A Worcestershire man has received an apology from Octopus Energy after being wrongly pursued for nearly four years over another person’s gas bill that reached more than £6,000.
Peter Holden, 67, from Hartlebury, told the BBC Octopus “relentlessly” chased him with monthly bills and debt collectors, despite repeated attempts to alert them to the mistake.
The issue began in August 2021 and was traced to a data error involving a shared gas meter serial number.
“It’s been very frustrating that I’ve not been able to get them to stop sending these bills,” said Mr Holden.
“It’s been very stressful because they’ve put that debt in the hands of debt collection agencies on three occasions to try and get that money from me – even though it’s not my debt.”
Despite receiving apologies from Octopus staff and assurances that he wasn’t liable, Mr Holden continued to receive bills and collection notices.
In February, a debt collector even visited his home. The erroneous balance increased from £1,500 to £6,000.
Octopus’ commercial director, Mario Lupori, apologised directly after the BBC contacted the firm. “It was a complex situation where another account of ours had the same technical details as Peter’s meter and it took us too long to fix,” he said. “We sent Peter a number of letters addressed to ‘the occupier’ which were about the debt of another customer.”
Mr Holden said he had reported the issue to the Information Commissioner’s Office due to concerns about misused personal data.
Octopus insisted Holden’s credit score had not been affected and no personal details were shared.
The company has pledged staff training to avoid similar errors and to stay in contact with Mr Holden.
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