MORE than 40 residents have received red electricity bills by mistake after the original statements were lost in the post.>

Residents see red over bills

Picture shows Margaret Pickard and other residents with their bills

MORE than 40 residents have received red electricity bills by mistake after the original statements were lost in the post.

Residents in Guinions Road, Roebuck Avenue, Nelson Close, and Cock Lane, High Wycombe, were shocked when bills arrived, last Friday.

Margaret Pickard, 57, of Guinions Road, said: "Suddenly, out of the blue we got a red one, and it was very nasty. Then I learned that our neighbours had had one and the people across the road as well.

"Mum went down to church on Sunday and she found out the old people in Roebuck Avenue got one as well. I phoned Southern Electric and they said they sent the original bill out on April 15, but we never had it. How can you pay when you haven't had the bill?"

A Southern Electric spokesman said an investigation has revealed that the Royal Mail mislaid a sack containing the original bills.

"We found out this Monday that several of our customers received red reminders. A number of bills went missing. We have had a man in from the Post Office and we have established one of the sacks we sent to the Post Office was lost. They are going to investigate this. Either they will find it and the customers will get their original bills, or we will make a decision about issuing new bills."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Our account manager for Southern Electric went to see them on Thursday as we take any complaint of this nature extremely seriously and he promised to investigate. However, the possible loss of a mailbag is just one of the possibilities under investigation.

"We're working with Southern Electric to establish what, if anything, actually went wrong and why these letters should be lost when we successfully deliver 17 million letters and bills for Southern Electric each year."

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