A Second World War veteran aged 103 has been left to keep warm under tea towels and wearing oven gloves after an energy company abandoned him without a working meter for months. Ivor Gardner had a new gas meter installed in his home in April 2022 but it didn't work and left him with no way of tracking his energy usage for nearly a year, Wales Online reports.
During that time, the D-Day Hero says the energy firm OVO sent him letters demanding readings even though they failed to carry out repairs five times at Mr Gardner's home and also cancelled a further appointment. The OAP only allowed himself between four and six hours of heating per day during winter as he was concerned about how expensive his bills would be as he had no way of personally keeping track.
He resorted to wearing oven gloves and covering himself in tea towels and blankets to keep himself warm to keep the cost of his bills at bay. Mr Gardner, who is a member of the Legion d'honneur for his war efforts, hopes no other elderly people go through the same 'anguish' and admits he stopped 'complaining' as he was convinced the energy company were waiting on him to 'die'.
Ivor said: “Here I was holding back on what I’m using because I didn’t know how much it was going to cost because they keep putting it up. My family has been buying me all this stuff to keep warm rather than sitting in the cold.
"But it got to a stage where I thought, ‘why should I be sitting in the cold when I can afford to pay for what I’m using and have never owed anybody anything in my life?’”
Despite his desperate efforts to reduce his usage, OVO continued to charge Mr Gardner at an estimated rate which he believes was notably higher than his real consumption, including a £148 gas bill in December.
He believes OVO has overcharged him hundreds of pounds over the last nine months. His bill for the period originally totalled to £632 while he says his credit was wiped out.
Mr Gardner had a new meter installed on January 11 less than 24 hours after he and neighbour Pete Allway sent a joint complaint letter to MP Danny Kurger, OVO CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick and their local newspaper. However, with no record of his usage for the last nine months, OVO originally suggested the bill was modelled on his usage over the next six weeks.
This would have meant that Mr Gardner's bill for last summer when temperatures soared up to 40C would be based off his energy consumption during the colder months of January and February. Mr Gardner who is on OVO's list of most vulnerable customers refused to comply with this offer and after negotiations with the energy company has received a letter of apology.
OVO also agreed to disregard Mr Gardner's bill from April to December and the OAP has accepted a £200 compensation fee.
He said: “It’s felt very unfair, why pick on me? I’ve said all along I will pay for what I use, but I don’t want to pay for what I haven’t been using.
"That seems like fair logic. I had a lot of credit at one time, but they’ve gradually eaten it away. I was convinced they were waiting for me to die so I stopped complaining."
Mr Gardner, from Bromham, Wiltshire, was helped by his kind-hearted neighbour Mr Allaway, who spent more than 24 hours with him on over 20 calls to OVO.
An OVO spokesperson said: “We are sincerely sorry to Mr Gardner for the missed appointments.
"The service he received was not up to the standards our customers should expect from us. His meter has now been exchanged and his account balance corrected.
"By way of apology, we have reimbursed him for his energy during this period and will be issuing compensation to his account. We are extremely grateful to Mr Allaway for supporting Mr Gardner and working with us on this.”
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