FURIOUS shopkeepers on a high street are counting the cost of three power cuts in a week.

Businesses in Sun Street, Waltham Abbey, were without power for most of Monday, Tuesday, and Friday last week, as EDF struggled to discover the reason for the cut in supply.

The Co-op store was forced to throw away 95 per cent of its frozen food stock and cancel resupplies coming from its warehouse.

Temporary store manager Pri Gamage said: “As a society we've lost a lot of money, but our biggest concern isn't the money. We are disappointed we have let the customers down three times. The majority of our customers are elderly people. Other people can go to Tesco in the car, but we have let down the elderly people looking for fresh food for three days. It's a big disappointment for Waltham Abbey.”

A number of businesses were affected by the power cuts, including Barclays bank and the Prudential.

Denise Saunders, who owns cosmetic company Elysee, in Sun Street, said she was so fed up with continual power cuts she was thinking of relocating.

She said: “On Monday we were without power until the evening. We had no office equipment at all. On Tuesday we had a major customer coming in and I had to book a room at the Marriott Hotel to have that conference.

“I spent all Wednesday without a scanner or a photocopier because they couldn't repair it, and if you are working on an account on the computer and there's a power cut it's completely gone.

“EDF aren't doing anything to help. They don't seem to start work until 4pm. I phoned up customer services and the best the guy could come up with was 'power cuts happen'.

“I'm seriously thinking of relocating my business. Since I moved here in January there's been at least seven power cuts.”

A spokeswoman for EDF said: "EDF Energy Networks engineers worked late into the night on Friday (November 27) in order to repair an underground cable fault that had twice earlier disrupted power supplies over the previous few days to customers in the Sun Street area of Waltham Abbey. The repair was completed at 11.06pm.

"We apologise to those affected by this incident and for the time taken to locate and repair the fault, as we do understand how inconvenient it can be to have no power, especially at this time of year."

Despite EDF assurances that the problem was fixed, a number of businesses were affected by a further powercut today (November 30)

The spokeswoman added: “EDF Energy Networks sincerely apologises to three customers in the Sun Street area of Waltham Abbey who experienced an interruption to their power supply between 1.24pm and 2.45pm today. We are committed to providing a reliable supply of electricity and our engineers are currently looking into the cause of this incident.”