A FAMILY have spoken of their anger after being left without electricity for 27 hours, putting their son’s insulin medication at risk.

Anita and Ronald Black and their son Declan, 17, went without power and heating from Wednesday, December 28 until 2pm the next day.

The Pilgrims Way’s household first noticed their electricity was not working in the morning.

They contacted their energy supplier, Utilita, who asked them to add money to their pay-as-you-go card.

This did not work so the company told them they would have an engineer visit them in three hours.

The engineer did not visit until the afternoon of the next day, and the family say they spent hours on the phone trying to get through to the company.

Mr Black, who is his wife’s full-time carer, said: “We weren’t really trusting them, we were just hoping.

“We feel a bit happier it’s back on.

“It’s put a bit of a dampener on the festive period, the only thing is at least it didn’t happen on Christmas Day.”

The family keep Mrs Black and her son’s insulin in the fridge, which was put at risk when the power went out.

Diabetic Mrs Black said: “You don’t realise how much you need electricity until you don’t have it. I was getting really upset.

“I feel angry because we were cold and we couldn’t cook anything.

“I had to do my insulin in the dark. I was really panicking in case my son went hypoglycemic.

“I’d like them to have a 24-hour callout service in case these things happen.”

The 43-year-old does not work as she is disabled and said their son bought items like a torch as a result of the power outage.

The property has a combined electricity and heating system and the family was forced to endure temperatures below freezing overnight. While waiting for the engineer to turn up, the family held a bonfire in their back garden to keep warm.

The family have been with the company for eight years and are now considering switching to a new energy supplier. Mr Black, 59, added: “It’s lucky we don’t have any little kids.”

Utilita spokesman Jem Maidment said: “We pride ourselves on our very high standards of service, but we recognise that on this occasion those standards slipped. Mr and Mrs Black are valued, long-term customers and we are delighted they accepted our offer of compensation.”