Homes in north Belfast were blacked out earlier this week after a sub-station in Ballysillan was deliberately set on fire.

The damage – which NIE says could take weeks to fix – left over 1,000 householders in the dark from around 8pm on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the power company said that the electricity kiosk housed behind the brick walls and railings of the sub-station in Sunninghill Gardens had been set ablaze.

However, engineers managed to restore power to more than 900 customers before 11pm by re-routing supplies.

They continued to work into the early hours of yesterday morning and all customers were back on the grid by 3.30am.

However, Roy Coulter, NIE Safety and Risk Manager, cautioned that the supply could be disrupted while permanent repairs are carried out.

Customer Relations Manager Valerie Curran said it could not be overstated how dangerous the attack had been: "It is very fortunate that no one was seriously injured, or worse, killed," she said.

Ms Curran added that repairs would take several weeks and noted: "The damage to this sub-station has put the electricity supplies in this area at greater risk until NIE can replace the damaged infrastructure over the coming weeks."

She added: "It is impossible to make equipment completely resistant to determined acts of vandalism. The best remedy would be if the people involved could be persuaded to stop putting themselves at risk."

(BMcC)