A grandad was horrified when he checked his smart meter one morning and found his daily electricity bill was a whopping £42,241.44. Peter Chambers, 64, checks his meter every morning, and usually sees a 50p increase.
So he was astonished when he saw it had shot up and quickly rang up EDF to report the error. The grandfather-of-four ensured he was sent a copy of his proper bill, which is usually about £30 a month, but is still awaiting a replacement device five months later.
Peter, from Ipswich, Suffolk, said: "I was thinking about dialling 999 because I had a pain in my chest - I nearly had a heart attack! I looked at that and thought 'how am I going to prove I don’t use that much?' They're going to think I've got a cannabis farm in my loft!"
On December 9 last year, cleaner Peter took a peek at his smart meter in his kitchen as he does most mornings.
He said: "I do check it every day without fail, because I just like to see if it’s charged me for what I've used or what I haven't used. My total bill for the whole month is only £32, and I'm used to seeing between 30p and 50p tops."
Peter was horrified to see the huge bill and knew that he could not have used that much electricity in his one-bedroom flat by 10.30am. He immediately rang EDF to report the error.
The dad-of-two said: "They go 'no your readings are fine this end, you must have faulty display'. For my peace of mind they did a fresh bill up to that day so I could see there was an error on the display,
"I saw a news bulletin about some lady with British Gas who got an incorrect reading; it’s the same meter, and they're all useless!"
The display automatically reset itself in the new year, however Peter still has not received a replacement device and currently keeps his turned off. EDF has been approached for comment.
