Retired midwife paid neighbour’s energy bill for six years after meter error (original) (raw)

Judith Stenner, 72, from Manchester, moved into her flat in 2016 and saw her energy bills shoot up from around £60 a month to more than £400 after a family moved into the flat next door

Judith's energy provider at the time of the mix up was ScottishPower

A retired midwife unknowingly paid her neighbour's energy bill for several years due to a huge error.

Judith Stenner, 72, from Manchester, originally paid £60 a month when she moved into her flat in 2016. A new family moved into the flat next door in 2018 - and then she started noticing her bills creep up. Her energy bills reached an eye-watering £400 a month over last winter.

When Judith questioned her energy bill, she was told by her provider ScottishPower that she was classed as a "high energy user". The mother-of-two and breast cancer survivor had tried lowering her energy usage, which included rarely cooking at home, switching all electrical appliances off, and turning her heating off during the winter months - but her bills continued to rise.

Judith told PA Media she went into a "numb phase that nobody is believing you and nobody is listening" as she struggled to resolve the issue with ScottishPower. Her daughter, Semra Kurutac got involved in April of this year and after repeatedly taking meter readings, she worked out her mother's energy bill of £400 a month over the winter should've been around £80 a month based on her current usage.

Semra said: "Mum's had electricians round to check her appliances in her flat, she's even gone and got a new immersion heater installed that we now know was completely unnecessary." It was finally identified this summer that her meter was crossed - although it took another 14 weeks for further necessary changes to be made.

Her case was also raised in the House of Commons, where it was heard she had been overpaying for six years but the error had only become apparent when the family moved in next door in 2018. Labour MP Afzal Khan, who represented Judith as the MP for Manchester Gorton, said Judith has been "treated terribly" and had been "gaslit for years" by her energy provider. He said: "I believe energy providers should be working for their customers, but it feels too often they are working against them. The entire sector needs to get its act together."

Judith said it felt as though a "weight has gone off my shoulders" following the intervention in the House of Commons, saying: "I've gone past crying, I've gone past shouting, you just go into a numb phase that nobody is believing you and nobody is listening, what am I going to do. It's been frustrating, not to be heard, not to be listened to, it's damaged me financially, my life has probably been on a bit of a hold because I've done a lot of things, but more than that it's the wider issue of company policy, inefficiency, bad training, bad management."

Semra said it had been "a little bit of a whirlwind" since her mother's case was raised in Parliament and she thanked the Labour MP and his team for their "wonderful" help. Judith added that she was "very grateful to everybody" who had helped her. She also said she hoped her case could have a "wider implication" and that it could be a "positive help for other people."

ScottishPower apologised for the "issues and distress" experienced by Judith adding it was "unacceptable and falls far below the level of service we aim to provide". The company said that overpayments and compensation would be considered as they recalculate the account.

A ScottishPower spokeswoman said: "We're really sorry about the issues and distress experienced by Mr Khan's constituent, which is unacceptable and falls far below the level of service we aim to provide. Since we visited the property and identified the crossed meter issue at the start of the summer, we've been working with the other energy suppliers involved - who also had to take certain actions - to get this matter sorted as quickly as possible.

"We're now at the point where we will be able to accurately calculate the constituent's actual energy usage and costs and we are in touch with her directly and with Mr Khan's office. We apologise again that it has taken longer than we would have liked to resolve this matter."