AN electrical engineering project costing £4million has started in Poole.

Southern Electric Power Distribution is working to replace 115 underground electricity transformers that were installed in the 1940s and 50s.

Engineers, who say the work will not affect customer power supply, will replace them with modern transformers.

Around 40 of the ageing transformers have been removed so far, with £1million earmarked for the project annually over the next four years.

Project manager David Shaw said: “We have a unique situation in which these important junction points in the network were encased in structures which were buried underground more than 50 years ago.

“We’re not aware of any other area in the Southern Electricity network where so many transformers were buried underground – indeed these days, they are much more likely to be located within substations.

“It has become clear that their lifespan is limited, and that faster and more modern methods of maintaining them must be found.”