RESIDENTS "blighted by power cuts" over the last year have demanded action after spending another day without electricity.

People in the Mill Hill area of Blackburn said it had been like "returning to the Stone Age" when the problem returned yesterday.

The latest power cut started on Friday afternoon when around 50 homes in the St James Street, Brindle Street, New Wellington Street and St Aidan's Avenue areas were without electricity for two hours.

Power was restored but went off again around 11.30am yesterday.

United Utilities said the problem was caused by a fault on an underground cable. Power was finally restored late last night.

Residents were unable to use cash machines at the TSB branch and a number of other businesses, including the Geloo Brothers Chemist, Fred Done bookmakers and Prestige Office Supplies were also without power.

Other residents were furious after freezers started to defrost and they were unable to use electric ovens and microwaves.

Several streets in the area were in darkness last night and people had to resort to lighting homes with candles.

Donna Wright, a mother of three, of Brindle Street, said: "United Utilities said I would have to claim for the contents of my freezer on my home insurance.

"I don't want to claim on my home insurance, because I will have to pay an excess fee and my premium will go up. My cooker is electric, my hob is electric. The food in my freezer has melted. It's a good job we had a couple of candles."

Donna's husband Scott, 33, said: "Things like this happen and we can deal with it but it is the older people in the area who might suffer. They will be cold and scared in the dark."

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: "Everyone is sick and tired of these problems. The power was off three times in the run up to last Christmas and four times afterwards. It was off on Friday and has been off for nearly 12 hours again.

"It is unacceptable in this day and age -- things weren't like this even when we had the miners' strike, it's been like returning to the Stone Age.

Ian Howard, owner of Prestige Office Supplies, in Brindle Street, said: "Most of our business comes through our fax line and internet ordering, so my business has been badly affected. I estimate that we have lost around £4,000 today."

A spokesman for United Utilities said that 50 houses had been affected by loss of electricity supply and that power was restored to all properties by 1am today.

He said: "The fault was an intermittent one caused by damage to an underground cable and was probably a result of heavy rain and atmospheric conditions.

"We were aware of the fault last Thursday but the affected cable is very hard to find.

"We were on site from midday yesterday until 1am and dug the road up in two places to find the cable, which was replaced.

"We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience and are grateful for their patience."

The spokesman said that previous power cuts in the area may have been as a result of the same fault in the cable.

Work was carried out in January last year to correct the fault but the must have fault reccured, he added.