British Gas 'wrongly bill pensioners'

Article date : 14/09/2008

The son of an 89-year-old couple reveals that their gas bills rose from £44 to £87 - despite his parents being in credit, a report says.

Paul Watson, whose parents live in Winchester, said his parents would not have noticed the rise by British Gas, who put up its prices by 35 per cent in July.

"I'm particularly concerned that it looks like they are hiking up the prices more than they should," Mr Watson tells the BBC.

"I was really quite upset, my parents can't afford to spend all this additional money," he adds.

Another pensioner from Winchester saw his gas bill rise by 54 per cent to £77.

Jock Macdonald says he believes other people could be affected by such price rises, the BBC claims.

Installing an energy-efficient condensing boiler combined with a central heating system with full heating controls can cut heating bills by £270, the Energy Saving Trust says.

Boilers aged between ten and 15 years old should be serviced and homeowners should consider replacing them with a condensing boiler which also cuts down carbon emissions, the trust claims.

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