THE landlord of an Acle pub is demanding compensation from an energy firm after his business was hit by power cuts.

Phil Hannon, publican at the Bridge Inn at Acle Bridge, said he lost �2,500 in takings when engineers from UK Power Network, which maintains electricity cables, switched off the power to his pub on Monday while carrying out scheduled maintenance work to prevent future power cuts.

However, just two days later a cable fault caused a power cut affecting 1,408 homes in the village, which resulted in his pub losing a further �600 in trade at a time when the industry is struggling due to the effects of the economic downturn and smoking ban.

'To be honest, I was prepared to take a hit for the greater good when the scheduled cut happened on Monday because the engineers told me there would be no more power cuts for eight years, but for an actual power cut to happen so soon afterwards is really annoying,' Mr Hannon said.

Although the power cut lasted for only half an hour between 8.19pm and 8.47pm, Mr Hannon said he had to turn away 30 customers during that time and wants compensation for the losses he suffered.

A spokesman for UK Power Network said engineers believed the power cut could have been caused by a tree branch touching an overhead cable or a temporary cable fault resealing itself through heat on the underground network.

He said: 'It is unlikely that this incident is linked to the network reinforcement work done in the same area on Monday.'