Horror stories of energy firms that are enough to make you scream

theguardian.com:

Occasionally, I like to entertain readers with the plot of a four-act ghost story. The villain is always the same: the energy sector. There’s nothing more enjoyably chilling on a cold, dark night than tales of phantoms and gas-lighting – provided it’s someone else being haunted.

FG of Glyn Ceiriog, Denbighshiretries to log on to her British Gas account. “Welcome back, Jamie,” reads the homepage, helpfully displaying a stranger’s address and account number. Spooked, she hurries to log out. Up pops another page saluting “Paula” with the unknown Paula’s details on show. Then, when she frantically tries again to exit, she’s introduced to “Philip”. She closes the app, then “Ian” and his personal data pop up. “I could have used the information illicitly,” she says. “I wonder how many others this has happened to, and who has accessed my personal details.”

British Gas has form on blind dates such as these. Last year, a customer logged on to find someone else’s details under her name, then her address was transposed on to someone else’s account. British Gas blamed an “isolated system fault”. FG’s surreal saga is, it insists, completely unrelated. It was an “error” during “planned maintenance” lasting for 16 minutes and exposed the data of 32 customers. It says all have been contacted and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been informed.

It reckons no harm was done because the company takes data protection “extremely seriously”. “We can confirm no passwords or banking information were disclosed, and customers do not need to take any further action,” it says. “We are sorry that this incident happened.”

Individuals concerned about how personal data has been handled, can contact the ICO, but only if the company has failed