UK energy company mistakenly sends £2 trillion compensation cheque to man for power outages

Team Udayavani, Feb 16, 2022, 10:35 AM IST

We all have faced power outages sometimes and we can’t do much about it apart from placing calls to the electrical board. These calls too may have gone unanswered further adding to your frustration and discomfort.

However, in the United Kingdom, customers have one reason to be happy about power outages. As per a media report, a power distribution company issued compensation cheques worth trillions of pounds to its customers for the blackouts.

The Guardian reported that the firm was compensating consumers who had been without power for more than three days as a result of a series of major storms that hit the city last November.

Gareth Hughes from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire received a cheque for £2,324,252,080,110 after being without power for many days due to Storm Arwen in November of last year.

Taking to Twitter, Hughes wrote, “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.”

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

Northern Powergrid responded to the tweet, requesting his contact information so that they could “address this blunder.” Hughes stated in a separate tweet that at least four of his neighbours had also gotten checks in the same amount. The post has subsequently gained over 55k likes, with the majority of comments indicating that they would have banked it.

Hi Gareth, Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Please DM us your contact details including address and postcode so we can correct this oversight. thanks, Phil.

— Northern Powergrid (@Northpowergrid) February 12, 2022

Northern Powergrid responded to the tweet, requesting his contact information so that they could address this blunder. Hughes stated in a separate tweet that at least four of his neighbors had also gotten checks in the same amount. The post has subsequently gained over 55k likes, with the majority of comments indicating that they would have banked it.

I would so have banked it…https://t.co/IMD53GfKd4

— John Michael White (@johnmichaelw) February 13, 2022

Would have been funny if you’d have banked it. You could have told them you’d pay them back a fiver a week 😂

— helen hatton (@helen_hatton) February 13, 2022

Bank it.. then tell them they have to submit refund requests on writing and wait 28 days for it to be processed.. and pay a 1% admin fee .. sorry it's company policy. Computer won't let you bypass it.

— Nad (@nadeemahmed7736) February 13, 2022