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Residents' frustration at '1970s-style' power cuts

Residents' frustration at '1970s-style' power cuts

Yahoo03-06-2025
Northern Powergrid says its engineers have fixed a fault in Northern Lincolnshire, as some residents claim the frequent outages reminded them of 1970s-style power cuts.
People living in the Isle of Axholme have told the BBC that the outages, which had been going on since December, often lasted for hours and heavily disrupted their lives.
Gary Cawkwell, who lives in the village of Althorpe, described the situation as "ridiculous", adding that it left residents needing to "get the candles out".
A Northern Powergrid spokesperson blamed the problem on overgrown trees.
"Engineers were mobilised to investigate, repairs have taken place, and we can confirm this is now complete," they added.
In April, a foodbank in Haxey said it was "deeply frustrated" after power cuts ruined their stocks of chilled food.
People living in the area said their lives had become a nightmare and, at some points in the last month, thousands of people saw their supplies cut off on a daily basis.
Maggie Wootten, who has lived in West Butterwick for 34 years, said she had resorted to keeping camping lanterns around her house.
She added: "They've been happening regularly since Christmas and often in the middle of the night. The last two months have been the worst.
"We're paying a lot of money for something but we're not getting the service. They (Northern Powergrid) say they have fixed it but I'm just waiting for the next cut."
Some residents said they had been offered a £30 payment from Northern Powergrid for the inconvenience caused.
Christine Kennedy said she had "lost count" of how many power cuts her household had experienced and was sceptical about the cause of the problems.
She added: "We've been told birds and vegetation are to blame but that's difficult to believe. Are they really different here compared to anywhere else?"
Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Foodbank throws away supplies because of power cut
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