Let’s do this together

I’ve been trying to help sort out my mum’s energy bills out since British Gas slapped her with a stonking bill.

But she’s been making it so difficult, I think my mum and British Gas actually deserve each other.

Like many oldies, Mum still pays quarterly and refuses to pay her bills by direct debit.

When we last had lunch together, she raised the problem, and I suggested: “Wouldn’t it be easier to pay monthly? That way big bills don’t mount up.”

“Oooh no,” she replied, suddenly getting very animated. “I’m not giving my bank details to those thieving ………!”

My mum doesn’t swear very often, but she reserves all her suspicion and vitriol for Camden Council, utility companies, the HS2 line, and any texts from the mobile-phone provider. These are usually just automatic messages warning her about data usage, but Mum thinks they are part of some cunning plot to rob her blind.

Anyway, she also chucks out all her old gas bills, so it’s been impossible to get her a new quote or sign her up to a fixed deal like Martin Lewis has recently recommended.

I started to suspect she didn’t want to move energy firms at all, and I finally threw the towel in when I got a text from her saying: “Don’t worry about moving me to E.on, better to deal with the devil you know!”

Then she added: “And it’s not so long ago Martin Lewis was telling people NOT to do fixed-price deals. He’s not a god – just a human.”

“That may well come as a shock to Martin Lewis himself,” I mumbled to myself. And then saw my mum’s final message to wish me safe travels before I went to Puerto Rico two weeks ago.

“Bon voyage, darling, and remember not to dress like a tourist.”

I sighed and then replied: “It’s not the 19th century, Mum. People don’t wear pith helmets and linen safari suits to go travelling any more!”

■ Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.