Around 300 residents in Mijas and Fuengirola were left without electricity for more than half a day after soaring temperatures overloaded the local power network.

The blackout hit homes along Camino de Las Cañadas at around 11pm on Thursday, with power only gradually being restored from around 1pm on Friday.

The outage sparked anger among residents, who say they have suffered similar blackouts several times in recent months.

Mijas councillor for infrastructure Juan Jose Torres said the prolonged power cut had not only left residents without electricity but had also damaged household appliances, including fridges and televisions.

He said he hoped Endesa would compensate those affected as quickly as possible.

The electricity company blamed the outage on a temporary overload of the low-voltage network, caused by soaring temperatures and exceptionally high electricity demand.

Endesa said Malaga province recorded its highest-ever electricity demand on Thursday, reaching 1,490 megawatts, followed by the second-highest peak on record on Friday at 1,467 megawatts.

The company said technicians worked throughout Friday to restore supplies and confirmed the outage affected around 300 customers.

Torres argued that the incident highlighted a long-standing lack of investment in the area’s electricity infrastructure.

He said similar outages occurred over Christmas and again in March, prompting repeated meetings between the town hall and Endesa.

According to the councillor, the utility has since launched a project to improve the network around Las Cañadas, including the construction of a new electricity substation, the installation of new cabling and the replacement of ageing infrastructure.

Endesa expects the new transformer station to become operational within three weeks, once the remaining low-voltage network connections have been completed.

The company added that its distribution subsidiary, e-distribucion, has invested €140,000 in strengthening Mijas’ electricity network.

The works include the installation of more than one kilometre of new medium-voltage cable, creating a dual-feed system that will provide an alternative supply route in the event of future faults and improve the reliability of the network.