A man has gone viral after he posted a screenshot of his £21,500 energy bill and asked: “Am I paying for whole of f***ing Bolton?”
The bill was shared by Twitter account @FplAndSte and was sent by energy giant British Gas.
It showed a first monthly payment of £1,954 that would be taken on April 1, with ten further payments due on the first of every month. This adds up to £21,494 in total.
The post - which has been liked over 29,000 times - sparked panic across other Twitter users, who also started posting pictures of their own sky-high energy bills.
User @Rob_ladnet shared a screenshot of a bill he had in January, which put his monthly payments to British Gas at £7,024.28.
Another person, who goes by the handle @amyy0506, joked she was paying for South Yorkshire after receiving a direct debit bill from E.on for £5,361.57 a month.
It isn’t clear if the energy bill from British Gas has been issued in error, or is the result of a miscalculation, reports Manchester Evening News.
British Gas was unable to comment without more details from the customer, but they did acknowledge there were reasons why a bill could be this high.
For example, it could be something as simple as the customer making an error inputting the meter readings.
Customers transferring from failed suppliers may also have incorrect bills due to issues getting their correct usage data from the old supplier.
A spokesperson from British Gas told MEN: "British Gas has contacted the customer to ask for the customer’s details so it can help resolve this issue but has had no reply."
It comes as energy bills are due to be hiked for millions of households across the UK from next month.
Ofgem has confirmed it is increasing its price cap by £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 from April 1 - marking an eye-watering rise of 54%.
Prepayment customers will be worse hit, with a jump of £708 from £1,309 to £2,017.
The energy price cap sets a limit on the rates a supplier can charge for each unit of gas and electricity you use and is currently reviewed twice a year.
Check what help you can get with your energy bills
If you’re really worried about your energy bills, you should speak to your energy provider first to see what support they can give you.
There are also lots of schemes you may be eligible for, particularly if you're in a low income household or claim benefits.
For example, there is the Warm Home Discount scheme, which offers £140 one-off payments for those who get the Guarantee element of Pension Credit or are on a low income.
There is also the Winter Fuel Payment scheme, where those getting the state pension can get between £100 and £300.
Low income households can also get £25 a week to help with energy bills during the winter thanks to the Cold Weather Payment scheme too.
You may also want to use the free grants search tool from debt charity Turn2Us to see what help is available where you live.
There are around 8,000 grants currently available.
