£66k leccy bills gave me shock of my life
Goodwill gesture after ‘unacceptable’ service
A PENSIONER got the shock of his life when he was hit with three electricity bills for more than £22,000 each.
Retired marine engineer Bill Glasson, 85, received three demands for payment within the space of a week. And he told how he is “about to blow a fuse” over the bills from energy supplier Scottish Power. He blames the stress of the situation for his 81-year-old wife Margaret being “carted off to hospital” on Wednesday morning. Bill, from Dumfries, said: “I don’t understand what’s going Bill with massive demands on, but I’m getting nowhere and don’t know where to turn to next.
“Since we moved into our house in Grant Court in 2014 we were paying £56 a month for electricity and our usage never fluctuated. About a year ago we got a letter from Scottish Power welcoming us to the company.
“I wrote back saying we’d been customers since the company came into existence about 30 years ago.” Bill then received another letter saying the cost of his electricity would be rising. So he upped his payments to £75 a month. But two weeks ago, he was left reeling with a bill for £7000.
When he phoned the company complaints department he claims he was told to forget it for now. However, just days later, a bill for £22,600 arrived. And another four days later – and another a day after that.
Bill said: “That was the last straw. I felt stressed out up to my eyeballs.” Scottish Power said: “We’re very sorry for the significant errors with Mr and Mrs
Glasson’s energy bills and the poor customer service they experienced following a change to their electricity meter in 2014.
“The billing issues should have been picked up and addressed much earlier and we failed to do so, which is unacceptable.
“We’ve now fully reviewed and corrected the account, leaving a credit balance of more than £2000, which will be refunded. We’re also giving the Glassons a further goodwill payment of £500 and we apologise again for the failures in the service provided.”