Cotswold Playhouse

On Friday I am ashamed to say I lost my temper.  I shouted down the phone to a lady at Npower, the electricity supplier to the Playhouse.  Or more precisely, the non-supplier.   

I am sure she is a very nice lady, but I completely lost my rag when she told me that we could not have our electricity supply restored for several more weeks, despite the fact that the same lady had told Crossleigh, the builders, on 16th January that it would be restored within 15 working days.  When I asked her why, she said that (a) we had not signed the Connection Agreement (a document it transpired we had never received), (b) a check has been carried out on the credit worthiness of the Cotswold Players’ honorary treasurer (why?) and (c), after (a) and (b) have been carried out, the work to reconnect us is issued to their meter installers who have a 12 day lead time.    After some pleadings that were clearly not going to get me anywhere, I asked her if I could speak to a Manager.  “I am a Manager” she replied, which rather took the wind out of my sails.  

After a pause at my end of the line while I gathered my thoughts, I asked her if I could speak to her manager and, after taking my number, she said that someone will ring me back.  Sure enough within 2 minutes I received a call from a very polite gentlemen, by which time I had recovered some, but not all, of my composure.   I recounted to him our desperate need to have electricity restored to the theatre and asked him why we could not have our supply back.  He reiterated what the lady had told me, in particular the fact that nothing could be done until we had signed the agreement.  When I told him we had never received it, he faxed it to me there and then, I signed it and faxed it back. 

He then told me that our new supply (we consider it a reconnection of an existing supply, not a new one) would have to be registered with MPAS, Meter Point Administration Service, which takes a few days and only then is it handed over to the meter installers, and their lead time is quite a few days.  However, I got the impression from him that he would do what he could to speed up the process.   I thanked him and said that I am sure he will do what he can but if the supply is not restored by 8th February I would make one hell of a stink in the media.  And I meant it.  

Watch this space.