More than 1,000 households without gas could lose their electricity too, a power firm has warned.

Around 1,300 homes in Wythenshawe still have no hot water or heating, six days after a water main burst, flooding gas pipes with more than 50,000 litres of water. Most of the 63 affected streets will remain cut off over the weekend, while engineers pump out the water.

And National Grid bosses now fear the local electricity network could overload as people use electric heaters given out to help them keep warm.

A spokesman for the supplier said: "The electricity company told us to stop giving out heaters and hot-plates because if everyone switches them on at once it could overload the network."

People in Wythenshawe described how they had been coping with the cuts.

Walter Williamson, 66, from Robinswood Road, said he had slept in four jumpers for the past three nights. He said: "It’s been freezing cold. It’s warmer out here than in the house."

Patricia Snowdon, 53, a patient services assistant from Longlevens Road, said she had been issued with an electric heater but told to limit its use. She said: "We’ve been told to use the heaters ‘sparingly’ otherwise there could be a power surge."

Her sister-in-law Deborah Smith, 47, an air services assistant, from Oxton Avenue, said: "I got suspicious when they began to deliver the heaters on Monday evening because it showed they knew that we would be in this for the long haul."

Affected households will be entitled to compensation of up to £30 a day, which will be automatically paid out to customers.

An incident room has been set up at the Willow Park Housing Trust HQ on Poundswick Lane.

A National Grid spokesman said: "We are getting results, but it’s a long process and people will have to bear with us."

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