A mum-of-three said was sent a gas and electricity bill for almost £2billion - for two weeks' power use. Brenda McCossick got the bill from Shell Energy, which told her she owed £1.9billion.
Brenda, 50, is a police call handler and lives with her daughter, who is 15, The Sun reports. Her usual energy bills for her three-bedroom detached house are around £50 a month.
She said: "I knew the amount is going up given the rise of energy bills but I couldn’t believe it. It must be a record for the biggest energy bill ever.
“I usually turn off the lights when we leave a room and make sure we are as eco-friendly as possible so I knew it couldn’t be right.”
Shell later apologised and corrected the bill - to £46.
Shell has been approached for comment.
However, this sort of massive overbilling error by energy firms is not new. The Mirror has spoken to a woman, now 80, who was given a £1million energy bill by British Gas - back in 1980.
The woman said: "I just laughed when the bill dropped through the door and quickly rang British Gas to tell them of their error. It was a young girl I spoke to who officiously told me that if that was the amount shown on my bill, then I would have to pay it.
"We then had an exchange of a few choice words and I still recall telling her she should take my number down and get someone with a bit of intelligence to call me back.
"Someone did call me back and it transpired the meter reader had transposed two digits and so the meter clock had gone right round and back again. Shortly after that I received an amended bill together with an apology but no offer of compensation."
