Reading your November article on the number of elderly people dying of cold-related issues, combined with my own experiences last year of pensioners being overcharged for fuel they have not used, prompted me to start a campaign, which last night saw me (a member of the public) speaking at a local council meeting, as I also had last week, trying to bring to councillors' attention fuel poverty; the 200 pensioner deaths a day during the winter; and my own idea for a campaign to go some way to help.  

British Gas has been sending out estimated bills, as it did last year: even where meters are outside and perfectly accessible to read if only the company bothered to ensure it was done!  I am aware of one bill last year where the estimated bill was three times the actual due, and another where the pensioner paid the £150 extra being demanded on top of what should have been the maximum due.  

Yet this year the estimated bills have started again, and when I phoned in to ask for a meter reading at one occupant's address the call centre operator said that he cannot do that!  I did not ask to discuss the bill, just for him to note it had not been read and that a meter reading needed to be taken before the occupier was billed.  So now reminders are coming out from British Gas for undue amounts, even where someone tries to get a correct reading!  Worryingly, Redbridge Council's Cabinet Member for Environment and Community Safety thought the solution was getting people to do their own meter readings.  What a worrying lack of knowledge of some pensioners' situations!  

As I said at last night's meeting, pensioners and the disabled cannot necessarily get outside, or down to meter level!  There are plenty of people, elderly or with sight difficulties who could not read the numbering even if they could get to the meter. Why should the elderly and vulnerable be asked to go outside in the cold over winter, and risk slipping and freezing to death in their own gardens, something which unfortunately happened to some poor souls last winter? Why is British Gas not sending staff out, whether their own staff or contractors?  The fuel companies simply should not be allowed to send out reminders where they have not read the outside meters in the first place!

Will your local councillor or MP join me in asking British Gas and other fuel companies to take on their responsibilities, read all outside meters, and rescind all bills where they have not bothered to read a meter which is located outside a property and fully accessible?

Miss Jill Beeton,

Essex