Douglas shocked by letters from debt squad

Douglas Wharton can now sleep easier at night knowing he won’t get a knock at the door from bailiffs chasing him for money over his power bills.

He normally paid between £60 and £65 a month for gas and electricity for his two-bed flat in Shildon, County Durham.

But Douglas was shocked when he recently received an invoice for £583 for his duel fuel usage.

He called his provider Npower to question the amount but was further dismayed when it was recalculated at £782 – an amount which he could not afford to pay himself.

“I was then contacted by two debt collection agencies,” Douglas said. “My mum paid the bill so the bailiffs wouldn’t come, which they did anyway.”

Despite the outstanding amount being cleared by his mother in the middle of last month, Douglas was stressed when he then received a further letter from a collections agency about the matter.

He turned to Raw Deal and we contacted Npower on his behalf and asked them to investigate.

The good news is that there will now be no more letters or visits from debt collectors.

But unfortunately for Douglas, the company maintained his already-paid £782 bill was correct.

A spokesman for Npower said: “We had been using estimated meter readings as we hadn’t received any actual meter readings from Mr Wharton.

“We had been requesting them and had also attempted to read his meter but we were refused access.

“Mr Wharton provided us with an actual meter reading last month, which produced the £782.57 bill.

“When he paid the bill, there was a crossover with our debt collection agency.

“The debt collection agency has called us and we confirmed that full payment had been received.”

The spokesman added: “We will give Mr Wharton a call to explain what has happened and see if there is any further help we can offer.”