More than 1,000 Ewell residents were without power this morning after a fire at the electric substation on Riverview Road.

It is believed the blaze was caused by a blown fuse which sparked and set dry vegetation around the substation on fire.

The problem was fixed by 8.30am. A UK Power Networks spokeswoman said: "UK Power Networks staff have restored electricity supplies to 1,482 customers who were affected by a power interruption at 6.20am today in Ewell.

"Engineers acted quickly and safely to reconnect power in the area, bringing back supplies to all but 156 customers in an hour and restoring the final supplies by 8.30am. The incident was caused by a fault on a piece of equipment within a substation in Riverview Road."

"We apologise to customers for the inconvenience this caused."

Fire services from Epsom station were called to the incident at about 6.20am this morning.

A white watch spokesman said: "We were called to Riverview Road in Ewell to an electric substation which had developed a fault causing a massive fuse to blow.

"It had given out an array of sparks which set the vegetation alight.

"It has caused quite a big power outage.

"We had to be very careful how we put out the fire because of the live electricity cables in the area, we could not use water and had to use a dry powder extinguisher."

Residents without power can report the problem to UK Power Networks on 0800 7838866.