Arriving to her store early on Sunday, Mrs Hagan found that the electricity was not on.

As she had been the victim of people switching her power off from her meter box a number of times in the past, Mrs Hagan thought this was the case again and went outside to switch the power back on.

However, the person(s) that had accessed her meter box had done more damage than previous incidents, with the protective casing around the main switch broken.

As she turned the power back on, Mrs Hagan touched an exposed wire and received a shock of 415 volts of electricity through her left arm.

The electrocution threw her backwards several metres and she landed on the brick pavement.

Although she has no recollection of it, Mrs Hagan was able to drive herself home after the incident, and her husband drove her to the hospital.

She underwent an electrocardiogram (ECG) and had tests for muscular damage in her left arm.

As she is aware of other incidents in town of people having their meter box vandalised, Mrs Hagan wants to warn people to take care when inspecting their meter boxes.

“I feel very lucky to still be alive,” Mrs Hagan said.

“If this is something that people are doing to a lot of meter boxes, sooner or later, somebody could die.

“I want people to be careful if they suspect somebody has been tampering with their meter box.”

As a costumier, Mrs Hagan is currently experiencing her busiest time of the year, with school formals coming up.

She is currently working thanks to the assistance of strong pain killers and is awaiting the results of the tests which will determine whether or not she has received permanent injury to her arm and hand from the electrocution.