A woman was left feeling "absolutely shocked" after discovering she had been paying the communal electricity bills for her entire apartment building.
Natasha Prince, 26, was alerted to the issue at her flat in Swinton, Greater Manchester, earlier this month.
An electrician identified the problem while carrying out routine checks on the building, reports the MEN.
Ms Prince's electricity meter was found to be connected to the meter in the communal block, which feeds the hallway lights and intercoms for the entire building.
Believing she was being overcharged, she said she switched electricity provider several times and had to borrow money from her family to help pay the bills.
The building's owner, ForHousing, has since fixed the issue and reimbursed Ms Prince £53.20.
She said: “Initially I ended up changing my electric supplier because I thought they were charging me too much.
“An electrician came out and said he tripped a switch and rang me saying he needed to gain access to the property to switch it on.
“He came in and noticed these wires connected to my supply. He said I was paying for the communal areas, meaning the doors, lights and the intercoms.
“They’re a 24-hour thing so they’re constantly on.
“I’ve gone away for a week and left only the fridge freezer on, and because the flat is using the electricity for the rest of the building it will switch off.
“When I topped up, the doors came back on. I could barely do any of my washing because of how much electricity it was taking.
“I’ve wasted so much food and come back to it flooding with water.
“I was constantly topping up every two days and it was draining and draining.
“Now they’ve taken the box out, I’ve topped up and I still have money left.”
Director of neighbourhoods at ForHousing, Martyn Hague, said: “During a routine appointment at the New Street block one of our contractors discovered that work had been carried out to Ms Prince’s electricity meter and that it has been connected to the meter for the communal block. We raised this issue with Ms Prince immediately.
“This work was not carried out by ForHousing or one of our contractors. We carry out regular checks of the meters and in February this year the electricity supply was connected as it should be.
“We are currently working with Ms Prince to understand who carried out this work on her electricity meter. We will of course reimburse Ms Prince for any additional costs she has faced.”
