N-Power apologies for trying to break into curry house

AN energy company has been forced to apologise after trying to break into an Edinburgh takeaway to disconnect the gas – and then found out it did not supply it.

Sonor Miah, 35, manager of Eastern Spices Takeaway on Canonmills Bridge, told how he received a call from a friend who spotted two men trying to force their way into his store.

He raced to the scene to find out what was going on and was told they were there on behalf of energy company N-Power to disconnect his gas over an allegedly unpaid bill totalling more than 1700.

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Mr Miah insisted that he has been supplied by Scottish Power for the past 15 years, but his protests fell on deaf ears and the men resumed trying to enter his shop.

He said: "I asked them to wait until I got my keys and I would let them in to sort the thing out, but they were very impatient. They said if I didn't return within ten minutes, their locksmith would break into the store."

The men were finally let into the store after Mr Miah dashed home for the keys.

He said: "I managed to get back in time and I let them in the shop and showed them to my meter. When they checked the serial number, they confirmed that they had got the wrong meter."

Mr Miah said the incident was the culmination of more than a year's worth of problems with N-Power.

He added: "I started receiving bills from N-Power with our address but in the wrong name, so I would just write 'Return To Sender' on the front and put them back in the post, but the bills kept coming.

"We phoned them and explained the confusion, but, as usual with these big companies, you get put on hold, transferred around, told that the problem will be sorted and end up back at square one.

"About three months ago we received a lawyer's letter, again in the wrong name, which we replied to and explained the confusion one more time, but again the letters kept coming.

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"Finally, I instructed my bookkeeper to phone them and sort it out about two weeks ago. Despite N-Power's assurances that we would no longer be hassled, I turned up at the takeaway on Thursday morning and found two men trying to break down the door.

"The whole thing has been an absolute nightmare."

An N-Power spokeswoman apologised for the mix-up: "I can confirm that there had been a mix-up, where N-Power had been billing them despite the fact that we were not their suppliers.

"Despite the owner's insistence that they don't want anything from us other than an apology, a good-will gesture has been arranged, alongside an official written apology from the company."