A GRANDAD was horrified when a whopping £42,241.44 electricity bill appeared on his smart meter.
Peter Chambers, 64, said he nearly had a heart attack after seeing the shocking sum.
The grandad-of-four checks his meter every morning and usually sees a 50p increase – so he was stunned when the figure shot up in December.
His usual bill is about £30 a month, so he quickly rang up EDF to report the error. He was sent a copy of his proper bill, but has been waiting five months for a replacement smart meter.
Peter, a cleaner from Ipswich, Suffolk, said: "I was thinking about dialling 999 because I had a pain in my chest – I nearly had a heart attack!
"I looked at that and thought 'how am I going to prove I don't use that much?' They're going to think I've got a cannabis farm in my loft!"
He added: "I do check it every day without fail, because I just like to see if it's charged me for what I've used or what I haven't used.
"My total bill for the whole month is only £32, and I'm used to seeing between 30p and 50p tops."
Peter was sure that his one-bedroom flat could not have drained that much energy by 10:30am and EDF energy could see the correct reading in their data.
The dad-of-two said: "They go 'no your readings are fine this end, you must have faulty display'.
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"For my peace of mind they did a fresh bill up to that day so I could see there was an error on the display. I saw a news bulletin about some lady with British Gas who got an incorrect reading; it's the same meter, and they're all useless!"
The smart meter's display automatically reset itself in the new year, however, Peter still has not received a replacement device and currently keeps his turned off.
EDF has been approached for comment.
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