An elderly couple were terrified to turn on the heating after they were hit with staggering £1,200 monthly electricity bills.
Bernard and Pat Hampson, from Huyton, were overcharged by more than £10,000 for electricity over a period of six years due to a major error by their supplier, OVO Energy.
Pat, 69, said: “We expected our bills to be quite high because my mother was living with us. She was in her 90s and always had the heating on. But when she died in October 2021 the bills didn’t go down, - they started to go up.
READ MORE: Bully snapped ten of his girlfriend's phones when drunk
"We were just heating up one room in the house - it was a nightmare. We’d be on the phone for hours trying to sort it but wouldn’t get anywhere.”
The couple, who have lived in their semi-detached house for 34 years, submitted their energy readings each month, but continued to be sent the eye-watering bills which left them £2,000 in arrears.
Bernard, 70, a retired Halewood car plant worker said: “It was like they didn’t think I was doing it right. They even sent someone out to check it and we were told it would be looked into, but nothing got done.
“It was when we spoke to a neighbour that we realised we were paying a lot more than we should have been.”
After months of phone calls to OVO Energy, Bernard and Pat enlisted the help of Liverpool-based CEL Solicitors, who issued court proceedings in November 2022. It was then that the energy giant finally investigated the cause of the couple's extravagant bills.
Bernard said: “It turns out they had been taking our metric readings as imperial and then converting it to metric - so we were being charged three times what we should have been.
“We went on holiday for two weeks and the bill was still more than £500. We hadn’t even been there a full month."
It was discovered Bernard and Pat's troubles dated back to 2016, when they had a smart meter installed by their then provider SSE, which was taken over by OVO Energy.
Over a period of six years, the couple overpaid £10,478.25 on their energy bills, becoming fixated on their electricity usage as a result.
Bernard said: “I worked out that our Sunday dinner was costing £6 to make.”
The case was settled out of court on March 27 after OVO Energy agreed to pay the couple back the £10,478.25 they were owed, along with £6,000 in interest and compensation.
Gavin Spruin from CEL Solicitors said: “Mr and Mrs Hampson's situation is appalling but, unfortunately, is not uncommon. There are likely thousands of people in a similar position.
“Individuals may think that their energy bills are high because of current global events but in many cases the reason is an energy provider making the wrong assumption. This could be assessing it as square foot cubed or meters cubed when the opposite is true, faulty meters and smart readers that give incorrect readings, or your details being wrongly inputted on the energy providers’ national database.
“At a time when people are having to decide between heating and eating, it's disappointing to see the lack of urgency by energy firms to act and rectify their mistakes."
OVO Energy was approached for comment.
READ NEXT
Men wearing high vis jackets snuck onto Anfield roof to watch LFC's Real Madrid game
Bar attack left man in coma and unable to speak or recognise his own parents
Rapist told child to do what he wanted or 'Father Christmas wouldn't appear'
Covid vaccine travel rules for Spain, USA, Turkey, France and others
30 of Liverpool's listed buildings where you can enjoy a drink
