by Keyan Milanian

Power to homes lost after a fire at an electricity sub station in Strood has been restored.

The fire which left more than 200 homes without power is thought to have been started deliberately in the early hours of yesterday (Thursday).

EDF Energy engineers cut the power to 232 households just after 1am to carry out repairs and managed to restore 150 homes almost immediately.

Another 20 EDF customers had their power restored by 6am yesterday (Thursday).

The remaining 62 homes affected by the fire had electricity by 2.10am this morning (Friday, August 14).
When fire fighters were called to the blaze they found a mattress alight and spent about an hour and a half dealing with it.
No damage was caused to neighbouring houses or vehicles.
A spokesman for EDF Energy apologised for the inconvenience to their customers and said: "We occasionally find that our substations are targets for thieves and vandals, interrupting supplies to customers.
“EDF Energy Networks is committed to providing our customers with a safe and reliable electricity supply and we take incidents like this very seriously.
“Vandals risk injury and death by tampering with our equipment.”
Kent police are investigating the incident and EDF said it would press for prosecution.