Over 1,000 people have been left without power after an unexpected fault affected swathes of homes in Wiltshire.

A huge unplanned power outage has been confirmed by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) near Devizes.

This incident is affecting an estimated 1031 customers across 105 postcodes, including villages such as Easterton, Urchfont, Chirton, Wedhampton, and parts of Market Lavington.

SSEN says the outage is a result of a fault on their overhead network and was first reported at 3.25pm.

Initial investigations by SSEN indicate that power could be restored by 9.30pm but this may be subject to change.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: The affected area near DevizesThe affected area near Devizes (Image: SSEN)

Engineers are reportedly in the local area and should be able to fix the issue by replacing a fuse at the local substation.

But SSEN warned that if the fault is severe it may require full repairs, which can take longer.

A SSEN spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry for the power cut and are aware of a fault on our main network affecting 1031 homes.

“This is affecting a large area and it’s likely several streets in your area are affected by the same outage.

“The cause of this power cut is a fault on our overhead network. This is the most common type of fault we see and our teams are very experienced in dealing with these issues.”