A WARNING has gone out after a disabled widow was left trapped in a 12 month electricity bill nightmare following the death of her husband.

Shocked Dorothy Maddock, aged 70, was bombarded with a series of bills from THREE different suppliers in the same month after her confused husband Lynden apparently switched companies in quick succession shortly before his death without telling his family.

Even months after Lynden's death, bills still arrived addressed to him.

And since April this year, Dorothy has received no less than 11 different bills from Manweb.

Now her son Peter wants elderly people to be vigilant when entering into contracts, and wands more protection from both the Government and suppliers after questioning door-to-door sales.

Lynden died, aged 70, on September 26, 1999. He had been a Norweb customer.

In August, 1999, a bill for £89.74 rolled in from Eastern Energy -- for the same period for his £55.80 Norweb bill. Then also that month he got a bill for £51.59 -- from Manweb!

He paid all three!

Manweb then left Dorothy, who lives in a council flat in Shelley Close, Coppull, completely bewildered with a succession of bills which included:

Feb 18, 2000: £294.26 (from November 12, 1999, to Feb 11, 2000).

Mar 17, 2000: £458.06.

Mar 17-May 12, 2000, £123.55 . . . with the amount now due £530.02.

May 19, 2000: reminder for £406.47.

May 19, 2000: £123.55.

May 27, 2000: Dorothy paid a bill of £250.57 to Manweb who said it replaced the previous bill.

Last Saturday, Dorothy received another from Manweb for total charges of £739.62 dating back from August 1999.

This bill arrived with another from Manweb for the period from August, 1999, to October 16, 2000, saying she owed £437.46.

The latest Manweb figure for that period is now £148.25.

Ex-Coppull parish councillor Peter, aged 44, said his father had told him that energy supply sales people had been to see him and that he was was confused.

"He must have changed from Norweb to Eastern Energy and then to Manweb. When Norweb sent him a bill they mustn't have realised he had changed," said Peter.

Former park ranger Peter, who also lives in Shelley Close, stormed: "It's totally unbelievable what has happened.

"I'm brainwashed with it. It's frustrating.

"My mother's badly disabled and she's really upset. On Saturday she was just heartbroken, she was in a state of shock.

"The bills have been coming in in my father's name and that has upset her too."

Peter has been doing his best to help, despite suffering from Chrones disease and heart trouble.

He added: "I think there needs to be something done. The Government needs to intervene to stop problems like this arising.

"These services should have a customer services person who visits elderly people in their homes and explains exactly what's going on."

A spokesperson for Manweb said: "There have been errors when they were transferring the accounts over from different suppliers and this has resulted in inaccurate readings.

"This has now been corrected.

"The correct bill has now been drawn up and as a goodwill gesture £50 has been taken off the bill.

"I'm assured now that this problem has been sorted out and it should run smoothly from now on."