In the past two weeks, residents in Shaw Hill Street say they have suffered more than 15 blackouts forcing some people to buy candles, torches and batteries.

Bizarrely, the electricity problems only seem to affect part of the street, with around 20 homes left in darkness each time.

Residents say they are sick of reporting the problems and are calling for action.

Mum Adele Speakman, 22, is seven months pregnant with her second child and is furious.

She said: "It is ridiculous - we can't even have a shower or cook the tea because the power keeps cutting out.

"I can't make breakfast for the little one some days and, not only that, but what am I going to do when I have to start making bottles for the new baby, which is due in August?

"My partner can't even have a brew or a shower when he gets in from a hard day's work.

"We shouldn't have to live like this - something has got to be done."

Neighbour Mary Hodgkinson, 67, says she has reported the problem on a daily basis for the past two weeks.

"I'm sick of reporting it," she said. "I keep ringing the emergency number on my electricity bill and they just say they aren't aware of the problem.

"It's not on - we can't run a bath or cook the tea because everything is electric."

Across the road, Jeanette Latham, 47, said: "All this can't be doing our appliances any good. For instances, everyone's fridge freezers keep getting switched off and that could be dangerous.

"At first the power used to go off for about an hour but now it is getting worse."

On Thursday, last week, residents were left without electricity between 5.30am - 9am and again from 10.30am till after noon.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "We apologise to residents for any inconvenience caused and we assure them that we are doing everything in our power to sort out the problem as soon as possible.

"The problem we face, however, is that there is a developing fault on the network, which means it is virtually impossible for us to pinpoint the source of the fault.

"We currently have an engineer on site carrying out investigations and we will do whatever it takes to get to the source of the problem as soon as we can."