Muck gets 24hr electricity supply for first time

ROUND-THE-CLOCK electricity has finally come to a remote island, where its 38 residents had to ration their use of power to just over nine hours a day.

The ten families on Muck, in the Inner Hebrides, are celebrating the fact they can now switch on to 24-hour electricity.

The new power scheme, funded by a Lottery grant of almost £1million, has brought an end to more than 40 years of power rationing.

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It also comes as residents on another Scots island, Canna, are enduring days of blackouts as a result of ‘unprecedented’ blizzards.

Residents on the so-called ‘Candle Island’ of Muck had struggled on sharing the power from a 10KiloWatt generator – with islanders having had to give each other slots to use washing machines.

The island first received electricity in 1970 but, until now, it had been available only from 7.30am to 11am and 5pm to 11.30pm. It meant they often missed the ends of films when their TVs cut out.

Muck Community Enterprise Company was handed the £978,840 last year to introduce a system of wind turbines and solar panels.

Director Mark MacEwen said: “It’s quite something to see it come to fruition.”

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