British Gas 'cancel' bill after customers rage 'it's not fair or reasonable'

British Gas has moved to apologise to a family for a "shocking" £8,000 electricity bill after a smart meter error. The family-of-three were shocked to see their quarterly bill had shot up as the Cost of Living crisis across the country.

A mum-of-two has demanded answers from British Gas - and the firm, which is rivalled by the likes of OVO, EDF, EOn Next, Octopus and more - said the bill was "incorrect and has been cancelled" after a mistake which left the family "shocked".

Usually, the family's quarterly bill is around £200 to £300. The billpayer told the BBC : "Our bills have always been low so this one was a bit of a shock. Previously they'd always been manageable, fair and reasonable. It was Christmas time and it was just like, look at this bill, how have we spent that much electricity?

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"I laughed and thought well, it's obviously wrong, isn't it?" The mum went on, discussing her smart meter and continued: "It's like our meter is going backwards. We've even had someone from British Gas come round and change the system.

"We submitted readings manually, but the bill was still high, we logged our use for seven days and even sent them pictures. You do wonder at which point do you end up in a court situation? We mounted up debt and it stressed us out".

She said: "We work really hard so that our children can have a good quality of life. I don't want them to worry about money. There's a cost of living crisis, they know about food banks and I don't want them to think that we're in that position."

In March, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero estimated more that four million smart meters, installed in Great Britain, were not working correctly.