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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Anna Tims

£19,000 in debt to Ovo: customers’ haunting tales of energy bill horror

Ovo JA Ben Clarke British Gas Scottish Power VJ Green TW Good Energy JL
A scream for help from customers of the major energy companies.
A scream for help from customers of the major energy companies. Photograph: Tommaso Altamura/Alamy

This week’s column is a tale of hauntings, suspense and hair-raising shocks. It is the horror story that is the modern energy market.

Scene 1 – A one-bedroom flat in North Lanarkshire, where the energy is supplied by Ovo after its takeover of SSE. Ovo asks the resident, JL, to send photos of the meters. As a result, her account goes from being £600 in credit to more than £19,000 in deficit. In shock, she queries this and the deficit leaps to £44,000.

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