A power cut hit a large swathe of London around 10.30am on Monday, with thousands of buildings impacted. Offices across the City of London were cast into darkness, and information boards at Liverpool Street Station went black.
UK Power Networks said the outage was caused by a fault on an underground electricity cable. The company reported that 32 different postcodes across the capital were affected, including areas in east London (E1, E2, E5, E8, E9), central London (EC2A, EC2M, EC3A), north London (N1, N5), and parts of west London (NW8, W2), as well as IG3 in Ilford.
The power cut disrupted businesses beyond office buildings. A pharmacy in north London, Apex Pharmacy on Essex Road, was unable to use its computer system to order the following day's medication, leaving some patients unable to collect prescriptions. A staff member who lives in the area said the outage also affected her home.
Transport for London said it closely monitored the situation and reported no traffic impact. UK Power Networks confirmed that engineers restored power to all customers in the E8 postcode area by diverting power around the fault, and by 12.09pm full service was restored across all affected postcodes. The company apologised for any disruption and advised any customers still without power to contact them.