Dapto small bar Little Joe's has been forced to throw out thousands of dollars worth of rotting food after the power was mysteriously switched off by supplier AGL.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Co-owner Amanda Kowalczyk said the company turned off the power without warning on Monday, despite her business being up to date on bills.
The lack of power was only detected on Wednesday when a staff member arrived at the Princes Highway venue for a stock delivery.
After spending hours on the phone Ms Kowalczyk was told AGL had directed Endeavour Energy to switch off the power to the venue, but that there had been some mix-up with accounts.
"We didn't have an overdue bill, it was nothing like that, it wasn't even meant to be our electricity," she said.
"The bill we've been paying apparently isn't our bill."
AGL is now investigating the mix-up, which a spokeswoman said appeared to have originated from the business being signed up to the wrong meter.
Describing the situation as a "shemozzle", Ms Kowalczyk said she just wanted an explanation and an assurance of compensation.
"Long story short, I ended up losing about $2000 worth of stock," she said.
"We lost all of our meat, cheeses and things like that, all of our frozen foods like fish and bread, so that's all been defrosted.
"We were lucky we got in there [on Wednesday], it was a bit smelly because of all the food that had started to go off, if it had been any longer it would have taken a week to get rid of the smell."
Little Joe's, which only opens Thursdays to Saturdays, missed out on a night's trade because of the power cut.
"Our staff are only casual so I've had to say don't come in tonight, so then they're not getting paid - it's just a domino effect," Ms Kowalczyk said.