Storm Arwen: Energy supplier apologises to customers issued compensation cheques for £2.3 trillion

UK energy supplier Northern Powergrid has apologised to 74 of their customers after homes were accidentally issued Storm Arwen compensation cheques of more than £2.3 trillion.

Compensation is being paid to tens of thousands of customers who were left without power when severe “once-in-a-generation” winds swept across the UK in November last year.

One Twitter user took to the platform to share a photo of the eye-watering number he received in the post.

He wrote: “Thank you for our compensation payment, Northern Powergrid, for the several days we were without power following Storm Arwen.

Storm Arwen battered Scotland. Picture: John Devlin

“Before I bank the cheque, however, are you 100 per cent certain you can afford this? #trillionpounds.”

The picture shows the customer had been written a cheque for £2,324,252,080,110.

The tweet has accrued more than 24,000 likes in just three hours, as others joined in to poke fun at the error.

“Bank it! Then share it equally between us all,” one Twitter user wrote.

“I think you own Northern Powergrid now,” another joked.

The supplier confirmed 74 of their customers had been given compensation cheques with an incorrect payment amount and thanked those who were “honest” about the error.

They added the 74 customers relate to properties with Halifax and Newcastle post codes, reassuring them a correct payment would be on its way soon.

A spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid said: “As soon as we identified the clerical error, which was caused by the electricity meter reference number being incorrectly quoted as the payment sum, we ensured all 74 customers’ cheques were stopped so they could not be cashed.

“We have been investigating how this error happened and carrying out checks of previous payments.

“All indications are that this was an isolated incident.

“We thank those customers who were honest and contacted us and we have been making contact directly over the weekend with all 74 customers affected to make them aware, apologise for the error and reassure them that a correct payment will be issued to them on Monday.”

It had taken nine days for Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks to restore power to all homes in the north of Scotland hit by Storm Arwen in the aftermath of the weather event.