ELECTRICITY supplier EDF Energy is insisting it won't be handing out compensation to residents across Kent who went without power during this week's storms.

The freak weather caused about 45,000 homes across the South East at some point to suffer faults.

EDF Energy said that due to the severe nature of the storms, only those customers without power for at least 48 hours would be offered compensation.

Villagers in Birling, near Rochester, suffered a power cut from about 11am on Wednesday until about 3pm the following day.

One resident, Andy Rayfield, of Snodland Road, said: “When you’ve been without power for more than 24 hours, the inconvenience has to be acknowledged. We were lucky, my girlfriend’s mother in Medway let us use her freezer.”

In normal circumstances, customers will be offered compensation after 18 hours without power. But yesterday's storm hit up to 20,000 homes across Kent and three times as many in the whole of the South East.

A spokeswoman for EDF Energy said that the industry regulator OFGEM classed such a storm as an extraordinary situation where customers would not receive the usual compensation.

She said: “The storm was massive. We had 60,000 customers off during the course of the storm.”

She said that the remaining customers without power would be reconnected as soon as possible. I can’t give an estimated time,” she said.

Meanwhile lightning destroyed a 50ft tree in Canterbury during the torrential downpour. Chunks of the conifer - some 8ft long - rained down around the tree while some smashed holes in a nearby farmhouse.

No one was injured in the incident which happened at 3pm off Spring Lane. Police, firefighters and ambulance crews all raced to the scene.

Richard Willingham, the station commander at Canterbury fire station, said: "The tree just exploded and sent the debris 50 yards.

"Anyone walking around here could have been seriously hurt, but the Kent Fire and Rescue Service has checked the premises and established that no one was injured."

The incident happened during a torrential downpour punctuated by ferocious thunderclaps.

Niamph Arnett, from EDF Energy, spoke KM-fm about the compensation issue...