British Gas pursued Romford man over false £14k energy bill

A Romford man was threatened with legal action over what turned out to be a fictitious £14,000 electric bill.

Energy giant British Gas has now admitted that supermarket worker Thivendran Kodeeswaran was not even one of its customers.

The alleged debt was handed to lawyers in December 2021 who were only called off last week, after the Romford Recorder began asking questions.

Thivendran and financial consultant Tusher Sarkar had been unsuccessfully challenging the bill for more than 18 months before asking for the Recorder’s help.

“When we write to them, they never respond to our questions,” Thivendran said. “They only send bills. It’s costing me money to fight it. They have been saying since last September that they are going to take me to court.”

British Gas has blamed rival energy company E.On for the error, saying it failed to update an industry database when the supply to Thivendran’s property was switched.

E.On declined to comment.

Thivendran Kodeeswaran received this letter from British Gas in December 2021, claiming he owed more than £14,000 for electricity used at his former holiday home in Skegness (Image: Charles Thomson)

Days before Christmas 2021, Thivendran received a letter claiming he owed British Gas £14,304.45.

It said that, “Unfortunately, as the money you owe us still hasn’t been paid,” the debt had been passed to a recovery firm.

But according to Thivendran, that letter was the first he had ever received from British Gas.

“I was so shocked,” he said. “You don’t know what to do. I had no way to pay it. I was thinking maybe it was fake.”

The alleged bill related to a studio flat in Sea View Road, Skegness, which he had bought cheaply in an auction in 2013 after it was repossessed.

At the time, a council order banned anybody from living in it until safety problems were fixed.

“The property management told me we couldn’t use the old meters,” said Thivendran.

He was later told a new meter had been installed by E.On.

The supposed bill was for a studio flat Mr Kodeeswaran bought in Sea View Road, Skegness, as a holiday home (Image: Google Streetview)

“I’ve got all the evidence,” he said, showing the Recorder contemporaneous notes and letters, plus several E.On energy bills.

He sold the flat in 2017 and received the £14,000 bill in 2021.

British Gas now admitted the bill was erroneous.

“We understand that this has been frustrating for Mr Kodeeswaran,” it said.

“We were unaware that a new electricity meter had been installed by another supplier in 2013 as the industry database hadn’t been updated as per process, but this has now been resolved.

“We’ve reached out to reassure him that we’re in the process of cancelling the debt.”