named, said: “I came into work on Sunday morning and basically had a wasted journey.

“This must be the sixth or seventh time in the last year or so that my company has been affected by power cuts.

“I suppose this time it wasn’t so bad for me as it was a Sunday but I’m sure some shops must have been affected. In the past we’ve lost nearly whole days in the office waiting for the electricity to come back but the electricity companies seem quite happy to whack their prices up by whatever they fancy.”

Central Networks said the blackout was caused by a blown fuse at a substation in the area. A spokesman apologised to anyone inconvenienced, but said the problem was not related to the fault that was fixed when the company dug up part of the High Street.