Power company cuts off Dunnet pensioner's electricity supply after issuing hugely inflated bill of 10 times amount used – Groat steps in to resolve issue
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A 90-year-old Dunnet man had his property entered and his electricity supply turned off after refusing to pay a bill that was 10 times the amount actually used.
The Groat reported on the issues between pensioner Donald Clark and Maxen Power in November last year and a company spokesperson agreed at that time the figure was wrong and promised a rectified bill would be sent out.
The bill never came, however, and last month the company's agent, Blackthorne Utilities Ltd, obtained a court warrant to enter Mr Clark's property and disconnect his meter.
"They obtained the warrant for entry based on completely false information. There is a totally inflated figure of the power consumed and it's something they were aware of," said Mr Clark.
The property concerned is a garage in Watten that contains his valuable collection of vintage cars and motorcycles – some of which are very rare and date back over 100 years. When the Groat visited recently, the meter reading was 34890 but Maxen Power is basing Mr Clark's bill on a reading of 39196 – a difference of 4306 units.
Despite numerous attempts by Mr Clark to have the correct reading accepted and a rectified bill sent out, the company refused to budge on the matter and maintained its stance – even when it received dated photographs showing the correct reading.
Mr Clark said: "They sent me a letter in December [2021] saying they were going to go to Aberdeen court to gain access to the premises on January 21. They came in around February 9 and disconnected the supply. They said that I owed £5255.71 plus all charges."
The total amount, with various legal and administration costs of £2800 added in, came to £8055.71. Mr Clark said the proper figure should be around £500 to £600 – less than a tenth of the amount demanded by Maxen Power.
The electricity company's media contact, named "Sam," had reassured the Groat in November that Maxen Power had made an "honest mistake" and the situation would be rectified as soon as possible. Despite this reassurance and the subsequent newspaper article, the company soon went back to square one and continued to send Mr Clark hugely inflated bills and threaten him with court action if the account was not settled.
Mr Clark showed evidence that he had contacted Maxen Power by email on multiple occasions throughout last year and into 2022 but to no avail. Last month's forced entry by Blackthorne Utilities was the last straw for the Dunnet pensioner and he contacted the Groat once again.
We spoke to the same Maxen Power media contact, Sam, and after a long telephone conversation followed up by email correspondence showing various pieces of evidence to back Mr Clark's position, she once again accepted there had been a "clerical error".
"Because of the Covid we lost staff and those emails that were sent from Mr Clark," she conceded. "We are very sorry for this and we have now contacted Mr Clark to resolve the matter. His power will be put back on now and we have now accepted payment for the correct amount. The person who dealt with his account is no longer with us and this led to a communication gap.
"I can assure you that we have apologised to Mr Clark but I told him it happened under circumstances that were out of our control due to Covid. I hope that you have a good impression of Maxen Power now."
Mr Clark said he was once again delighted over the newspaper's intervention and had accepted the apology from Sam. "I have just settled with them the correct bill to date, much thanks to your credit," he told the paper.
"She apologised that none of the emails I sent had been registered and entered onto their system. They're coming to reconnect my power as well."
The amount that Mr Clark paid Maxen Power as the revised amount is £623.21 – a huge difference from the £8055.71 previously demanded. He says that he will change his supplier to a "more reputable company" by the end of this year.
Though Maxen Power has garnered a 4.6 rating on TrustPilot, a series of negative reviews have been posted over the last few months including one from Ishtiaq Sohail who runs a halal food shop called Shafi Continental in Glasgow.
Mr Sohail wrote: "Do not trust the 5 star reviews. It is painfully obvious they make fake accounts. Convenient that all the 5 star reviewers have only ever left 1 review on Trustpilot and that happens to be for Maxen."
We talked with Mr Sohail, who claims that his father was duped into signing up for the power company after an agent had contacted the business last year claiming they could dramatically cut his bills. Instead, the business was hit with a hugely inflated bill of over £18,000 for five months supply and, after he disputed it, agents turn up at the premises demanding a £12,000 payment immediately.
Mr Sohail said: "We thought the people who turned up were sheriff officers but they refused to show a court order. They started stripping down the walls so we panicked and quickly arranged the payment with a bank transfer. We should have gone to the police."
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Groat steps in after 90-year-old Dunnet man is 'harassed' by power company over huge bill