Owners devastated as energy bill debts force closure of Kettering cafe

Cafeness in Market Street Mews shut suddenly on June 26 after debt collectors cut its electricity supply off, just a week after the venue hosted Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner on the general election campaign trail.

They were in arrears with suppliers Valda Energy who say they made repeated attempts to contact the cafe without response – something they have disputed. This newspaper has seen correspondence from debt collectors Conexus, on behalf of Valda, dated in January.

Cafeness owner Ilona Lungu, who ran it with her partner Catalin Panaite, said they were told they owed £2,700, which then rose to £4,000.

She said: “I was so upset. We had customers inside when they (debt collectors) came.

"I cried all day and didn’t sleep. We cannot pay £4,000 in one go.”

The cafe, which sold sandwiches, cakes and more, opened in April 2023 and hoped to become a second home for its customers.

It fell into arrears with Valda Energy in January, the energy firm says, but the story of their difficulties took a twist in April.

Correspondence seen by this newspaper shows the cafe was contacted by a man whose email heading was ‘Valda Energy’ and email signature included a picture of the Valda Energy logo. His email said he had prepared them a ‘selection of energy quotes’.

They believed he was from Valda Energy – but he was not and was actually a broker who had no connection to the firm.

Catalin said they spoke to the man on the phone and that he told them to send him their meter readings, that their meter was faulty and not to pay bills until a new one was fitted soon.

But two months later, now owing thousands of pounds and without electricity, they have had to close and are looking to sell up.

Catalin said: “It was the end of our business.

"We do not have that kind of money just sitting somewhere. We have no option but to close and sell.”

A spokesperson for Valda Energy said: “When any of our customers experience difficulties in paying their energy bills, we offer compassion and support. We encourage them to have an early and open dialogue with our collections team and we have in place a structured communications process.

“Cafeness has been a Valda customer since July 2023 and fell into arrears on its energy account in January this year. Valda made multiple attempts to contact the customer to discuss a way forward, which could have included a payment plan, but we had no response.

“We carried out a visit to the premises in April and met with the customer who assured us they would be in contact to discuss the account but, again, no contact was forthcoming. Weekly calls were subsequently made to the customer from the end of May until the end of June with no response.

“We would never telephone a customer and advise them not to pay their bill. However, we were not aware of the scam phone call until June. Had we been in contact with the customer, we would have been able to verify that the person who contacted them was not from Valda.

“The customer has been billed for their energy use as per the meter readings provided to us, plus a disconnection charge. Where we have no choice but to disconnect customers, we have a robust notification process. Reconnection times can vary depending on the meter type. As the customer has a physical meter, this could take up to 14 days.”

Anyone interested in buying the Cafeness business should call 07587 911006.