‘First Utility charged me £3,790 for electricity – seven times the national average’

FIRST Utility is the largest energy supplier outside of the "Big Six" and it has soared in popularity since it launched to market eight years ago.

But for pensioner Rita Johnson, it will come as no surprise to see that the provider ranked a lowly 10th place out of 22 energy suppliers in Which?'s 2015 customer service survey.

Last month, Ms Johnson was dragged into a billings nightmare when the supplier miscalculated her energy bill after using incorrect meter readings.

The company charged her £3,790 for a year's worth of electricity, and it wasn't until The Sun Online stepped in and contacted the small energy firm that her billing nightmare was resolved.

According to Ms Johnson's bill, she had consumed 25,799 kWh of electricity - almost seven times more than the national average, which according to Ofgem - the government regulator for gas and electricity markets - is 3,800 kWh per year.

Based on the average standard electricity bill for someone consuming this amount of electricity, Ms Johnson's bill should have been more in the region of £584 a year.

The 69-year-old pensioner lives in a three-bedroom house in Colchester.

When Ms Johnson's daughter Jennie contacted First Utility with the correct meter reading, it went ignored, and £313 was debited from Ms Johnson's bank account to pay for the first month's instalment.

"After contacting First Utility to say that the bill was wrong, they asked me to send the correct meter reading - which I did," Jennie said.

"Despite this, they went ahead and took £313 out of my mum's account for the first month's instalment, and all this less than a month before Christmas. It's unbelievable."

When Jennie saw that First Utility had taken money from her mum's account, she cancelled the direct debit straight away.

Consumers can cancel a standing order or direct debit at any point by going to their bank branch or via secure online banking.

Sometimes cancelling payments can incur fees or penalties for non-payment, but in Jennie's case First Utility agreed not to charge following the billing debacle.

Infuriated by First Utility, Jennie contacted The Sun Online's consumer team to get help with resolving the matter.

We provided details to the energy firm on behalf of Rita and it quickly admitted an error had been made. It has since applied an accurate meter reading on her account and recalculated her account balance.

A spokesman for First Utility said: "We'd like to apologise to Ms Johnson for any distress caused by a bill that was clearly wrong. We pride ourselves on great service but occasionally mistakes do occur and when they do, we always try to address them quickly.

"We rely on estimated reads from the industry, which became grossly over-estimated from February leading to an incorrect bill. While we'd normally expect to pick this up automatically, we clearly missed it in Ms Johnson's case.

"We've since applied an accurate read to the account, are refunding the direct debit over-payment and recalculated her account balance which now shows she is in credit."

Jennie added: "My mum has been so stressed out about this whole billing issue. She is due to have a knee replacement and the doctors have also detected a heart murmur so it has been a difficult time.

"I will be cancelling my mum's account with First Utility and will be finding a new energy supplier for her."

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