RESIDENTS and business owners in Winchester could see their electricity supply boosted after numerous recent failures.

Residents associations, Winchester Business Improvement District (BID) and spokespeople for Winchester City Council met Southern Electric after months of cuts along Jewry Street.

It has been reported the area has had over 15 power failures over the last 12 months.

Now talks between the utility company, residents and businesses have resulted in a proposal that could see Jewry Street houses and shops powered by mini sub-station.

A spokesperson for Southern Electric said: “There has been a huge change in use in the street from domestic use to light commercial and restaurants.

“We are working with the local council to find a suitable location for a new substation to address the issue though we do not yet have a timescale at present.

“It’s not going to be an immediate quick fix and manage the network’s supply as best we can. A new substation would be an investment into our network to ensure future supply.

“Our priority is always to restore supply if it is lost as soon as possible to reduce any disruption to customers.”

Chris Turner, executive director of the BID, said: “There’s just too much draining the grid on Jewry Street; there’s solicitors and restaurants and estate agents all pulling on the same supply.

“It’s great because it shows great growth and business prosperity but there’s a lot of usage there and engineers came out and had effectively redistributed the line which is only a temporary measure.

“There’s a discussion at the moment about whether or not there will be a need for works to put in fatter cables or a new substation and then they need to find out where it’s going to be. If it means cables it could mean digging up Jewry Street.

“We anticipate there being some disruption but not a huge amount.”

The parties are expected to meet again in approximately two weeks time to finalise plans.