ENERGY giant Scottish Power has apologised to a grieving dad for meter glitched that led to his late daughter being pursued for thousands of pounds of electricity she hadn’t used.

Billy Hanlon’s daughter Michelle passed away in April after a five-year battle with a rare form of lung cancer she was diagnosed with at just 29.

Mr Hanlon said the utility firm continued to issue his daughter with estimated electricity bills after she moved out of her flat into the family home after her condition worsened.

The payment demands continued after her death, despite him notifying the firm's bereavement advisors.

Last month’s bill totalled £3228.56, enough Mr Hanlon said, “to light a football stadium”. 

He says his daughter was actually £1000 in credit and says the bill errors left her “upset and distressed.”

Scottish Power has apologised, saying the demands were automatically issued and based on estimated readings and said there was "no excuse" for failed call-backs to the family to resolve the issue. 

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Mr Hanlon who runs a hairdressing salon in the city’s West End, says the problems began when his daughter moved from her flat in Springburn into the family home in Bishopbriggs, around two years ago.

He says Scottish Power continued to send out estimated bills, despite the fact she was not using any electricity.

He said: “They were sending demands via email before she died and it was upsetting to her because it was not getting sorted.

“After Michelle passed, we contacted their bereavement team but the person we talked to never informed the bereavement team.

Glasgow Times:

“We then spoke to someone in the Glasgow team who passed it on to someone else.

“We could not understand why when she had a credit for over £1100 that this was not used for her bills.

“The last monthly bill we got said there was £3228.56 overdue. Not even a football stadium would use that in a month.

“We tried to explain that Michelle had not lived at home for a year and was therefore not using power.

“They are the worst people we have had to deal with since Michelle passed.

“All the errors were Scottish Power errors, not errors that Michelle or I made in reading the meter.

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“The grief that they caused Michelle before she passed and the grief they are continuing to cause us - we can’t understand why they haven’t just closed the account down.”

A Scottish Power spokeswoman said: “We apologise for any distress this may have caused to Ms Hanlon’s family and are keen to resolve the situation as soon as possible. 

“Bills have been historically based on estimated readings and automatically issued. 

“This is no excuse for failed call backs, and again we can only apologise. 

“We are attempting to make contact with Ms Hanlon’s father as a matter of urgency to being this matter to a close.”

Michelle, who never smoked, was diagnosed with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in December 2015.

The hairdresser paid tribute to his daughter after her death saying her strength and courage was, “motivational to everyone who met her”.