And now the news from Islington...

Restaurant fury over power cuts*

23 December 2009

RESTAURANTS in Clerkenwell claim they have lost thousands of pounds worth of Christmas trade because energy company EDF has failed to stop power cuts at their busiest time of the year.

For the past two weeks, dismayed restaurant owners have had to cancel Christmas parties, turn away customers at the front door and watch service come to an abrupt halt as diners have been plunged into darkness by blackouts.

Traders have been forced to wait up to seven hours for an engineer, and they say EDF - backer of the London Olympics - has refused to offer a back-up electricity supply to keep disruption at a minimum.

Nick Male, owner of The Larder restaurant in St John Street, said: "After a tough couple of years we were geared up for December with fantastic bookings for the Christmas season.

"But I've lost thousands of customers having to cancel their parties because we have no power and watched others sit in darkness as the power pings off time and time again.

"Operationally it is the worst thing I've seen throughout 22 years in the industry. We have phoned EDF up to 20 times a day but they just don't care. Our bookings system goes down, till and ordering systems, fridges, computers - everything. It is a complete nightmare. Sometimes we have limited power, sometimes none at all.

"Every day we are told conflicting reports and have no idea when power will be fully restored. They just say they are working on it, but we can see nothing is happening.

"I can't risk it anymore and have hired a generator to ensure we can stay open. That costs over ?4,000 a week for hire and fuel but they refuse to pay for it and refuse to have engineers working around the clock to fix the problem.

"I've thrown thousands of pounds worth of food away and watched my customers sit in the dark while I find another restaurant for them to eat in."

Some companies fear the loss of custom caused by the disruptions, which have lasted up to 14 hours at a time, could force them out of business. And according to Antonio Correia, who owns Portal, in St John Street - a favourite of former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho - says the problem is not a new one.

"It's the third year we've had these problems and I've probably lost up to ?100,000 in all," he said. "Despite numerous phone calls to EDF no-one can ever tell us when the problem will be sorted out and the power will come back on.

"You never get any compensation because EDF says you are only entitled if the power's off for 18 hours in a row, so they make sure it comes back on just before the time limit then it goes off again 20 minutes later. It's appalling."

An EDF spokeswoman said: "EDF Energy Networks sincerely apologises to an isolated number of customers in the St John's Street area for recent problems they have encountered with their electricity supplies due to a complex fault on the electricity network.

"We appreciate how difficult it is to be without power, particularly at this time of year. "Our engineers have carried out a significant amount of investigative and repair work in the area and are continuing to monitor the situation.

"We do encourage customers who rely on power for commercial reasons to arrange alternative supplies for times like this.

"Our regulator, Ofgem, sets the level of payments and when that would apply. If it takes us more than 18 hours to restore power customers can claim a Guaranteed Standard payment of ?50 for a residential customer, or ?100 for business customers.

"Customers who have experienced four or more power cuts in a year, each of more than three hours, can claim a ?50 payment.

"We recognise there is no way a regulated payment like that can compensate customers for the losses they might incur during a power cut but these are the guidelines which we have to work to.

*Normally its' all about stabbings, guns, gangs and rape so this is the Islington equivalent of s good news story

Posted By: Fierce Panda, Dec 23, 12:04:31