Caithness couple shocked by £40,000 reading on energy costs

A Caithness couple were shocked by a smart-meter reading which appeared to show their daily energy costs had rocketed to more than £40,000.

Iain and Liz Gregory, who live near Thurso, were eventually assured that the amount displayed on their SSE meter was incorrect and that the actual billed amount was £2.08.

They have since been told that other energy customers locally have had similar experiences and that in at least one case it has happened repeatedly.

Mr Gregory is worried that an older person could suffer a heart attack on being confronted by such a large sum and he has complained in writing.

Mr Gregory, a retired police area commander, is co-founder of the campaign group Caithness Roads Recovery and was appointed recently as an associate member of Thurso Community Council.

He says he and his wife are very light users of energy and their daily bill tends to be between 75p and £1.25.

On Monday afternoon, he glanced at the meter and saw that it was displaying daily usage at around 70p.

Shortly afterwards, Mrs Gregory alerted him to the fact that the figure had shot up to tens of thousands of pounds. He took a photo of the smart meter showing £40,814.57.

A check revealed that they had used less than 4 kWh, so were apparently being charged more than £10,000 per kilowatt hour (kWh). The UK government cap is 34.037p.

SSE sold SSE Energy Services – the part of SSE that supplies energy to households – to OVO Energy in January 2020 for £500 million.

Mr Gregory tried to call SSE/OVO, only to be told "we are closed".

On Tuesday morning he called again and spent about 50 minutes on the phone, speaking to two staff.

He was advised at one point to remove the back of the smart meter, take out and put back the battery, and try again, but this made no difference.

After the assistant checked with another department, Mr Gregory was told that "other customers had reported similar issues" with sums as high as £500,000 being displayed. He was assured that action would be taken "to reset affected meters".

Mr Gregory understands that the glitch causes meter displays to read incorrectly, but the actual readings sent to the firm are correct.

"I was quietly sitting at a computer, writing an article for a magazine, when my wife appeared and indicated that there might be a potential issue regarding our energy bill," he explained.

"Liz is prone to a degree of understatement, so I realised that there was a major problem. I noted that we had used just under 4 kWh but our daily bill was shown as over £40,000.

"I know prices have gone up, but I wish only to power a house – not the entire county."

He added: "I was able to resolve this – and I left SSE/OVO in no doubt regarding my views. But, on a more serious note, this could have caused a vulnerable person to be taken seriously ill.

"It is not satisfactory, and I await the response to my complaint."

SSE/OVO has been invited to comment.

In response to similar complaints in April last year, SSE told a national newspaper that it was aware of a fault on some displays that was causing them to show incorrect costs. The company said at that time: "This impacts the display only, not the actual meter readings."

A message to customers on the SSE website says: "To make sure you get the best of all we have to offer, we’re gradually moving all SSE Energy Services gas and electricity customers to OVO Energy. You don't need to do anything. We’ll make sure it goes as smoothly as possible and keep you updated every step of the way.

"This move won’t interrupt your energy supply, won’t affect the energy prices you pay, and won't affect your gas or electricity meter(s)."

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