RESIDENTS in Wimborne who were left without power for 45 hours are now fighting to receive compensation following their nightmare weekend.

As of 8.30am on Tuesday February 22, around 180,000 homes have had their electricity restored following Storm Eunice, which struck the south coast on Friday February 18.

Households in Wimborne Chase who contacted electricity suppliers GTC and SSEN say they were being "passed from pillar to post” during their three-day power cut as neither company could provide updates on the status of the power supply.

Mother of two Tia Lovett said: “Every time we spoke to one of the companies, they would tell us to call the other one so we just got passed back and forth, and no one could tell us anything.

“They told us on Monday afternoon that they were going to switch off the generator to see if the connection they had fixed worked.

“They gave us a time for when the generator would be switch off and they turned it off 15 minutes early. It’s not much but it just meant we couldn’t boil water to make flasks or get my children settled in time.

“Luckily it worked.”

However, some 1,200 homes in Dorset are still currently without power. SSEN has mobilised a 1,000-strong operational team who have been working overnight to restore power to the remaining customers.

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Some generous neighbours on the Wimborne Chase estate who had camping stoves were offering to boil water for other people, as those that were able to were forced to make alternative arrangements.

“The whole thing was just diabolical. It just seemed like there was no preparation at all,” said Tia.

“When I spoke to the lady from GTC about being on the priority list, and she said they were focussing of people who were dependant on electricity for life.

She added: “My daughter who has heart disease has medication which needs to be refrigerated so I took them out of my fridge and over to my mother-in-law’s house."

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After speaking to a representative from SSEN, residents were told that she was unable to receive any compensation as their time spent without power fell inside their allotted time considered for compensation.

Scott Blakeway, who also lives in Wimborne Chase, said he was forced to camp in his own house with his family and friends, having closed off sections of his house.

He said: “We were without power for around 45 hours and the allocated duration of time to be eligible for compensation is 48 hours.

“Officially we are not eligible for compensation, but I have heard from a few of my neighbours that that have been told they will receive some money. Hopefully that will come back to me and confirm this.

“What I don’t understand is that even if we did go past the 48-hour period, we would only receive £70, which is a flat rate which kind of takes the mick.

“It doesn’t matter how many kids you have or how many people you are looking after in your house, you will receive the same amount of money as it is a flat rate.”