HUNDREDS of homes across Colchester were left without power on New Years Eve after an underground cable malfunctioned.

Whilst families were celebrating the turn of another decade, their parties were paused for an hour following a blackout.

UK Power Networks sent crews out to the CO2 and CO3 postcode areas to fix the problem before midnight.

A total of 263 homes were left without power.

The power cut happened at about 10.30pm.

One resident of St Helena Road said: "What a way to start the new year, 2,500 homes have been affected.

"UK Power Networks gave that figure when we spoke to them on the phone.

"The power was reinstated just before midnight."

UK Power Networks issued a message to residents at 10.56pm.

It said: "We became aware of the fault at 10.39pm.

"The cause is a fault with an underground cable in the CO2 7 and CO3 3 area, our engineers were dispatched to site at 10.43pm.

"The current status of the issue is we've assigned engineers to locate and fix the issue. They are now on their way, the estimated timeframe to have power back on is midnight to 1pm.

"We'll be in touch when we have more information."

A second update was issued at 11.24pm.

It said: "We believe our engineers have been able to restore power to all customers in the Colchester CO2 7, CO3 3 areas, by diverting power around the underground network fault.

"Due to the nature of this issue, if your power isn't back on we'll need to hear from you.

"We're really sorry for any disruption this caused."

UK Power Networks was contacted for an update but no-one was available to provide a response.