Dark choice for off-grid families: pay £60,000 or use a torch

theguardian.com:

W hen Annette Walton wants to do some cooking on a winter evening, she straps on a head torch to guide herself around. In a home that does not have constant electric lighting, even simple chores are impossible without it.

Walton, 53, has lived in her home in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, since she was nine. It’s one of about 2,000 around the country that have never been connected to the electricity grid.

Instead, she relies on a generator, but the spiralling cost of even low-tax red diesel, averaging £1 a litre, means she can only afford to run it two hours a day. Generators can use about five litres an hour, so keeping the lights on in winter is an expensive business.

It is a common problem for those who live off-grid. Campaigners say many households have asked to be connected but have been handed bills of £60,000 or more by power distribution companies.

Christine Nicholls from Community Action Northumberland, which supports vulnerable people, says some children wash in streams because it’s easier than generating enough electricity for a shower.

“One householder has to refill her generator with diesel twice to have one bath. We have children coming home to a dark house and doing homework with head torches.”

There are 350 homes without mains electricity in Northumberland, and Nicholls has started a campaign, Powerless People, to help them. Many cannot use washing machines, hairdryers, power showers or freezers because they need more power than their generators can produce.

The 2,000 unconnected homes in England existed before electricity was rolled out. Some are in remote locations where cost prohibited them being connected; others are in national parks where overhead powerlines were not permitted; some were empty when the