ENERGY bosses have promised Whitton residents an end to their power cut misery and handed them a £150 sweetener.
About 70 homes in Rydal Gardens and Runnymede Road have been left without electricity on scores of occasions over the last decade, including 11 times in 2008 alone.
Elderly householders had to endure the bitter cold for more than 48 hours when they were plunged into darkness in early February.
One woman fell down and broke her hip during the blackout, while others were forced to seek warmth in nearby hotels. However, bosses at EDF energy recently made a public apology and promised they have fixed the fault for good.
At an open meeting in Whitton Baptist Church, on April 17, chaired by Twickenham MP Vince Cable, they claimed efforts to increase the 'flexibility of the network' meant engineers would be able to fix future problems much more quickly.
They also promised to increase compensation by £25 to £150 for all residential customers affected and to help with insurance claims over spilt freezer contents.
A spokeswoman for the company said: "We recognise how difficult this interruption was for our customers and we have drawn some valuable lessons from this incident for the future.
"We do understand how difficult it is being without electricity during such cold weather and we apologise for the inconvenience caused."
Helen Noble, of Rydal Gardens, said she was pleased by the assurances from EDF but could not understand why it had taken them so many years to address the problem.
"It was a terrible episode and I feel we could have got a bit more compensation but I'm glad they've apologised and fingers crossed it won't happen again," added the 77-year-old. "It could have been very serious for some elderly residents. I have a 14-year-old Yorkshire terrier and I had to fill a hot water bottle to keep him warm."
Mr Cable welcomed the steps taken by EDF but said the company had a 'terrible history of consumer service' in the area.
"There have been innumerable power cuts and in the big power failure in February the response was slow, confused and utterly inadequate," he added.EDF has written to residents in the area offering them compensation, but Ms Noble claimed some unscrupulous residents had claimed the cash despite not being affected.
