A mum told how she was forced to spend £170 on electricity in 12 days when her family were left with no hot water.
Sarah Wedge, 43, had to boil the kettle to get hot water and wash her children aged 16, 13, nine and four, racking up more in electricity costs in the ongoing crisis.
Residents were advised to shower at their family and friend's houses or use leisure facilities and be reimbursed by their local authority when the issue arose, Sarah said.
But her son, who is autistic, would not shower anywhere other than their home so Sarah had to resort to extreme lengths to keep the family clean.
"My son wouldn’t go anywhere else. There is no way to go to a leisure centre and our family live far away in Dagenham, Bristol, Lincolnshire, and Tilbury," she told My London.
The hot water first went off in Barking, Essex, on November 6 and did not come back on until November 18 according to Sarah who has been given a temporary boiler.
She believes the ongoing issue is related to a burst water pipe and that it will take until Christmas to fix.
A temporary boiler was installed, but Sarah claims the hot water took several more days to come back properly at her new build home.
She claims she was still having to boil the kettle for hot water until finally being able to run a hot bath on Friday, having spent an overall £170 on electricity in the 12 days without hot water.
At that point, she said no other compensation had been offered beyond the reimbursement for using leisure facilities' showers.
Barking and Dagenham Council has since said they have encouraged residents to come approach them about compensation.
Tracy Cook, 56, a 111 health advisor, was affected by the hot water issue and said the situation was a disgrace.
"The landlord tenant act 1985 section 11 states 24hrs," she said.
"I fully understand things break and go wrong, but when London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council have left an entire estate without hot water this long.
"You'd think there would be teams of workmen out trying to resolve the issue but no – just two men at a time and nobody at all over the weekend site closed up.
"To be told by Reside we should use family and friends or leisure centres to shower in the meantime is also a disgrace.
"Nearly all of us have been boiling untold amounts of full kettles to wash up, bath and strip wash, not to mention running of water to see if it comes hot.
"All a cost to us via electric and water bills and at such an unstable time when utility costs are a struggle anyway.
"Compensation in the form of money towards the added electricity we have had to use would be more appropriate. And of course running hot water."
Barking and Dagenham Council said it is a complex issue with "no quick fix".
A spokesperson said: “We have been working on fixing the issue with the boiler and installed a temporary boiler so residents can have access to hot water.
"Our staff have been on site since the problems arose and worked over the weekend to resolve the issue.
“This is a complex issue and so there is no quick fix. This is why we installed a temporary boiler. We know that there have been issues with the temporary boiler which staff have worked the whole weekend to resolve, and residents have confirmed that the hot water is now restored.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused the residents and anyone who feels they may have been out of pocket are welcome to get in touch.
"We have kept residents informed throughout and we continue to provide regular updates to the properties affected."
