Caithness 'aristocrat' forced to use one unit of electricity a day to pay off power company – equivalent to a light bulb running for 10 hours
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A "frail old man" born into the aristocracy was forced to use a single unit of electricity a day to pay off his power company debts.
Now the Caithness Courier has helped Patrick Sinclair claim back the money his former electricity provider owed him.
The 68-year-old brother of Lord Thurso has suffered long-term health issues that have included cancer, pneumonia and a rare blood disorder.
Mr Sinclair wants to draw attention to energy companies "profiting" from using estimated meter readings to charge people more than they owe.
Talking about his former energy provider, Ovo, he said: "They're going by their [electricity] estimates which is good enough by them but it's not good enough for me and to my mind it's theft."
He says he wants to draw attention to the issue of electricity companies issuing ramped up estimates of units consumed in their bills so that others do not have to face the misery he encountered over the last couple of years.
"In the winter of 2021/22 I ran out of heating oil and couldn't afford another tankful. I took to my bed to keep warm and if it got below four degrees in the bedroom I let the dog in the bed. I had an electric blanket the size of a tea towel and that was pretty much my only heat source.
"I did Christmas and New Year without heat and scraped together enough to get another tankful of fuel but it ran out in February. I then went from February to October of 2022 without any heat except for an oil lamp."
The local supplier's oil was cheap enough but there was a national oil price crisis which had hiked prices up, he added. After a period without any heating, Mr Sinclair started using electricity to warm his home but said he got into debt with the supplier, Ovo, to the tune of £400.
"They were being very demanding about getting it all back straight away and I told them I had a plan. My plan involved me using less than one kilowatt hour per day [equivalent of running a 100W bulb for 10 hours]. They wanted me to enter into a direct debit but I refused."
Mr Sinclair set up a standing order with Ovo despite the company allegedly putting pressure on him to do a direct debit which would be based on the company's estimates of power used.
"I told them, 'I'm not having you stuff me with your plan or I'll go hungry'. I monitored the meter daily to see that I wasn't overusing and to make sure I was servicing the debt and paying as I went."
He said that by managing the situation he went from being £400 in debt to £600 in credit in just over a year. Determined to manage his power usage more efficiently in the future and without the "harassment" from Ovo, he decided to change his supplier to Scottish Gas and did a final reading. Ovo, however, issued an estimated reading of 55661.3 units but his own reading showed 55544.5 units – a difference of 116.8 units in credit that he felt he may have completely lost without fighting for it.
The Caithness Courier contacted Ovo and within a few days it sent Mr Sinclair all the money owed. A company spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to Mr Sinclair for any confusion caused and can confirm he’s received the refund and closed his case.”
Mr Sinclair said: "It's amazing how attentive they become in the face of the possibility of bad press.
"However, if they had been able to be that communicative in the first instance they would have saved themselves that money and would have saved me a considerable amount of financial anxiety over the past year.
"It's not about myself. It's about how the electricity companies are walking roughshod over elderly and frail people. I was due a payment from the government for gas, coal or whatever and somehow that went straight to Ovo and I was already £600 in credit with them. I imagine my mother [the late Margaret, Viscountess Thurso of Ulbster] in the same situation in her later days and the anxiety it can give people who are dependent on just waiting for a pension to dribble in."
Mr Sinclair thinks that, despite being paid back what he was owed, that energy providers are "profiting immensely" from all the accumulated monies they take in from estimated readings.
He said that he has managed to fix up an old Rayburn stove and is now using that to heat his home more efficiently.
