A 92-YEAR-OLD widow has described her nightmare after an electricity bill bungle left her with an unexpected demand for £607.

Lucy Emmerson's bill from British Gas came 18 months after she had signed up with rival firm Powergen's Stay Warm payment scheme, to cover both her gas and electricity accounts.

Mrs Emmerson, of Esh Winning, County Durham, said: "The first inkling I had anything was wrong was when I got a note from British Gas warning me I was about to get a big electricity bill.

"When it arrived, two days later, I was stunned. I could not sleep at night with worrying about it. It became a living nightmare.

"When I got hold of Powergen they denied being my supplier. I had to pay £20 to get bank statements to prove I had in fact paid them."

Derwentside district councillor John Pickersgill, who took up her case, said: "Powergen should have informed British Gas. And if British Gas had sent her a quarterly bill the problem would have been picked up straight away.

"As it was, the reading provided on the bill from June 2002 to January 2004 could not have been correct, because the meter had been changed in the meantime."

British Gas reduced her bill to £55, while Powergen has agreed to reimburse her £172 and pay £34 as a goodwill gesture.

A British Gas spokesman said: "We are very sorry to Mrs Emmerson for any worry this has caused her. All our customers are important to us, especially those who are elderly or vulnerable."