Homes across Stevenage have lost electricity after an "unexpected power cut" this afternoon.

Hundreds of residents in SG1 and SG4 are without power, with UK Power Networks working to fix the issues, with hopes supply will be restored around 9pm.

A fault with an underground electricity cable has been blamed for the outage.

"We're sorry for any disruption this may have caused you," an update from UK Power Networks reads.

"As this was an unexpected power cut, we didn't know it was going to happen so we were unable to give you advanced notice.

"We estimate your power will be back on by 3pm.

"We may be able to get some customers on sooner. The timeframe may change and be extended depending on our investigations and the work involved to resolve the issue."