Southern Electricity has denied claims that a lack of capital investment is leading to power cuts in parts of south Abingdon and neighbouring villages.

Nearly a thousand homes and businesses were without power for between two and six hours on December 4, when a transformer near Sutton Courtenay broke down, cutting off supplies to an area in south Abingdon, parts of Drayton, Sutton Courtenay and Long Wittenham.

A garage in Drayton Road, Abingdon, was unable to dispense fuel.

Drayton resident Andrew Beacroft said: "Power failures around here are becoming too frequent.

"There was a fiasco in Drayton earlier this year during a power cut when a temporary generator had to be brought in, and it ran out of diesel fuel.

"I think the root cause of the problem is lack of capital investment because some of the transformers cannot cope with increasing development. Some equipment is too old and needs replacing."

But a spokesman for the power company denied it was down to a lack of investment.

She said: "Under-investment is not the reason behind power failures. During the last five years Southern Electric has spent just under £1bn on improving its network. It may be the case that some equipment is old ,

but there is also new equipment in place.

"We have a constant programme of renewal and refurbishment in place. We're sorry that breaks in supply occur and we are doing everything we can to maintain supplies."