Residents say the 31-hour power cut was 'potentially dangerous'

People living on the Dalton Park Estate, in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, say a 31-hour power cut last week was the final straw.

They have called in consumer group Energywatch, who say distributor United Utilities is failing to address the recurring power shortages.

United Utilities say they have endeavoured to resolve the problems.

Jean Riley, 38, of Needham Way, said the 31-hour cut was the worst one the estate had ever experienced and yet residents could not get any explanation.

"Nobody appeared to know anything about it," she said.

'House alarms'

Ms Riley, who has lived on the estate for six years, said the power cuts were potentially dangerous as well as being inconvenient.

She added: "The first thing that happens is that all of the house alarms go off."

Energywatch is leafleting the estate to get enough information to raise the issue formally with United Utilities.

"The idea of a 'No Power to the People' estate might be funny but after many years of problems with the reliability of their electricity supplies, the residents that have been in touch with us understandably fail to see the funny side of these power cuts and United Utilities failure to tackle the problem," said David Sidebottom, Director of energywatch North West.

United Utilities issued a statement in which they said: "We always take it very seriously whenever a customer's power supply is interrupted, and especially when this is a recurring problem.

"We are aware of the repeated problems on the Dalton Park estate and we have done everything we can to resolve the issue.

"However, not all the problems have been related, which is difficult for our engineers and frustrating for our customers."