A £6.3m investment to improve the power supply in Maidstone is being made by UK Power Networks.

The company is anticipating an increased demand for electricity in the town by installing new equipment at a substation, supported by a new power connection between Maidstone and the north Kent coast.

Major work will start in the summer and when complete will increase the capacity and resilience of the network in Maidstone and its surrounding villages.

The first £3.1m is being invested in two new transformers for the town centre.

They will receive electricity from existing overhead electricity lines at 132,000 volts and transform the power down to 33,000 volts for distribution across the area.

Preparatory work already started in October, ahead of the delivery of the transformers next spring. Each transformer weighs around 100-tonne and will need to be lifted into place by crane.

Project manager Furukh Amin said: “Demand for electricity from commercial, industrial and residential customers is increasing all the time. This project will ensure we can meet predicted demand in the future and maintain secure power supplies.”

The second part of the project will see £3.2m spent laying 2.4km of new 132,000-volt underground cables from Grove Green to Penenden Heath, where the new underground cables will transfer to existing overhead power lines running to the coast.

The cables will be installed in stages, with short trenches dug, ducts laid in them, and then the cables will be pulled through.