I feel abandoned, says pensioner with broken cooker

Mavis Le Prevost, 83, contacted Guernsey Energy – formerly Guernsey Gas – when her Hotpoint cooker broke and was advised that a technician would come in to fix it.

It took multiple visits from the technician before the company ordered a replacement.

However, the replacement cooker could not be fitted as it did not have a lid for the stove, so it was returned to the warehouse’s showroom.

Since then Mrs Le Prevost has been cooking meals in her slow cooker, but it is costing her a lot of money.

‘Microwaves are meant for reheating things, not cooking meals. I don’t like these ready meals, they’re very expensive and you don’t really know what’s inside of them,’ said the great-grandmother.

‘I’d not even had this cooker for a year. Since it broke I’ve been living off bread and jam and cup-a-soups mostly. I’ve been to their showroom at Longstore too many times now, and phoned them.’

When she last visited the assistant said they would check upstairs and call her back, but a week later has still heard nothing.

‘I can’t even make a cake,’ said Mrs Le Prevost.

‘I went to the supermarket last week and I thought I’d buy some meat and make a shepherd’s pie, then I remembered that I can’t, so I put it back down again.

‘I’m really fed up, I’ve just recovered from an operation so to begin with I couldn’t get out of the house by myself. I want to make a bean jar but of course I can’t until my cooker gets sorted.

‘I said when this all started at least it’s not too cold but we’ve had some horrible weather since. I could have gone to the chippy but I don’t want to.

‘I don’t care if it’s sky blue pink, or if it has polka dots on it, I just want a working cooker,’ she said.

Her son Colin Le Prevost said: ‘It’s absolutely disgusting. For a woman in her eighties to not have a working oven over winter, it’s not good enough. We’ve all chipped in to help her but this should be on Guernsey Energy’s shoulders.’

‘They should at least have a back up, they don’t keep a lot of spare parts in stock either. It’s costing my mother more and more money because she can’t cook the food in her freezer,’ he said.

Island Energy was approached for a comment, but declined to respond.