Tales from a power cut: The elderly Napier couple using a candle to cook their toast

Ruth and Noel Dymond, 91 and 97 on West Quay in Ahuriri, Napier, satisfied their toast cravings with a candle cook-up. Photo / Paul Taylor

Ninety-seven-year-old Noel Dymond really loves toast.

But with no power, barbeque or gas stove, his wife Ruth, 91, has had to get creative at their home in West Quay, Ahuriri, over the past week to get him his favourite snack.

Holding a skewered piece of bread over the open flame of the candle, Ruth gradually toasts it - not quite to perfection - but definitely good enough for a bite to eat, she and Noel reckon.

“It does take a while, it could take up to 10 minutes and you have to stay there with it and it is not marvellous, but it just does the trick in the end,” Ruth said.

“The piece of toast at the end is quite nice.”

Ruth said cooking over an open fire was something she learnt when she was younger and she had simply adapted to using candles in this situation.

“The toast was just something we did home on the farm in Oz, and we had to toast over the open fire,” she said.

“Unfortunately one [candle] was shorter than the other, if I had it level it would have been better but never mind!”

She said they were very fond of marmalade and Noel sometimes had toast twice a day, with tomatoes in the evening.

Ruth said her neighbours were being so supportive and had recognised that the pair in their 90s would need an extra pair of hands.

“All our neighbours have been absolutely fabulous, very helpful, but nobody was bringing me a slice of toast,” Ruth laughed.

The Dymonds have remained without power for six days as of Sunday, but light is on the horizon for several Napier suburbs which Unison plans to restore power to in the next 48 hours.

Suburbs Marewa, Onekawa, Tamatea, Greenmeadows, Bledisloe Park and the rural Hastings community of Whakatu were marked as planned restoration areas by Unison as of 5pm Saturday.

Unison said in a statement on Saturday that power had been restored to 6300 consumers in Hawke’s Bay, nearly 6000 in Napier and over 400 in Hastings.

As of 5pm Saturday, 27,000 consumers remained without power in Hawke’s Bay, 22,500 in Napier and 4,200 in Hastings.

Eastland Network said that as of 3pm Saturday there were 1070 customers without power across their network in Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti, including 230 in Wairoa.

Power had been restored to over 1300 residents since Friday.

Central Hawke’s Bay has had power restored to most residents since Friday.

Centralines’ website said about 47 households remained affected by power outages across the district as of Sunday.