Couple Facing Twelve Days Without Power: Jonas and Ann-Sofie

Published 7 Jan 2026 at 9:18 p.mUpdated at 21:39

Over 700 households in Gävleborg are still without power – almost twelve days after the storm’s arrival.

Jonas Hedin and his partner are struggling with a gas stove and a growing mountain of dishes in the villa outside Bollnäs.

– It feels somewhat hopeless, he says.

Storms Johannes and Anna have caused it for many, especially in Gävleborg County. There, around 700 households have been without power since midday, according to Ellevio.

Jonas Hedin, 42, and his partner Ann-Sofie live outside Bollnäs. For the past twelve days it has been dark in their villa.

Several neighbors are in the same situation, although some have had power restored.

– Many here are very tired and feel that now it will be enough, says Jonas Hedin.

Uses a gas stove

To cope with everyday life, they fire in a wood-burning stove and use electricity for the fridge and freezer as well as circulation pumps to spread heat in the house.

– We don’t freeze. The problem is water. Because we have animals, horses and stuff. So we get rid of many, many liters a day that we have to go and collect, he says.

In these times, cooking can become very simple.

– There will be a lot of basic food, so to speak. We have a gas stove where we heat simple things. There will be no gourmet cooking, says Jonas Hedin.

Affects everyday life

Jonas describes how everyday life nowadays consists of keeping everything fluid and trying to solve concrete problems.

They can neither wash dishes nor wash clothes. The couple also has an electric car that they cannot use.

In addition to the power outage, they have close to a meter and a half of snow outside the door that needs to be shoveled.

– You have a mountain of dishes and 15 washing machines that you can run when the electricity is back. You have just accepted that it is the way it is. Not much can be done, he says.

Unclear messages

During the day, Jonas was told that repairmen would come during the evening.

– They say they will come as soon as they can, but we have not seen the smoke from them, he says and adds:

– Then you understand that they are not responsible for the wind and the weather.

Something he wanted, however, was clearer information from the electricity company Ellevio.

– We have not received much information at all. They are always good with information so that you can plan and know what to do, says Jonas Hedin.

Ellevio: “Very serious situation”

Ellevio states that they are working intensively to solve the errors and that 180 people worked on repairing the network during Wednesday.

– The situation is still very complicated and serious. This is the biggest storm we’ve had since Gudrun. There are tens of thousands of trees that blew down and broke the electricity grid. At the same time as the weather was absolutely the worst imaginable to work in, says the company’s press communicator Jonatan Björck.

He says he understands the customers’ frustration, but also that it has been difficult to set realistic forecasts.

– At the beginning of the storm, it was difficult to get an overview because we lacked information about the situation. When the mobile masts were knocked out, SMS communication did not work and many messages never reached the customers. There are definitely lessons we will take with us and things we will do differently going forward.