Northern Powergrid acknowledged on Sunday that it didn’t mean to send compensation cheques totalling £2.3 trillion to customers in the north of England, who were without power during November Storm Arwen.
The energy company thanked customers who were honest and did not cash checks with incorrect amounts.
After Storm Arwen compensation checks of more than £2.3 trillion were mistakenly issued to homes by Northern Powergrid, the UK’s energy supplier, Northern Powergrid has apologized to 74 customers.
Tens of thousands of customers were without power in November last year when severe winds hit the UK.
One Twitter user shared a photo of the staggering number he had received in the post.
Thank you for our compensation payment @Northpowergrid for the several days we were without power following #stormarwen Before I bank the cheque however, are you 100% certain you can afford this? #trillionpounds pic.twitter.com/z5MNc2Nxl1
— Gareth Hughes (@gh230277) February 12, 2022
He wrote: “Thanks, Northern Powergrid for our compensation payment for the many days we were without electricity following Storm Arwen.
“Before I cash the cheque, however, are you sure you can afford it?” #trillionpounds”.
The customer was shown in the picture has received a check for £2,324,252,080
In just three hours, the tweet had over 24,000 likes. Others joined in to make fun of the error.
“Bank it! One Twitter user said, “Bank it! Then we can all share it equally.”
Another joked, “I think that you own the Northern Powergrid now.”
The supplier confirmed that 74 customers were issued compensation cheques with incorrect amounts and thanked all those who were honest about it.
They also added that the 74 customers were properties with Halifax and Newcastle postcodes, assuring them that they will receive payment soon.
Northern Powergrid spokeswoman said that they had identified the problem with the payment sum being incorrectly quoted by the electricity meters reference number. We stopped all cheques from customers so that they could not be cashed.
“We are investigating the cause of this error and checking previous payments.
“All indications point to an isolated incident.
“We are grateful to all customers who were honest in contacting us. We have been in touch over the weekend directly with all 74 affected customers to inform them, apologise and assure them that a correct payment would be made on Monday.”
