(Bloomberg) --
Canary Wharf is still facing some power supply problems three days after a fire knocked out a substation, causing disruption at the London offices of some of the world's largest banks.
UK Power Networks, the operator of electricity cables across London and the south east of England, said that while the electricity supply had been restored to the financial district, repair work was still going on.
“We have turned power off to a small number of customers for short periods, to allow additional repair work to take place safely,” a spokesman for the company said in an emailed statement Thursday to Bloomberg.
Citigroup Inc. was forced to ask many of its Canary Wharf-based staff to work from home this week due to the power outage, while HSBC Holdings Plc lost power in parts of its London headquarters and had to use back-up generators to keep its trading floor operational.
In a memo to staff Wednesday, Citigroup's UK country officer, James Bardrick, wrote that the power infrastructure serving Canary Wharf had been “heavily impacted.” A spokeswoman for Citigroup declined to provide a fresh update Thursday on the status of the bank's power supplies. HSBC also didn't provide an update.
Other major banks to be hit included Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley, which have offices next to each other in Canary Wharf. Morgan Stanley's Bank Street office was unaffected by the outage but its Cabot Square building was using generators to maintain power supplies. Credit Suisse's Cabot Square office also had to use a secondary power source. A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase & Co. said its office had not suffered any problems.
Speaking to Bloomberg on Wednesday, Howard Dawber, managing director of strategy at Canary Wharf Group Plc, said he had not seen a power cut this serious in 20 years and that Canary Wharf had provided tenants with generators.
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