Saturday July 5, 02:36 PM
OAP Suicide Bid Over Energy Bill
By Sky News
A pensioner downed 100 pills and half a bottle of brandy in an attempt to kill himself over an exorbitant - and incorrect - electricity bill. Walter Bargate, 84, was wrongly billed almost £7000 and then left for two nights in a cold, dark
house without power.
He was found in a coma at his home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in February last year.
Former RAF officer Mr Bargate, who has cataracts and clawed hands, could not get his newly installed pre-payment electricity meter to work.
Daughter Sarah Hayes, 50, said he tried to end his life two days after it was installed.
Ms Hayes discovered that her father had previously received a final demand for £6,600 from energy company E.ON.
The bill covered four years of electricity use.
But the meter from which it was calculated had not, it transpired, been wired correctly.
Ms Hayes said her father left a suicide letter in which he called the energy company "the catalyst" for his decision.
She said: "The thing I find almost impossible to countenance is the depth of despair that my father must have been in, and freezing cold in the dark at the end of February.
"How desperate he must have been to take 100 pills and half a bottle of brandy, wrap himself up, and lie down on the sofa and wait to die."
E.ON has since apologised for the "extreme distress" the matter caused Mr Bargate and his family.
A spokeswoman said: "We were not made aware of Mr Bargate's medical condition and had we known of this, we would clearly have taken this into full consideration.
"We've launched an inquiry into how this could happen in order that it does not occur again."
E.ON has written off the outstanding balance and corrected the fault on Mr Bargate's meter.
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