For the past 18 months a substation in Lowestoft has been upgraded.

It has seen a new switch house being built and an up-to-date 33,000-volt switchgear installed.

New switchgear at the upgraded substation in Lowestoft. Image: UK Power Networks (Image: UK Power Networks)

The UK Power Networks team that led the project also made friends with a former engineer who enjoyed watching the progress from his front window or garden.

They even replaced his dilapidated fence to make his home more secure as a goodwill gesture due to the disruption.

Project manager Gilmoore Muroyiwa, said: “We kept him updated about the stages of the work, because he was really interested, and often shared fish and chip suppers with him.

"It was nice to have a chat and build a friendship.

“Replacing the switchboard brings more reliability and stability for power supplies in the area.

"The new switchgear has involved replacing two circuit breakers with seven which means we can reconfigure the power flows if needed, to keep power supplies more reliable.

“We also installed the new equipment which will kick in automatically when needed, to improve the reliability of power supplies."

Highlighting the importance of the investment, and the £2.5million upgrade to the Lowestoft electricity substation that will boost thousands, the project manager added: "This investment will deliver long lasting benefits to the area and support the growth in people’s demand for green energy as well as electric vehicles and heat pumps for the future.”

UK Power Networks owns and maintains the network of cables, substations and power lines that deliver electricity to approximately 20 million people across the South East, London and East of England, regardless of who you pay your electricity bill to.

© Eastern Daily Press