Apology from SSE as utility meters go haywire

SHOCKED customers of a major energy firm have received an apology after malfunctioning smart meters said they would be charged up to £33,000 for a day’s power.

Big Six provider SSE, based in Perth, said it had launched an urgent investigation into the faulty devices, one of which warned a customer they had overshot their daily budget by nearly three million per cent.

Complaints began appearing on the company’s Twitter page on Friday, with dozens of customers saying their meters were quoting thousands of pounds for 24 hours of gas and electricity.

One account holder tweeted SSE with a photo showing use of £33,183 of gas in one day – 2,765,175 per cent over budget. The following day the meter said the bill would be £27,022 for the day.

The average annual bill for a medium-sized house is around £830 in the UK where there are 4.9 million meters in homes and businesses.

The customer said: “Prices certainly gone up @YourSSE @SSE if my smart meter is accurate on my gas use over last few days! Like it warm but...”

Usman Hussain tweeted a picture of his meter saying he would be charged nearly £9,600 for his day’s power.

SSE said it was aware of an issue affecting “a small number” of its smart meters. A spokesman said: “Customers should rest assured their billing is completely unaffected as the technical issue only affects the digital display in their home, as opposed to the actual smart meter.

“We will be contacting any affected customers directly with more information and hope to get their in-home displays back to normal as soon as possible.”