A PUBLICAN has accused an electricity supplier of jeopardising his business after he refused to pay a £5,000 bill accrued by a previous landlord.

When Aaron Hicks and Shaun Henry took over the Surtees Hotel in Crook, County Durham, last May, they were full of enthusiasm for their new venture.

However, their dream soon turned into a nightmare when they became embroiled in a dispute with E.ON over an unsettled electricity bill from before they moved in.

E.ON claims it had not been able to gain full validation of the new lease agreements. But Mr Hicks (pictured) said he had sent the energy company the lease agreement, deeds, council tax letters and utility bills within days of taking over.

He claims E.ON have threatened to remove the meter if the £5,000 bill remains unpaid. This would force him to close the pub, resulting in lost income and jeopardising jobs.

And to make matters worse, Mr Hicks and Mr Henry have been stuck on a high-rate emergency tariff throughout the nine-month saga and have been unable to switch suppliers due to the unsettled debt.

“It has been a complete nightmare,” said Mr Hicks. “They won’t accept we are the new landlords. We must have emailed them over 100 times but they never get back to us. We should be focusing on building up the business but this is hanging over us all the time.”

An E.ON spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the delay in updating our records and the inconvenience this has caused.

“We undertake comprehensive checks when advised of any change of tenancy and had not been able to gain full validation of the lease agreements. We are now able to update the account information from May 2016 and will work with the customer to arrange a payment plan for energy used since they took over.”