UK: Storm victims mistakenly receive 2 trillion pounds as compensation

“Before I bank the cheque, are you 100 per cent certain you can afford this?" one victim asked the energy supplier on Twitter.

By Web Desk

Published: Mon 14 Feb 2022, 4:15 PM

A UK energy company made a major blunder when it sent 74 of its customers compensation cheques worth 2.3 trillion pounds each.

Compensation is being paid to tens of thousands of customers who were left without power when severe winds swept across the UK in November 2021 during Storm Arwen.

Northern Powergrid admitted on Sunday that it did not mean to send out cheques worth trillions of pounds and thanked those who were 'honest' about the error.

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After receiving the cheque, one Twitter user took to the platform to share a photo. He wrote: “Thank you for our compensation payment, Northern Powergrid, for the several days we were without power following Storm Arwen.

“Before I bank the cheque, however, are you 100 per cent certain you can afford this?"

The tweet garnered over 24,000 likes in just three hours, as others joined in to poke fun at the error.

The energy supplier assured customers that the correct payment would be on its way soon.

A spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid said: “As soon as we identified the clerical error, which was caused by the electricity meter reference number being incorrectly quoted as the payment sum, we ensured all 74 customers’ cheques were stopped so they could not be cashed.

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“We have been investigating how this error happened and carrying out checks of previous payments. All indications are that this was an isolated incident.

“We thank those customers who were honest and contacted us and we have been making contact directly over the weekend with all 74 customers affected to make them aware, apologise for the error and reassure them that a correct payment will be issued to them on Monday.”