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🇱🇹 Lithuania /Energy & Infrastructure

“I live alone with my child and care for the farm”: Woman has been without electricity for 12 days

From Delfi · () Lithuanian

Translated from Lithuanian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Laura Buivytė has been without electricity for 12 days at her farm in Žvikai village, where she lives with her child and cares for 20 horses.
  • A mistaken message from ESO said power had been restored, leaving her without the rented generator she had arranged.
  • Farmers brought pumps to replenish the horses’ water tanks after she struggled to obtain water and power equipment.

For Laura Buivytė, electricity is not a matter of comfort. She lives alone with her child and cares for 20 horses, and the power at her home and farm has been out for 12 days.

The outage began on the afternoon of Aug. 22 after a severe storm hit Lithuania. Buivytė searched for a generator and an electrician, eventually arranging both. The next day, while she was in town, ESO sent her a message saying power had been restored. She immediately asked the electrician to disconnect the generator and returned it to the rental point.

I live alone with my child and care for a farm with 20 horses. So in our case, the lack of electricity is not simply an inconvenience.

· Laura BuivytėShe explained why the prolonged outage created urgent problems for her household and horse farm.

The message was wrong. When Buivytė called ESO, the company apologized and said the notification had been sent too early because repairs were still under way. She saw a lift platform and workers at the fault site, but later encountered no more specialists. Power was eventually restored to other residents in the village, while only her homestead and a neighbor’s remained without service.

But the water will soon run out again. The animals cannot wait. There are 20 horses on the farm, and I have almost no help. I have to do practically all the work alone.

· Laura BuivytėShe described the continuing difficulty of supplying water to the horses.

The outage also cut off the farm’s water system. Buivytė carried water to the horses in buckets from a pond after the cisterns in the pastures ran dry. She contacted the local administration and even considered asking firefighters to refill the tanks. Farmers from Paliūniškis later brought pumps, but the water would soon run out again. The electric fence stopped working, batteries were losing charge, and she had to charge phones from her car.

“Who is responsible for giving a resident incorrect information about the restoration of electricity?” Buivytė asked. She also wanted to know what assistance was available for animals needing drinking water and who would cover the additional costs created by the outage.

Who is responsible for giving a resident incorrect information about the restoration of electricity?

· Laura BuivytėShe questioned the mistaken notification from ESO that power had been restored.
About this summary

Originally published by Delfi in Lithuanian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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