Some of the 2,762 homes and firms hit by the cut were without power for about seven hours as engineers battled to repair the fault.

The trouble began at about 8.30am yesterday when power firm EDF's high-voltage underground electricity network was hit by a fault.

Trading was delayed for shops in the north of the town as the power cut put cash tills out of action.

Whittlesey councillor Ken Mayor was one of the unlucky ones still without power seven hours later.

He said it had been one of the biggest cuts in the area in recent years.

He said: "My burglar alarm has been sounding every 30 seconds since 8.30am, and I've heard alarms ringing all over the place.

"Talking to people in different parts of Whittlesey, it was off all over, apart from the town centre.

"Every day when I'm at home, I use my computer to check my e-mails, so I haven't been able to do that or use the telephones. I can't even have a cup of tea.

"We had one about a few weeks ago, which lasted practically all day. But this is unusual."

Meanwhile, the Sue Ryder Care charity shop, in Queen Street, was without power for about an hour.

Engineers from EDF arrived at the scene within minutes and worked to reconnect the affected customers.

A spokeswoman for the energy company said the power cut had been caused by a technical fault on the underground network.

She added: "Engineers worked as swiftly as possible to restore supplies, with 1,674 customers being reconnected by 9.35am.

"A further 549 customers were reconnected to the electricity network in stages, at 12.30pm and 2.37pm."

She said that remaining supplies were restored as soon as possible after that.

She added: "We do apologise to all those affected."