ELECTRICITY firm npower has apologised after a church, parish council and village hall all received hugely inflated bills.

John Snaith, treasurer of St Edwin's Church Hall, in High Coniscliffe, near Darlington, was staggered after receiving an estimated electricity bill for £1,058 when it is usually nearer £50.

Middleton-St-George Parish Council, also near Darlington, was left with an estimated £1,191 bill for a board room it uses only once a month.

And John Buckley, treasurer of Croft Village Hall, said they too had received a big bill -- £384 for the quarter between June and September when the bill for the same period last year came to £22.52.

He said: "It is outrageous. We could not pay that even if we wanted to because we have not got the money in our accounts."

An npower spokeswoman said it was sorry that some of its long standing customers had suffered difficulties with large estimated bills and blamed the problem on a new business billing system.

The consumption history from their previous account could not be moved onto the system and estimates might be excessive until the history could be re-established after two firm meter readings.

Npower was combining some 11 different billing systems in place when it took over Yorkshire Electricity and Northern Electric, she said. The spokeswoman added: "It is regrettable that this happened and we would put it down to teething problems."

Customers who may have been affected in this way are advised to check their bills and record their own reading if possible.

Npower said it would refund any direct debit customers who had overpaid.