Several national newspapers had stated that Britain’s households have been told to prepare for blackouts as a result of Coronavirus – a claim that the North West’s power network says is simply not true.

Steph Trubshaw, customer director for Electricity North West, said: “In an extremely difficult time where people are working from home or self-isolating, people are reliant on electricity more than ever.

“Our teams of engineers have been identified as key workers by the Government in recognition of the critical role they play for all of us. They’re working hard, as they always do, to keep the power flowing 24/7, 365 days a year.

“We want customers to rest assured that all jobs have been risk assessed and that any work that they see us carrying out is essential work to keep power flowing to homes, businesses and hospitals across the North West.”

Despite the lockdown the network operator is continuing with its essential maintenance programme to ensure the network remains resilient throughout the coming weeks and months.

Electricity North West is responsible for maintaining and upgrading 13,000km of overhead power lines and more than 44,000km of underground electricity cables.

Ms. Trubshaw added: “It’s hard to believe, but unfortunately we’ve had members of the public challenging our teams and even being abusive to them for doing their essential roles. I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our teams for carrying out such important roles in such difficult circumstances.”

If any one does experience a power cut they can get updates at www.enwl.co.uk/powercuts or call for free on 105.