An Oban woman was shocked when she opened her Ovo power bill to find she owed the firm £11,000.
Audrey Hunter spent weeks trying to sort the problem with the energy provider before they finally resolved the error.
The pensioner lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Oban with her church minister husband.
The pair usually pay their bill with a standing order.
So Audrey got a shock when her monthly bill for January 14 to February 13 came in, which totalled £4,969.17. The following bill was even higher, £6,375.43.
Audrey spent weeks contacting customer service trying to figure out what happened.
Instead, she said she was asked when she was going to pay the £11,000 bill.
She said: “I lost my rag, I really did because they said, ‘You need to pay this.’ And I went for god’s sake I’m not paying for the whole street, how can I have used all this?”
“There was no way I was going to pay it hell or high water.”
‘I’m going to watch it like a hawk now’
After weeks spent on the phone, a representative from Ovo Energy fixed the error on Wednesday, meaning Audrey Hunter no longer owed a five-figure sum.
She said: “He worked it out an hour, hour and ten minutes, what I’ve been trying to get done for three weeks.”
While the story has a happy ending, Audrey worries what would happen if the situation had been different.
She said: “If that had been you know £800 or a £1,000, I would’ve thought, ‘Oh we have gone wrong,’ and I would have paid it.
“But you trust them, how do you trust them now? It just goes to prove, you pay your money in good faith, but is it safe?
“I’m going to watch it like a hawk now.”
The energy provider sent Audrey a gift basket to apologise for the error.
An Ovo spokesperson: “We can confirm Ms Hunter’s issue is resolved and we’ve apologised for the experience.”
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