A vulnerable man has been left with no hot water a week after a power outage struck more than 500 homes. Glyn Atkinson has no heating and is making cups of tea by using a log burner after being affected by the power surge that caused chaos.
A fault in a transformer caused Grimsby residents' televisions to blow up, their light bulbs exploded and their boilers have broken. Glyn, who is classed as a vulnerable person, says he is struggling to cope without any hot water supply and fears repairs could cost upwards of £2,500.
Northern Powergrid told GrimsbyLive they are working tirelessly to restore power to homes and that anyone who is still being effected by the incident should contact them on the 105 power cut number. However, with no heating or hot water for seven days, Glyn is struggling to live his life normally. "We had a family of five staying with us when the power fault happened and it blew up all sorts of things from phone chargers to our dishwasher.
"We're still without heating seven days on too. Someone did come to look at the boiler, but it hasn't been fixed properly and we're still waiting for them to come back." He added: "Northern Powergrid have been great with helping though. They're replacing everything that was broken, it's just taking a while to find the replacements and figure out what needs doing.
"Our reclining chairs don't work anymore now because the sockets next to them are ruined and the more we try to use things the more we find they're broken. After totalling it all up, I think there is around £2,500 to £3,000 worth of damage."
Things have been so badly damaged that Glyn has even had to have his ceiling taken down so he can fix his lights. "If I was in my 50s I could manage this, but I'm not. I'm also classed as a vulnerable person so I can't keep waiting to have things like my boiler fixed.
"At the minute, I'm having to use the log burner and a kettle to heat everything. We've got no clue when we'll have hot water again and no idea when someone will come again to try and fix the boiler, it's so annoying."
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Glyn understands that Northern Powergird is doing all it can, but says something needs to be sorted sooner for those who are still struggling. A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid provided an update regarding the neutral fault in Grimsby, which affected around 500 homes on Wednesday 22 March 2023.
“Our Customer Support Vehicle remains on site supporting customers and our contractors are continuing work to repair and replace appliances; with heating and hot water prioritised accordingly. In some instances, we have completed temporary repairs while we await replacement parts.
“We continue to support those who need it most, including providing alternative heating and hot meals for anyone who is struggling to cook. We’d like to thank our customers for their ongoing patience as our engineers and contractors work to repair and replace appliances as swiftly, and safely, as possible. If any customer requires additional support, or still has a claim to raise, please call us on the free power cut number – 105.”
