AN MP has met senior officials from energy watchdog Ofgem to discuss July’s three-day power cut in Dartford.

Outgoing Dartford MP Dr Howard Stoate called the meeting to discuss the progress of Ofgem’s investigation into the power cut, which is looking at the cause of the power failure and whether it qualifies as an exceptional incident.

EDF has offered £50 as a goodwill gesture to customers who were without power continuously for more than 24 hours.

However Dr Stoate believes that customers should receive an additional £25 on top of the first £50 for each subsequent day without power.

Dr Stoate said “I wanted to make it clear to Ofgem that I think customers who were without power for two or three days deserve far more than they are currently being offered by EDF in the way of reimbursement.

“The officials I spoke to told me that the audit is likely to be completed by the end of this month.

“It will assess the extent to which EDF’s actions – or lack of actions – contributed to the power cut.

“It will also look at whether the company took all appropriate steps to restore power quickly and to limit the number of households affected by the power cut.

The Labour MP added: “The other issue the audit will examine is what changes need to be made to the network to prevent a similar incident occurring in the future.

“They also told me that anyone who is unhappy with the payment EDF has offered customers has the right to seek additional compensation from the company.

“To do this customers need to follow EDF’s complaints procedure which is set out on the company’s website. I would urge anyone who is dissatisfied with EDF’s offer to follow this advice.”

The power failure lasted for more than three days and was caused when intruders broke into the site in Dartford where the four main electricity cables feeding large parts of Bexley, Dartford and some of Orpington, are carried on a bridge across Dartford Creek.

A subsequent fire severely damaged the cables at a point where no immediate back-up power supply was available.

At the time, EDF Energy declared it had reached agreement with Ofgem that the incident was “exceptional”.

This released the energy company from the obligation to pay £50 to any customer who had been without electricity for 18 hours.

EDF has argued that the regulations should not apply in this case as the power cut was caused by an arson attack.