A power company sent a huge gas bill to a customer after realising he had not paid for six years.

Unemployed Laurie Bantock, 64, of Bramber Avenue, Hangleton, got the shock of his life when he was told none of his direct debit payments had been paid since he switched from British Gas to Calortex in 1997.

He said he never checked his bank account to make sure the debits were being withdrawn and had assumed everything was in order.

Six years later, on his birthday in November last year, he received greetings from npower, which took over Calortex in March 1999, in the form of a £1,442.06 bill.

The company told him the bill would be put on hold while it was investigated.

Last month, he received another bill for £1,565.79 and again npower put the bill on hold.

Mr Bantock, an ex-sheet metal worker, was made redundant in 2001 and is due to officially retire at the end of the year.

He said: "They have put me in a very difficult situation.

"After six years, all of a sudden I have got a bill. If it had been sorted in the first place after the first quarter, everything would have been paid while I was working.

"When I got the bill in November there was not any explanation. It came completely out of the blue. That is absolutely diabolical."

Jennifer Corby, spokeswoman for npower, said: "Mr Bantock had a meter exchange in 1997, which took out a prepayment meter and put in a quarterly credit meter in its place.

"Unfortunately, when this information was input into the billing system it was not completed properly and quarterly bills were not produced."

The error had since been rectified and Mr Bantock would now be receiving bills correctly.

She said: "We will contact the customer to discuss compensation and a payment arrangement which is best suited for him."

In another incident, Terrina Watson, of Ash Walk, Newhaven, was also sent two huge gas bills by npower.

Mrs Watson, 39, said she normally expected a gas bill of between £60 and £80 for her three-bedroom house where she lives with her husband Marvin and their three children.

In September 2000, her supplier Independent Energy (IE) was placed into receivership and taken over by npower.

On August 2 last year she received a bill for £1,043.15.

She rang npower and explained she used the cheap rate Economy 7.

Last month, she received another bill saying she owed £1,782.54. She refused to pay both bills.

Mrs Watson said: "I am horrified. They can't tell me they can make a mistake twice. When I rang them they were trying to tell me we are not on Economy 7."

Ms Corby blamed the previous suppliers' records and billing system for the mistake.

She said: "The information we hold regarding the meter at Mrs Watson's property is not correct and, by now, we should have been able to rectify the billing problems associated with this account.

"An appointment to inspect the meter was carried out on Tuesday and the results of that appointment should allow us to correct this account once and for all.

"We will contact Mrs Watson and advise what steps are being taken to see that her account is corrected and she is compensated."