Power cut leaves some Milton Keynes homes without working showers and boilers for days

  • Watch a video report by ITV News Anglia's Sarah Cooper

Residents living in two city suburbs have been counting the cost of a power cut that left them without working boilers and showers.

National Grid said a fault on its underground network caused a power outage in the Monkston and Woughton areas of Milton Keynes on Sunday.

Some 2,356 properties were affected, including the home of Denise Latner, who is recovering from bowel cancer.

“We’ve lost our freezer, the shower’s three weeks old, the boiler’s only two years old and they’re completely not working," she said.

Denise Latner, 70, is without a working freezer and shower Credit: ITV News Anglia

"So since then we’ve been having to boil water. I have to boil a pan of water in the morning, carry it upstairs, tip it into the sink and wash myself down and rinse myself.

"Not only am I 70 but I’m recovering from bowel cancer - it’s not nice."

Her boiler was fixed on Thursday but neighbour Margy Martin, 57, is still waiting for hers to be repaired.

Margy Martin told ITV News Anglia that she has already spent £1,500 on getting appliances fixed Credit: ITV News Anglia

“I’ve literally spent - it’ll be £1,500 by tomorrow evening - on a shower and a boiler getting fixed and then it’s all the other material things, like an iPad charger plug, an Alexa charger plug, a toaster," she said.

"It’s a lot and on my own, one income, it’s a lot. It’s very emotional.”

Gas engineer Nav Rajbans told ITV News Anglia that he had been contacted by many customers.

“When we went out after the bank holiday to a fair number of properties, it was something that we’ve never seen before, because it was just the number of properties that had blown [circuit boards].

"Motherboards are fried and when we test it we can tell pretty quickly - and it wasn’t just PCBs [printed circuit boards] on boilers, it was shower pumps, fridge freezers.

"I’ve still got customers waiting for us to get hold of parts."

Engineers are still trying to repair appliances- days after the outage Credit: ITV News Anglia

A spokesman for National Grid: “We are aware of a power cut that affected properties in the MK10 area of Milton Keynes on Sunday

"The majority of properties were restored within three minutes, with all properties getting power back within an hour.

"We will be reaching out to a handful of customers who have reported appliance damage to assist with repairs."

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