Artist and broadcaster Sir Grayson Perry has said his monthly electricity bill recently increased from £300 to £39,000. Sir Grayson challenged energy provider EDF Energy on social media and said: “Hi @edfenergy
I’ve been trying to speak to someone to explain how my electricity bill went from £300 a month to £39,000.
“Your call centre has been no help but you tried to direct debit this amount today from my account.”
The artist was not the only EDF customer to query an increase in energy bills.
Former BBC journalist Jon Sopel had also been alerted that his bill was increasing, in his case from £152 a month to £18,000. He wrote on social media: “Ridiculous. We’ve now sorted.”
Why are people being overcharged for energy?
EDF Energy said the increases were errors that could have been related to a false meter reading.
The company said in a statement: “Customers do not need to worry – these are not related to a wider issue with our billing system and we’ve not made any changes to how we process direct debit changes for customers.
“Unusual changes to direct debit amounts can sometimes occur when there is an erroneous meter reading recorded on the system.”
They added: “We have robust interventions in place to ensure that any large increases in customers’ direct debits are verified through a human check and in almost all such cases, system errors are rectified and prevented, without customers being impacted.”
What to do if your energy bill increases?
If you find yourself facing an increase in your monthly energy bill that you believe is an error, contact your energy supplier directly.
They will be able to investigate the increase and rectify the issue without you being charged.
