SOME Vale residents were facing their fourth successive night in cold and darkness yesterday as their electricity supplies remained cut off in the wake of the weekend's storms.

Despite the continued loss of power supplies, householders and businesses in the Vale still had no word from electricity supplier, Aquila Networks about whether they would receive compensation for the problems caused.

Anger among customers rose as the length of time they had been disconnected grew.

The company faced mounting criticism over the lack of information it was providing as people calling their hotlines were met with recorded messages, some of which had been overtaken by events.

Many of those affected felt Aquila should compensate them for the inconvenience they had suffered, as they were left without heating and cooking facilities.

Among them were pensioners, Michael and Irene Johnes, of Abberton Road, Bishampton. Mr Johnes, aged 67, speaking yesterday, said: "We've been off since 7.50am on Sunday morning.

"We have endeavoured to ring Aquila and we've been unable to get to speak to anybody at all."

He went on: "It's not only inconvenient; it's caused us damage in the house. We've lost a freezer full of food."

He added that he and his wife, who was 65, had an open fire. "But that's only in the lounge. The rest of the house is like a fridge," he said.

Mr Johnes added he would be "very, very angry, indeed" if he was not going to receive compensation. He had bought a small generator after losing his electricity and said: "It's cost me two gallons of petrol so far. We shouldn't have to do this."

Aquila, previously known as Midlands Electricity, said loss of freezer-stored food would have to be claimed on householders' own insurance policies, while the stormy weather was not, in itself, a reason for the company to automatically compensate those affected.

At the height of Sunday's storms, almost 24,000 properties were without electricity in Worcestershire.

Among areas hit were Evesham, Pershore, Badsey, Defford, Ashton-under-Hill, Wyre Piddle, the Littletons and Broadway.

Caroline Boots, communications manager for Aquila Networks, said that because of the large area affected, it had not been possible to reconnect all the towns and villages immediately.

Sunday's high winds had also hampered the efforts of Aquila staff to restore power supplies, although they had called in teams from other electricity companies to help out, she added.

Explaining that losses, such as food in freezers, would have to be claimed on household insurance, she went on: "In normal circumstances, we do make a payment, if we fall short with our standard of service. But there are circumstances in which we're not obliged to pay compensation."

These circumstances would be considered as "acts of God".

Sixty-three-year-old Adrian Bryan, from Badsey, was unhappy about the way Aquila had treated customers, saying: "I worked for the MEB for 32 years and it was never like this. We can't get any information except for recorded messages, which keep putting the time of reconnection back.

Caroline Boots defended the company's response to telephone callers, saying: "The only way we can deal with that is to use recorded messages for people."

She added: "While we appreciate the frustrations of not being able to talk to a human in these circumstances, we need to concentrate on supply."