Energy firm EDF has come under fire after high-profile customers were left bewildered when their energy bills rocketed.
Former journalist Jon Sopel was forced to resort to social media for answers after his monthly bill shot up from £152 to £19,274.
He posted on X: “Dear @edfenergy Just had a notification that our monthly standing order is going up from £152 a month to £19,274. Seems a bit steep.
“Is there a human rather than a bot we can talk to? Many thanks and merry Christmas Jon.”
The tweet has wracked up 1.3 million views and hundreds of comments as fellow customers aired their own grievances with the energy company.
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One social media user commented: “They’re trying to get me on £3k for 2 months usage, can never get through and just receiving increasingly threatening letters through the door!”
Sir Grayson Perry, English artist and writer, also complained on EDF’s page as he wrote: “Hi @edfenergy I’ve been trying to speak to someone to explain how my electricity bill went from £300 a month to £39,000.
“Your call centre has been no help but you tried to direct debit this amount today from my account.”
Jon Sopel said his bill had shot up from £152 a month to £19,274— (PA)
Mr Sopel responded to the post saying: “Same has just happened to us. Ridiculous. We’ve now sorted. They wanted to raise ours from £152 to £18k. Wonder how many others have had this. @edfenergy - can you shed light please on what is happening”.
It comes after energy watchdog Ofgem announced its latest price cap which will see millions of householders pay 5 per cent more for their gas and electricity bills.
Bills for a typical energy user paying by direct debit will rise from £1,834 a year to £1,928, an increase of £94. The new rates – which come into effect from 1 January – will cause dismay among the millions of people across the UK struggling with the cost of living.
Millions of householders will pay 5 per cent more for their gas and electricity bills in the new year— (PA)
Responding to the complaints on X about the energy bills, a spokesperson for EDF said: “Customers do not need to worry - these are not related to a wider issue with our billing system and we’ve not made any changes to how we process direct debit changes for customers.
“Unusual changes to direct debit amounts can sometimes occur when there is an erroneous meter reading recorded on the system.
“We have robust interventions in place to ensure that any large increases in customers’ direct debits are verified through a human check and in almost all such cases, system errors are rectified and prevented, without customers being impacted.”
