ROYSTON residents who have literally been left in the dark over the last 18 months – following a series of intermittent power cuts – are still concerned their power may be slashed again.

It’s believed the cuts have affected more than 250 residents, prompting a generator to be placed on Elton Close on June 20 – but the power cuts continued and the equipment was eventually removed last Sunday.

Coun Pauline McCarthy, who represents the area, said she feels that Northern Powergrid have been taking the ‘micky’.

She said: “The generator was too noisy and it was extremely close to some people’s homes. In the end it took four weeks for it to get removed. Even though the generator was still there we were still having power cuts because they hadn’t filled it up.

“We feel like they were taking the micky. It was removed on Sunday but they’ve gone back to the old powergrid even though they’ve not done anything to fix it. My concern is that this is still going to keep on happening.”

A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid, who have been conducting the work in the area, said that the issue should now be fixed.

They added: “Our team of engineers have now restored power, and Royston customers affected were put on generators to maintain their supply of electricity while the fault was fixed.

“All of our efforts were focused on restoring power, safely, for our customers. We’d like to thank our customers for their patience while our engineers resolved the issue.

“If customers experience any further issues, they can contact us directly by calling 105 – the free power cut number or report a power cut online via our website, or via WhatsApp on 0191 687 2254 between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.”

Similar goings-on have caused Hoyland residents at Shortwood Villas issues – with a generator reportedly leaving clocks running fast and broadband routers exploding.

Around eight weeks ago, locals living at Shortwood Villas saw their electricity wiped following a storm - but 69-year-old Dave Peake said the issue has been in the pipeline for some time.

“We’re in the middle of the Gateway 36 development and we’ve been over run with it since they started creating it,” he said.

“Our electricity has now been off-grid for the last eight weeks since a storm – we’ve been given a generator which has been placed into someone’s garden. It’s causing all the residents issues and problems.”

From electric gates not opening, to one local being unable to get downstairs on her stairlift following an outage – Dave, who has lived at the site for the last four decades, said something needs to be done.

“I’m on the at-risk register so my medication needs to be refrigerated,” he added.

“But we’re getting a regular Sunday power outage – it’s happened on five of the last seven weekends for six hours at a time.

“Workers have been coming out to attend to the generator but nobody seems to know what the problem with it is.

“We’ve had the clocks running ten minutes quicker than they should be, we’ve had broadband routers exploding – who knows what other issues this is causing?”