Homes and businesses which lost electricity supplies as a result of Sunday's storm will not be able to claim compensation, power company Aquila said yesterday.

In a statement, the company said its normal obligation to compensate customers "does not apply in exceptional circumstances, such as the very destructive windstorm that swept across the country".

A spokesman for industry regulator Ofgem said consumers could appeal against Aquila's decision to Energy Watch, which can refer cases to Ofgem for arbitration.

Normal compensation is £50 per customer if the power is off for at least 18 hours and a further £25 for each subsequent 12-hour period.

West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer said: "I'm writing to the chief executive of Aquila to say that many of my constituents were off-line for four or five days and suffered losses. I will press the case for competition."

Several houses in Hanley Castle were still without power yesterday (Thursday) morning, more than 96 hours after the storm which knocked out electricity supplies.

Blackouts began on Sunday at about 3am in Worcestershire and 5am in Herefordshire. At their height they affected some 45,000 customers across the two counties.

Parts of Great Malvern, Ledbury, Bromyard and Newent were all affected, along with rural areas.

Penny Tennant-Thomas, of Hanley Castle, still had no power by yesterday morning.

She said: "Most of the village was back on by 5pm on Tuesday but about eight houses, including mine, still aren't. People are keeping themselves warm with fires. I phoned the emergency line at 6.30pm on Tuesday but there was no reply."

She borrowed a generator from friends to keep the freezer going and moved in with friends.

Rosalind Davies, of Hanley Swan Post Office and Stores, said their power was not restored until about 5pm on Tuesday.

"We had to throw out 40 bags of fresh and frozen produce. We couldn't open the post office because there was no power for the computer."

Power in Poolbrook, Malvern, was restored on Monday evening.

Sheenaugh McMahon, assistant manager of Dillons One-Stop in Poolbrook Road, said the shop had only been able to open for a couple of hours on Sunday and Monday morning.

"We've lost an awful lot of frozen and chilled foods," she said.

Graham Smith, landlord of the Three Horseshoes, said his power went off at 11.45am on Sunday and did not come back on until about 9.20pm on Monday.

"I lost a lot of trade and the contents of the freezer as well," he said.