A PENSIONER in her mid-80s was forced to stay in bed after being left without enough power to put the heating on, said her daughter.

Several properties at Green Haume Cottages in Dalton were left with low power overnight.

The homes completely lost power on Thursday February 8 at 2pm.

Their electricity was restored around 2:30am on Friday but was running at a low voltage - leaving residents unable to use their boilers.

Liz Gaskell lives with her mother, who is over 80 years old. She said she was forced to stay in bed to keep warm with ‘not much more light than a candle'.

While working from home, Liz supports her mum by providing care and assistance. She said it had been a struggle due to the power shortage as the low voltage was not enough to provide light, turn on the boiler or power the internet.

“I couldn't work as have no internet,” Liz said. “And don't feel I can leave my mum alone when it's cold because I don’t know when anyone is going to do anything to rectify the issue. Thankfully my boss has been very understanding."

Out of 21 houses at Green Haume, 19 were believed to be affected.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the community set up a group chat to keep in touch and offer each other support.

This allowed the residents to assist each other, as those with gas hobs were able to boil water for others, which was used for hot drinks or water bottles.

A spokesperson for Electricity North West said: “Due to the weather conditions, two separate incidents occurred on the power network in Askam last week which required engineers to carry our repair work.

“The first fault was reported at 2:10pm on Thursday and teams were required to repair overhead lines and replace some electrical assets before power was restored at 2:30am. Later that morning at 6:47am, we received reports of low voltage in the area and engineers discovered more damage on a different section. Once a repair was complete, power was restored at 11:27pm.”