An error in the new telephone book has caused headaches for the local woman.

The telephone directory lists the telephone number to report a power outage as 155. The correct number is 955.

Belco and Telco had not lost sleep over the error. But Ms Payne had.

Her home phone number was 295-5155. Because of the way the Belco telephone numbers are listed, that is the number people would often try after dialling 155 and not getting through.

She changed her phone number, but that did not help. People with power outages would call her old number and hear a recorded message from Telco advising that her number had been changed. They would then dial her new number, often leaving information about the power outage on Ms Payne's voice mail.

"It's a nuisance,'' Ms Payne told The Royal Gazette . "I'm getting phone calls at one and two o'clock in the morning.'' She first noticed the problem on May 14, when she received numerous phone calls reporting a power outage in St. George's.

She had her number changed a short time later, but the problem continued when people heard the Telco recording advising them of her new number.

Last week, she was deluged with calls from Church Street businesses after a Belco fault caused a power outage between King and Court streets at 9 a.m.

Belco crews had the power restored less than an hour later, Belco spokesman Ms Linda Smith said.

"We don't know the effect the misprint in the phone book is having on a convenience level,'' she said. "It's the people who we're not hearing from, so we wouldn't know.'' Belco was also unhappy with the way its company name was indented in the new phone book, making it difficult to find. "It looks like we are a subsidiary of the Bermuda Drug Company,'' Ms Smith said.

Telco apologised for the errors, she said.

As for Ms Payne, Telco suggested that she discontinue the recorded message which gave her new telephone number. But the Department of Tourism worker receives many personal and business calls from overseas, and does not wish to do that. She wanted Telco to place an ad advising Bermudians of the phone book error.

After numerous calls, Ms Payne said she finally got action from Telco last week. The phone company would make a change so that callers who dialled 155 were put through to Belco, she said.

"It's something that they could have done a long time ago,'' she said. Mr.

Ernest Pacheco, Telco's general manager, said the problem was only brought to his attention last week.

"We've taken steps to do what we can,'' he said. "We certainly can't publish the directory again. But we've taken steps to assure that if anyone dials 155 or 955, both numbers will terminate at Belco.'' Mr. Pacheco said the error was "unfortunate,'' and the size of the directory did not make even a few errors acceptable. "We make every effort to avoid such errors,'' he said.