New mother in battle after electricity bill rises eight-fold

A MUM described a ridiculous £1,800 electricity bill for her small city flat as a joke – but she wasn’t laughing.

New mum-of-one Irsi Hyka, 24, was told to pay £1,790 based on ‘estimated readings’ for the Birmingham city centre apartment she shares with her two-month-old and partner.

The mum, pictured below, who is on maternity pay, was baffled as the price soared almost 800 per cent from around £200 every quarter. She first complained after receiving a £1,000 bill. Ms Hyka called SSE Energy Service to come and check her meter, but they failed to send anyone.

“They charged me £1,000 for a period of three months.” she said.

“This was insane; also it was summer months in which I haven’t stayed home most of the time – and my apartment is so small. I called them several times, I’ve been waiting on the line for so many days. They asked me to send to them for one week my meter reading through email and after that they never called back. I needed to give them a call back to book an inspector to see my meter because I was thinking it was broken. They booked me in for February 8 but they never came. I called them again they said we see that you have been booked but sorry we are going to arrange another meeting.”

They didn’t come again and told Ms Hyka the team were “extremely busy”, she says.

She was then advised her account would be placed on hold while another appointment was booked. But to her surprise, she received a ‘final notice before court action’ and a £100 fine for a late payment. She added: “I have a newborn baby so it was so difficult for me to get in touch anymore or wait on the line every day for more than 3-4 hours for no reason. So I paid. Even though I am really struggling and never used that much electricity I had no other choice.”

SSE Energy Service said her bill was based on ‘estimated readings’ and that Ms Hyka had provided five digit meter readings when her account was “set up to receive only four digit meter readings”.

Her readings were therefore being “manually changed” based on an accurate reading in 2019. The service said “due to a shortfall in service”, this was not picked up as “quickly as it could have been.”

The company apologised to Ms Hyka and said she would receive a refund and a £50 goodwill gesture.