A Tayport mother of two was left without power for 52 hours over the weekend.
Gail Bell had electricity restored to her Linksfield home on Monday afternoon after she and her two children, Aiden, 8, and Abbie, 11, had to endure the “complete and utter nightmare” for more than two days.
When power returned to her neighbours’ houses Gail contacted her provider, E.ON, who told her to contact Scottish Power, the distributor for her address.
A technician from Scottish Power found the E.ON pre-pay meter installed in Ms Bell’s home was the cause of the continued outage, but a technician from Scottish Power is not permitted to touch any equipment operated by a rival firm.
Ms Bell called for an E.ON technician and was told Sunday was the earliest the firm could restore her electricity.
No technician arrived on Sunday, and it was 3.50pm on Monday before a technician finally arrived to fix the problem.
Ms Bell said: “I’m freezing. I was staying at my friend’s house and I was in tears.
“My kids too have had to stay with my friend, and today I have to drive them down to Tayport to get the bus to school.
“I’d done the shopping right before the power cut, so there is £100 worth of food in the freezer that’s all ruined.
“It’s been a complete and utter nightmare and I’ve been dealing with total incompetence from E.ON.”
The Citizens Advice Bureau states: “If you report a problem with an electricity meter between 7am and 7pm on a working day, the supplier must send someone to repair or replace the meter within three hours of you reporting it; at other times, the supplier must send someone within four hours.”
An E.ON spokesman said: “We’re very sorry for any concern that this matter may have caused Ms Bell.
“Our meter operator has now resolved the problem with Ms Bell’s meter and she is now back on supply.
“We’ve also issued a new meter key for Ms Bell that will reimburse her for the credit lost, as well as an additional credit as a goodwill gesture for any inconvenience caused.”