'That was an expensive cup of tea' - woman reveals shock at £40k smart meter reading

A woman's been speaking of her shock after her smart meter told her she'd used more than £40,000 worth of electricity in less than a day.

Hayley Hinnigan - who runs a hypnotherapy business - revealed her daily usage never normally goes above £4.

But, while we've all been warned to expect higher energy bills this winter, she joked Sunday's reading was enough to power her whole town.

Hayley, from Kelso, Berwickshire, told us: "When I initially looked at the smart meter on Sunday morning I thought it said £40, and I thought I must have left something on that had cost us a lot of money.

"And then, when I took a second look at it, and realised it said £40,000, I just burst out laughing. And it actually made me worry less because I knew it couldn't be right, and it was obviously a mistake.

"So we just kind of made a joke about it and said: 'That was an expensive cup of tea', because the only thing that I'd used that morning was the kettle."

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A smart meter is a digital device that measures the amount of energy a household uses and automatically sends readings back to the supplier, and is meant to mean more accurate bills.

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Hayley added: "The only thing that's frustrating and worrying me now is that Scottish Power haven't got back in touch with me when I've made them aware of the problem."

We've contacted Scottish Power for a response.

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