£1,000 fuel debt shock

By Stephen Hayward, Consumer Correspondent 13/07/2008

Thousands of families are racking up debts of up to £1,000 for gas and electricity without realising it.

The Citizen's Advice Bureau have received a flood of calls from people finding themselves in arrears when they thought their direct debits covered bills.

The debts mount up because the bills are based on estimated meter readings. With energy bills set to soar by up to 40 per cent this summer, adding £400 a year to average bills, Tony Herbert, of Citizen's Advice, said the problem is likely to get worse.

Adam Scorer of consumer group Energywatch said one in three bills are estimated and could be wrong.

"You can imagine the problems that will result from that," he said.

But industry body the Energy Retail Association, which represents gas and electricity companies, said most of the 200million bills its members send out each year are correct.