Businesses pressing their electricity company for compensation for a series of power cuts in Balham have been backed by Wandsworth Council.

The council said the cuts, on EDF’s network, cost more than 50 businesses about £250,000 between December 28 and January 16.

Stephen Garvett, manager of the Blithe Spirit pub, in Balham High Road, said it suffered 15 blackouts which had seen them lose more than £13,000 – £7,000 in sales and £6,000 because of food going off and damage to equipment from power surges.

The Exhibit restaurant and bar and cinema was forced to close down completely for 11 nights and Balham Railway Station had to shut on three occasions.

The council received complaints that EDF was slow to respond and ineffective and that an emergency telephone number they provided only offered a recorded message about another fault.

Councillor Edward Lister, Wandsworth Council’s leader, has now written to the energy provider to request a proper explanation and full compensation.

He said: “EDF repeatedly plunged the town centre into darkness during the busiest shopping period of the year and so far their response has been completely unacceptable.

“They failed to handle the crisis properly, and now they’re drastically understating its financial impact.

“We want real compensation for local businesses and guarantees that this will not happen again.”

A spokesman for Energy Networks said customers were entitled to payments if electricity distribution companies failed to meet certain standards.

He said: “Such payments are not ‘compensation’ and do not take into account individual inconvenience or losses. However, they are intended to demonstrate goodwill in a consistent, fair and speedy way in response to a significant incident.”

He added the company was arranging to meet council managers but defended the answerphone system.

He said: “These recorded messages are the fastest way for us to answer calls and ensures that emergency lines are not clogged up with people calling to report the same incident.

"We are sorry to hear that customers found it difficult to get through on this line.”