HOMEOWNERS and businesses in the region left in the dark after the New Year power cuts are to miss out on compensation.

Customers without power for more than 48 hours are liable for a payout of £25.

But Northern Electric Distribution (NEDL) - responsible for the power line network across the region - said that all 51,000 customers affected by the blackout were re-connected within the time limit.

The guidelines, introduced in November by industry regulator Ofgem, state that those without power for more than two days can claim £25 compensation, plus another £25 for each subsequent 12 hour period, up to a maximum of £200.

The compensation policy has caused anger among homeowners and the many pubs and restaurants that lost business on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The Village Inn at Brompton, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, had to cancel 200 meals when its electricity went off.

It was reconnected after 14 hours, but joint owner Liz Barber said: "We can't get a single penny in compensation."

The power was off for only four hours at the Blue Bell Hotel in Belford, Northumberland, but staff there estimate it cost them more than £1,000 in lost business on one of their busiest nights of the year.

"It couldn't have happened at a worse moment," said assistant manager Sareth Atkin. "That was our last night to rake in serious money before spring."

A spokesman for Ofgem said: "This compensation is quite a big step forward because there was nothing in place before.

"It is just an incentive for suppliers to get their lines up and working again."

The blackouts hit a huge area from Berwick to northern Lincolnshire and across to the Pennines. The last properties to be reconnected were in Malton and Whitby, North Yorkshire.