An engine shutdown at Belco left more than 1,000 homes without power yesterday morning.

On Monday evening, 2,000 customers were cut off in Smith's, Southampton and Warwick in the first of two outages.

The second power cut took place yesterday morning, affecting 1,200 residents in Southampton and Warwick.

A Belco spokeswoman said the outages were caused by "a problem with a large engine which caused the engine to shut down".

"This reduced the overall output of the facility and resulted in loadshed," she said.

"The first loadshed occurred on Monday evening at 6.42 p.m. Power was restored to all customers by 7.16 p.m.

"Approximately 2,000 customers were affected in scattered areas, including parts of Southampton, Smith's and Warwick.

"The second loadshed occurred this morning at 7.42 a.m. Power was restored to all customers by 8.13 a.m.

"This loadshed affected Southampton and Warwick only, and fewer customers — approximately 1,200.

"Problems with the affected engine are being addressed. There are no issues with overall plant capacity, and other engines have been brought into service."