00:00£30,000. This is how much one Dartford resident was charged on her monthly energy bill.
00:07Janine Duffel has multiple disabilities and lives alone in a one-bedroom flat, so a £30,000 charge to her account was more than a small shock.
00:15Saturday before last, I get an email at 7 o'clock in the evening, the bank holiday weekend, saying your bill is now ready online and it's £30,000.
00:28So can you imagine how I reacted? Can you imagine? I mean, I'm here on my own. I've no family at all.
00:35I've got a couple of friends, but they don't live near me. I didn't know who to talk to about it. I mean, I didn't sleep. I just, oh, I actually felt physically sick.
00:44She is now urging British Gas to issue her a new smart meter, as her current one is hard to read and practically inaccessible,
00:51and whilst awaiting a response, says she's suffered a lot mentally and physically.
00:55So I've decided to go pay-as-you-go, which has not really calmed me down, because I'm frightened, because I don't know.
01:01I've turned everything off. I normally have five, six cups of tea a day. I have two in the morning now. I don't boil the kettle.
01:07The whole situation, I could feel myself, and I try to be strong, considering my disability. I've got a spine disease with the ulcerative colitis, and I'm going through hell.
01:20British Gas have since released a statement apologising for the incident, saying we've resolved this for Miss Duffel, and have been in touch to say sorry.
01:28We've reassured her that the bill she received was sent in error, and we've offered a goodwill gesture in light of her experience, which leaves her account in credit.
01:36She hopes that her story will spread so that it doesn't happen to anyone else, and cautions people to check their energy bills for discrepancies.
