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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Susie Beever & Gemma Jones

Bulb customer 'horrified' after smart meter claims she used nearly £40k energy in ONE day

A woman has revealed her horror after her energy bill on her smart meter showed up at nearly £40k for just one day.

Bulb customer Hannah Eastwood said she was sickened after spotting the price on her meter after looking at her energy use on New Year's Day.

Describing it as "laughable", her cynicism soon turned to horror as she began to fear she owed thousands to the supplier.

Hannah's HUD meter showed she'd used £39,025 on Sunday alone - more than the average UK earner's annual salary.

Taking to social media, Hannah called the reading "absolute bull****", joking, "are we running an entire restaurant or something?"

Hannah Eastwood panicked she owed thousands after spotting the smart meter reading (Liverpool Echo)

She added she'd been experiencing problems with the meter for 12 months due to it not connecting properly with Bulb.

Spotting the eye-watering figure, she urgently tried to call the energy company to figure out what was going on, but hit a dead end as it was a Bank Holiday.

"I tried to get in touch with them but they're closed save for emergencies like no gas or electricity," Hannah told the Liverpool ECHO.

"As for how I'm feeling about it, it's absolutely laughable.

"We've had nothing but problems with Bulb for the last 12 months," she added.

"Our smart meter just suddenly stopped communicating after communicating with them for over three years previously.

"They tried to blame it on the fact it's a first-generation smart meter, so needs enrolling in the national database. But it was already enrolled a couple of years ago."

"Because it wasn't sending readings, we've then had to manually send readings. But they were essentially estimating our energy usage for months even though I was doing as they asked."

Bulb has confirmed the figure was an error with the smart meter itself (TOLGA AKMEN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Hannah lives with her husband Dan and her mum and dad - who are currently in bad health - and she worried the extreme amount shown on the HUD could have added to their health issues.

She said: "When I said to my mum and dad what it was showing, they nearly fell through the floor.

"It could have given either of them a heart attack if they'd seen it themselves first."

Hannah panicked when she thought she owed thousands to the supplier (SIPA USA/PA Images)

One day on, and the smart meter HUD seems to be working as normal. When Hannah logged on to check the actual usage on Bulb's app, the amount for yesterday was actually only £5.06.

But she's still worried about having to pay an extortionate amount, as she's not been able to get hold of anyone within the company.

A Bulb spokesperson said: "Hannah’s online account correctly reflects their current balance. It looks as though there’s a fault with the in-home display on their smart meter, so we’re working on fixing it as soon as possible."

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