OAP received a gas bill for £23,000 and was told to pay it within a WEEK

AN OAP has told of his shock when a huge £23,000 gas bill came through his letterbox.

Charlie Walton, 85, said what made matters worse was British Gas demanding he pay the five-figure sum within a week.

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The widower said what surprised him even more was that the last quarterly bill he paid in November showed he had £45 in credit.

In addition, the bill of a whopping £22,897.48 covered a period of almost four years, and Charlie said he was splitting his time between his home in Northumberland and Spain.

Retired firefighter Charlie told the story Chronicle Live: “I could not believe it. It was a huge shock.

“I'm alone now, my wife has passed away, and it's just a small house. It's just unbelievable that I have an account of that size.

“I got it on Saturday and they told me I had to pay by Friday January 26th. I could have been in Spain at the time and I wouldn't have seen it.

“Unfortunately it came on a Saturday and I couldn't get in touch with anyone. All I could do was talk to these machines and they couldn't answer anything. I had to wait until Monday.”

The 85-year-old said his daughter and son-in-law Chris jumped into action to help him as he is “absolutely hopeless” with phones and the internet.

But he says it made little difference and more than a week later he still hadn't heard from British Gas.

Son-in-law Chris, 65, said: “The lady tried to explain that there must be a fault in the system.

“She said they had put that bill on hold while they looked into it. No one has reached out yet.”

The energy giant today said there had been confusion with addresses in the Pegswood area.

British Gas told The Sun: “We are sorry for any distress this has caused.

“The bill does not relate to Mr Walton's energy supply and we are contacting the housing developer to determine the correct address.

“We will be contacting Mr Walton to apologize for not resolving this sooner and to reassure him that he will no longer receive these bills.”

It's not the first time British Gas customers have been shocked after receiving a huge bill.

One couple were shocked when they checked their account and saw they had been given a bill for a whopping £117,000.

Kate and Michael Brown say the shocking statement details how they earned £112,000 in energy costs in a month, plus £5,600 in VAT.

The statement read: “Your new balance as of November 16, 2022 – £117,053.18.”

Elsewhere, a retired couple were left reeling after their British gas bill tripled even though they were on holiday.

Pete and Dee Marney were relaxing in Spain for a whole month, but when they got home they saw the eye-watering bill.

The couple says not only were they not in the country, but no one was staying at their Norfolk home.

Pete said they also turned off their gas appliances, as they do every time they go out for a break.