Energy giant EDF has shipped in generators from as far
afield as Scotland - as Kent homes suffered a second night of
blackout misery.

Electricity supplies were restored to thousands of customers
across the Dartford area overnight.

But thousands more remain without power - nearly 48 hours after
it was first lost.

Now the British Red Cross has been brought in to deal with the
most vulnerable customers.

Generators were brought in from Scotland, Bristol and Great
Yarmouth as part of the company's operation to respond to serious
damage to high voltage electricity cables in the Dartford area.

They are now providing back-up power at 38 sites in the area,
supplying 11,200 customers, with more due to be connected today.
This includes a number of care homes across the Dartford area.

Engineers worked though the night to deploy the generators
across the affected area, concentrating on sites with vulnerable
customers and areas where generators could provide power to the
highest numbers of customers possible.

It comes after a fire caused power outages to more than 90,000
homes across Dartford and parts of south east London following the
damage on Monday lunchtime.

Police are now investigating the incident, believed to have been
caused by unauthorised people interfering with cables.

The company is taking a number of measures to reduce the
inconvenience - including supplying power on a rota basis - but
it's thought around 45,000 customers are still without continuous
supplies today.

A spokesman said: "EDF Energy Networks would like to apologise
to all customers affected by this major incident and we thank
everyone for their patience while we work to return supplies.

"We would like to ask all customers being supplied by generators
or on a temporary basis to use electricity for essential purposes
only. In this way we can ensure the situation does not become
overloaded and as many people as possible have power."

The company has also enlisted the support of The British
Red Cross, which has visited a number of vulnerable customers to
offer advice and support.

EDF Energy has brought in extra call centre staff to provide
information and advice to customers.

For information on rota connections and on the latest estimates for restoration of supplies, please contact EDF's emergency contact centre on 0800 028 0247 or if you have internet access, www.edfenergy.com

This link sets out when different areas will be provided with temporary supplies through the rota connections plan.