Shops have been forced to close this morning after a power cut.

Thirteen stores in Chatham High Street were unable to open this morning after a power failure at about 7.30am.

Among the premises affected are Abbey National, HSBC, Specsavers Opticians and The Cornish Oggy-Oggy Pasty Company.

Paul Offo, manager at Oggy-Oggy, said: "Our power went off at about 7.30am when we were in the process of opening.

"We haven't been able to open up but the staff are keeping busy getting on with cleaning and other jobs."

A spokesman for EDF Energy said: "A maximum of 13 customers in the High Street area of Chatham have experienced an interruption to their power supplies because of a fault on an underground electricity cable.

EDF Energy Networks engineers are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore supplies.

A spokesman, said: "We appreciate how difficult it is to be without power, especially at this time of year. We apologise for the inconvenience caused."

Earlier Power firm EDF has apologised after parts of Gillingham suffered a series of power failures.

The blackout affected customers living in Springfield Road area with the most recent on Tuesday.

One resident Karen Morgan, who lives in the street has suffered five power cuts - caused by an underground cable fault - since January 16 totalling 45 hours.

EDF says during 2008/09 it will have invested £400m in its electricity networks across the country.

A free power cut helpline is available to all EDF customers on 0800 783 8866.