A pensioner who has an old business property where the power has been switched off for years was sent a £500 bill by Scottish Power.
Malcolm Jones, from Penrhyndeudareth, retired seven years ago to care for his wife Dwynwen and so has not been using the od building - and was shocked to get an energy bill for £500.
Malcolm says it has taken "countless" calls that have left him at his "wit's end" in a bid to resolve the issue with Scottish Energy, reports NorthWalesLive.
The retired plumber used the premises as a workshop but since his retirement it has been used as storage space.
Malcolm said: "I barely ever go into my old workshop. It's only about 40x12ft in size and I don't have the mains switched on so there's no way my usage could be what Scottish Power claims it to be.
"I used to be a plumber and I would use the workshop for my work but it is now just a storage container essentially. I've got a lot of my old work things there as well as the belongings of my late son."
In October last year, Mr Jones received a bill for £767.03. After spending hours on the phone with the company's customer service department, the bill was eventually amended to a sum closer to £40, which is what Mr Jones normally pays.
However, at the start of January this year, the same issue occurred again and Mr Jones was charged £505.54 for his estimated usage from October to December.
Since receiving the latest bill, the 69-year-old said he had been on the phone to Scottish Power almost every day but was no closer to getting the issue resolved, leaving him anxious over whether the company would send bailiffs to his property.
"Last year I had a similar issue where I received a bill of over £700 for the workshop," Malcolm said. "After making countless calls to the company I eventually received an amended bill which was around £40 for the quarter.
"When I got another bill for over £500 for the workshop my first reaction was 'here we go again'. I received the bill earlier in January and I've been on the phone to them so many times since and I keep on getting fobbed off.
"I've got enough stress in my life without having to deal with these people. My fear is that the case will be escalated and that bailiffs will be sent over even though I keep contacting them about it."
Mr Jones says that he has "lost count over how many meter readings I have sent" and said it was far below Scottish Power's estimates.
The 69-year-old said he calls Scottish Power almost every day to try to resolve the problem, but claimed that communicating with the company was "like speaking to a brick wall".
"Dealing with all of this on top of trying to care for my wife is a stress I don't need," Malcolm said.
"It's stressful because it took so long to resolve the issue the last time it happened and it's so difficult to get through to the people in the call centres.
"If I get an amended bill I'll pay on the day it arrives, I've told them this but it's like speaking to a brick wall. I was on the phone for over half an hour the other day and at the end of the conversation they asked me if I wanted to pay the full £500 that day - they just don't listen.
"I'm at my wit's end now. My life is just a nightmare at the moment - I'm on the phone pretty much every day with them - and seeing my wife in her condition, it's a very difficult situation to be honest and I just don't know how it's going to end."
A ScottishPower spokesperson said: “Mr Jones’ initial bill was an estimated bill, which should have been updated when he provided the accurate meter reading.
"This didn’t happen, which was our error.
"We’ve now recalculated the bill, which brings his balance down to around £67, and reduced it by a further £50 as a goodwill gesture, leaving an outstanding amount of less than £17.
"We’re sorry for any inconvenience and distress caused and that the error wasn’t corrected sooner."
