THE electricity network suffered three months' of faults in one day during the storm last October.

This was claimed by Aquila spokesman Kenton Bradbury at the Malvern Area Joint Councillor Forum this week.

The forum, which includes representatives from parish, district and county councils, wanted to hear what steps the power industry was taking in the wake of last autumn's storm. Some rural householders had their power cut off for several days.

Mr Bradbury said that during the storm on Sunday, October 27, hurricane-force winds of up to 87mph were recorded over 15 hours. A total of 460 high-voltage faults were reported in that time, the same number the company normally deals with in three months.

Mr Bradbury said that although 333,000 people suffered power cuts, 90 per cent were restored by Monday afternoon.

He said the company was catching up on its tree-cutting programme, which was set back 12 months by foot and mouth. It was also working on improving its telephone system and use of media to keep the public informed.

Aquila was criticised for failing to offer compensation to customers, claiming the weather conditions were exceptional.

However, Leominster MP Bill Wiggin said this week that he would not accept severity of the weather as a reasonable excuse for Aquila to refuse payment.

He said: "It simply isn't possible to blame the weather entirely on the power cuts. If BT phone lines were able to stay uninterrupted then why couldn't Aquila have managed too?"