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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Jackie Grant

Dumfries publican hit with £4,000 bill for just two weeks of electricity

A Dumfries publican said she was terrified she would be put out of business after being hit with a bill for more than £4,000 for just two weeks of electricity.

But Les Ross won her fight to have the charge overturned after highlighting her row with energy provider BES Utilities on social media.

Douglas Arms landlady Les said she panicked when the company tried to take the cash from her bank account which was more than four times her usual monthly bill.

She said: “This is a wee pub with hardly any appliances and no electric heating so when I went onto my account to see they’d tried to take so much money, I honestly thought it would put me out of business and my staff out of jobs.

“After my wife went online and posted it on social media tagging in BES, it’s been sorted out and they’ve said they will revert back to the previous rate I was paying.

“But I’m concerned about other businesses who aren’t as social media savvy. They might just roll over and accept this.

“Sorting it out was exhausting and so stressful.

“There’s no way I’ll be staying with this company now. I’d rather pay a bit extra with another company than go through all this again.”

A BES Utilities spokesman said: “We have now been able to make contact with Lesley and we have agreed a resolution to her complaint, including that she is free to choose another provider without any early termination fee.”

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