The case of a Maldon family wrongly accused of not paying their gas and electricity bills is being highlighted by industry watchdogs complaining about "bully boy" tactics.
The watchdog, energywatch, says that energy suppliers are too quick to assume that consumers who are genuinely disputing an inaccurate gas or electricity bill are "trying it on."
Some customers have been referred to debt collection agencies or even disconnected when they didn't owe a supplier any money.
The Maldon customer, who does not want to be named, is being cited as a typical case.
He said: "I came home and found to my shock that TXU Energy had switched my meter from a credit meter to a pre-payment meter without any notice whatsoever.
"It seems TXU has simply made a horrendous mix up but getting TXU to admit that I had in fact repaid all of my bills was a nightmare."
Jean Shanks, regional director for energywatch, said: "We don't expect to see companies riding roughshod over consumers and employing bully boy tactics to force people to pay up even when a bill is in question."
If companies continued to instigate debt recovery when a bill was still in dispute, energywatch would ask the regulator to intervene, she said.
A spokesman for TXU said: "If a customer has a genuine dispute with their account, and they have brought it to our attention, we would stop all action on collection of the account until the matter has been fully investigated. We can not comment on individual cases without full details."
Published Friday, May 2, 2003
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article