I regularly make purchases at the two shops mentioned in your article (‘Power cuts force businesses to close’, Times Series, November 13) – Boulangerie Joie De Vie café and the Natural Health Shop – and I am horrified that they and other businesses in the same area in North Finchley are still suffering regular power cuts.

When I visited one of these shops, the staff were busy setting up their computer after yet another power failure, which meant customers were having to wait in order to pay.

In an age when mankind has been clever enough to land a probe on a comet 300 million miles from Earth, how is it possible that UK Power Networks are not clever enough to carry out a permanent repair to a cable under Ballards Lane?

Of course, there is no way UK Power Networks can compensate all of the customers who have been inconvenienced by their incompetence, but are they fully compensating the businesses for all the custom they have actually or potentially lost, and the time the staff have had to spend in setting up systems each time the power is restored?

Julia Boundy

Etchingham Park Road, Finchley