I was interested in Jenny Legg's article (The Argus, February 24) as I had also noticed the recent increase in power failures.

I wonder if there is a similarity here to when the railways were privatised - that is, their infrastructure was allowed to deteriorate to the benefit of the shareholders and detriment of the country.

A proper maintenance programme should be drawn up with understanding of how long components can be expected to give reliable service.

Such components could then be replaced with a safety margin to ensure a breakdown was avoided.

I feel the record of power cuts of these companies to date should be ringing alarm bells.

The authorities should be asking what is going on and demanding to be told the underlying reason for such failures.

-Joe Cooper, Hove