John Scott and his wife Margaret sighed with relief saying: “We haven’t wanted to turn on the heating, now we can stop worrying,” when they heard about the refund and that their direct debit payments were being slashed as well.

++ If you’ve been affected by this issue or feel you’ve been a victim of injustice, please contact consumer champion Maisha Frost on maisha.frost@express.co.uk ++

The episode also proved something very positive that Crusader has seen many times – that the kids are all right.

Here it was daughter Pauline who took on the problem on behalf of her parents and did a fantastic job, meticulously documenting evidence of payments, credits, alleged debts and meter readings.

That made all the difference when she and Crusader joined forces to clarify matters, highlighting the inconsistencies between the Scotts’ actual situation and their apparent usage.

The couple moved to a two-bedroomed flat in 2018 and became a customer of Together Energy on a dual fuel, fixed rate tariff after a recommendation from the letting agent and comparison site energyhelpline.com.

They signed up for another fixed rate deal last year paying £55.30 a month but shortly after that it was increased 300 per cent to £167.38 on the grounds no meter reading had been supplied for six months and there was a £424.82 deficit.

Pauline’s attempts to submit meter readings online were foiled by technology problems, but in December she saw the account was £811.33 in credit.

She asked for a refund and says that was agreed along with lower monthly debits.

But that changed when the only bill visible on the account showed the debt. The family then received an email saying the direct debit would rise to £183.94.

“Aside from the confusion that seems far too much for their small home,” a deeply worried Pauline told Crusader.

Fortunately when we explained the problems to Together it was able to resolve them promptly. Apologising and explaining it said: “Unfortunately due to an initial lack of meter readings and human error, [the] account was placed on an incorrect tariff and [Mr Scott] was receiving bills for a one rate meter instead of a two rate meter.

“This caused the account to be over-estimated and resulted in a debit balance. We have corrected both the readings and billings, refunded the overpayment and amended the direct debit to a lower rate.”

Get rates smart 

Make sure you report your meter readings and they are correct for the rates you have. Mistakes happen and saving yourself grief is no bad thing irrespective of who is ultimately responsible. Having a smart meter installed should make things better but they can have glitches too.