Energy firms pile on the agony for the vulnerable

Letters from British Gas kept on arriving after one account holder had died. Photograph: Alamy

Anyone requiring help in extremis would be well advised not to look to their energy company for a warm embrace. Last week I reported a mother’s struggles to stop E.ON debiting the account of her son who had killed himself.

Meanwhile, JL of York says the distress of a double bereavement has been exacerbated by British Gas. He and his sister were executors of his mother’s will and he took over her British Gas account while the estate was settled.