A man has been charged a mammoth £40,000 for electric ity, in a single day, after a smart meter blunder.
Paul Davies, 46, has spoken out after confronting the electricity supplier EDF over the charge, and was told smart meters are "never wrong".
The supplier told Paul, from Scunthorpe, that they would be increasing his direct debit to £400 a month because of the readings, Birmingham Live reports.
After arguing over the ordeal with them, EDF eventually conceded that it was a software error.
He said: "EDF were looking at putting my direct debit up to £400 a month because of these faulty readings. I can see what I'm using myself by looking at the app so I knew something was wrong.
"This has been going on for a few months, but in that period I reset it countless times to try and fix the issue, but it kept coming up with the £40,000 figure. As a result, I've just thrown it in the cupboard and I rely on my own meter readings to keep on top of all my bills."
Paul said: "Their attitude on the phone was a massive problem. They kept telling me the amount was right and that I must've used that much. At one point they told me a smart meter is never wrong.
"How the hell does one person use £40,000 worth of electric in one day? It was as if my meter was paying for the whole street. It was only because I kept talking to them that I got the problem sorted, otherwise it may have persisted."
He explained: "It's been a nightmare with them and if I didn't notice things could have been much worse.
"Somebody who is a bit older or maybe buries their head in the sand when a bill comes through could have had a heart attack, or worse, killed themselves. Everything is going up these days, but this is not what you need."
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