Alison Woods lives frugally by herself in a two-bedroom flat, but as far as British Gas is concerned she is burning through enough energy to fuel a cannabis farm. The estimated readings on the quarterly bill that arrived in March were up by 1,000% on the same period last year. At nearly £2,000, the cost was more than the average household pays in a year, according to Ofgem estimates. Woods has a smart meter and usually pays between £70 and £110 a month.
“I have not changed my habits in any way,” she said. She has tried several times to complain to the company. “Every time I open a complaint, I receive a response that firstly ignores any of my questions about how my bill could be so high, secondly uses the same stock phrases and makes me think it is written by a bot, and thirdly tells me the complaint has now been resolved as everything is in order,” she said. “It is causing me so much stress and lost sleep.”
