A Bradford couple say they are at the end of their tether after battling with electricity companies over their bills.

Anna and Brian Wright say their problems started seven years ago when Yorkshire Electricity installed a new meter in their two-bedroomed home in Heaton.

"We were paying monthly from the bank and we then noticed we were getting bills sometimes as high as £500 a quarter," said Mrs Wright, 70.

"We have regularly had bills for between £250 to £390 for three months.

"There are only the two of us in the house and we have gas central heating and no electric fires so they obviously were not correct.

"We asked YE to come out and check the meter, which they did, and they said it was fine and we had used all this electricity.

"We tried and tried to get something done but the company just kept saying we must have used this much.

"They even said we had used an estimated 5,076 units up to July 12 last year - in the middle of summer."

In August last year the couple decided to change their electricity supply to British Gas - and Mrs Wright started taking her own daily meter readings.

"The bills were still far too high - the first British Gas bill for a period of 44 days showed we had used 2,947 units - and my readings added up to 560. A British Gas meter reader told us our meter was the wrong type and didn't give a proper reading.

"We just don't know what to do next. We have paid the bills because we don't want to get cut off but we aren't using this much electricity - for this amount we should be heating a swimming pool."

Yorkshire Electricity said representatives had spoken to the couple on a number of occasions to try to solve the problem.

A spokesman said: "Although the bills are high, it isn't unheard of in a house of this size.

"The meter engineer has been round within the last month on behalf of their new supplier and did not find anything wrong with it.

"What we can do now is to fit a check meter to run alongside the existing one for a couple of weeks to see if the usage tallies.

"Better still, we can organise for the industry regulator Ofgen to do an independent meter examination."

A British Gas spokesman said: "Once the problem with the meter has been sorted out, we will be happy to refund any money due to them."

l Residents with access to E-mail facilities can now make complaints about traders and companies on line.

The West Yorkshire Trading Standards service can be contacted on www,ts,wyjs,org.uk and, as well as the complaints line, visitors can download information and advice from a catalogue of guidance notes.

The website also has facilities to order booklets and leaflets supplied by other organisations like the Department of Trade and Industry, as well as providing links to local and central government departments and groups.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.