OAP Suicide Bid Over Energy Bill

Tag : Energy Power Meter
A pensioner downed 100 pills and half a bottle of brandy in anattempt to kill himself over an exorbitant - and incorrect -electricity bill.
Energy company apologised for 'extreme distress' caused by error
Walter Bargate, 84, was wrongly billed more than £6500 and thenleft for two nights in a cold, dark house without power.
He was found in a coma at his home in Stockport, GreaterManchester, in February last year.
Former RAF officer Mr Bargate, who has cataracts and clawed hands,could not get his newly installed pre-payment electricity meter towork.
Daughter Sarah Hayes, 50, said he tried to end his life two daysafter it was installed.
Ms Hayes discovered that her father had previously received a finaldemand for £6,600 from energy company E.ON .
The bill covered four years of electricity use.
But the meter from which it was calculated had not, it transpired,been wired correctly.
Ms Hayes said her father left a suicide letter in which he calledthe energy company "the catalyst" for his decision.
She said: "The thing I find almost impossible to countenance is thedepth of despair that my father must have been in, and freezingcold in the dark at the end of February.
"How desperate he must have been to take 100 pills and half abottle of brandy, wrap himself up, and lie down on the sofa andwait to die."
E.ON has since apologised for the "extreme distress" the matter causedMr Bargate and his family.
A spokeswoman said: "We were not made aware of Mr Bargate's medicalcondition and had we known of this, we would clearly have takenthis into full consideration.
"We've launched an inquiry into how this could happen in order thatit does not occur again."
E.ON has written off the outstanding balance and corrected the fault onMr Bargate's meter.