A man from High Wycombe said he was ‘deliberately extorted out of thousands of pounds’ by British Gas after an ‘error’ in the company’s system.

Syed Shah, 27, moved to Downley with his parents in March 2023 and, shortly after settling in, set up a British Gas account for the property’s gas and electricity costs.

The private hire taxi driver set up direct debits for both gas and electricity of £70 and £30 respectively – but the panic began to mount when, after six months, the gas payments rocketed to £309 per month.

Having never paid for amenity bills before, Syed initially hoped that he was building up credit he could claim back later, but after 10 months of shelling out over £300 for gas while his neighbours in similar semi-detached homes paid a measly £150 for gas and electricity combined, he got in touch with the company to query the issue.

Despite the undue pressure put on his personal finances, the 27-year-old failed to make quick progress with British Gas – simply being told repeatedly that the bill had been calculated correctly despite his own quick maths indicating otherwise.

And since he switched providers to EON Next earlier this year, he has paid a total of £128 per month for the house’s gas and electricity – proving that, in his own words, “British Gas deliberately extorted me out of thousands of pounds”.

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Adding: “I was stressed because they said over and over that the bills were correct and that I couldn’t get a refund. For 10 months, they charged me over £2000 more for gas than what other providers would have done.

“I refused to pay my final bill and am planning to contact the energy ombudsman to raise a complaint.”

A spokesperson for British Gas said the ‘error’ in overcharging Syed by over £2000 was the result of his gas meter being logged as an imperial measuring model rather than a smart metric one – upping his bill by nearly three times its actual cost.

Following the Free Press’s enquiry into the issue, the company contacted the Wycombe native to apologise and said they would refund him the £2000 and not charge him anything for his final electricity bill.

The spokesperson added: “We are trying to get in touch with Mr Shah to apologise for the error. We’ve rebilled his account and a refund is on the way which also includes a goodwill gesture for the delay in putting this right.”