Residents in Hop Pole near Spalding say they have always had regular losses of power but in the last fortnight they have started happening daily. Central Networks says birds flying into overhead power lines are often to blame and it is tackling the problem.

But villager Walter Barber, 65, told the BBC he found it hard to believe that birds were causing such regular power problems.

"One of the excuses given was a swan hit the power lines after dark and twice in two days - I don't think so," he said.

"It's 2005 - we can send a spaceship to Pluto why can't we send electricity to a little village called Hop Pole."