'Our charity got cleaned out by 3,000% energy bill hike'

A charity said it feared it might have to close after an error by its energy company "cleaned out" its bank account.

The Tuebrook Hope Centre in Liverpool discovered that Total Energies had raised its payments from about £150 a quarter to more than £4,700 – a 3,000% hike.

Manager Steve Radford said when he spotted the money had been taken and complained, he was told it would take up to several weeks to provide a refund. He said the mistake had taken all the charity's working capital.

A spokesperson for TotalEnergies said: "Our aim is to issue a refund to the customer within two working days."

The charity, based at Christ Church, runs bingo, crafts and other activities for people of all ages who live in the Tuebrook area.

Radford, who is also the leader of the Liberal group on Liverpool City Council, said as soon as he saw how much had been taken out of the account he contacted Total Energies.

"They inflated their estimate by over 20 times our normal usage. But despite it being their mistake, they said it would take up to three weeks to refund the money. It's basically cleaned out our account.

"Charities and small businesses can't afford to suffer these kinds of mistakes and wait to get back money they've had taken from them wrongly.

"Energy companies doing this create a risk of closure and cause severe emotional harm to the people left to try to deal with it."

In emails seen by the BBC, Total Energies said it "deeply regretted the impact this has had on [the] charity and church" and was "committed to resolving the matter promptly".

It said the error was down to "bills being generated from estimated meter readings rather than actual usage" which "unfortunately resulted in inflated figures and incorrect charges".

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