WHEN curate Rachel Hirst wanted to change power companies she expected dual fuel - not dual fools.

But the York woman suffered more than three years of torment after a foul-up involving two major electricity suppliers.

British Gas continued to charge Rachel Hirst, for electricity for 39 months after she thought she had switched to rivals Powergen.

Now she has learned that although she has forked out a monthly payment to Powergen since October 2001, that company never supplied her with electricity.

Rachel, a 46-year-old curate in the Clifton parish, has received a £1,400 bill from British Gas, while Powergen owes her more than three years in payments.

Mrs Hirst, who lives at Rawcliffe, said her nightmare began after she decided to swap gas and electricity supplies from British Gas to TXU Energi (now Powergen).

She said the gas contract was transferred without problems, but in the intervening period Mrs Hirst and her husband, Andy, were:

Pestered by British Gas which demanded payment for electricity bills - including a demand for £1,429 last month

Visited by a British Gas agent in April 2002 who wanted to disconnect their electricity supply

Forced to contact both companies constantly in an effort to get their supply problems sorted out.

Energywatch, the electricity and gas watchdog, said Mrs Hirst's problems were a "shocking example of corporate incompetence".

Today British Gas apologised.

Mrs Hirst said: "This has been an appalling situation. I have telephoned and written in the past and refuse to telephone anymore.

"I couldn't believe it when I received the latest bills. I just think they are both totally incompetent. I have no trust in them.

"I got the letter (the bill for £1,429) after all my calls and letters, and I just thought 'What more can I do?'. It is a mess."

Mark Duffell, British Gas spokesman, said: "We set ourselves the very highest standards of customer service but sadly, on this occasion, we have fallen short of those and we apologise wholeheartedly to Mrs Hirst for that.

"The problem with the transfer was down to an administration error between ourselves and the other company. That meant that though Mrs Hirst was paying Powergen, we remained her supplier.

"However, we're absolutely determined that she will not be out of pocket and we have offered her a sizeable discount on the amount owed.

"When Mrs Hirst gets her money back from the other supplier, it will more than cover the amount owed to us and we will also be contacting her again to make sure she is satisfied with the outcome."

A Powergen spokeswoman said: "Mrs Hirst has paid us £1,516 in error. We have refunded that to her and the account is going to be closed.

"We will be discussing compensation and will be contacting the customer to see if she wants to come over to us."

Carole Pitkeathley, Director of Energywatch North East, said: "We were able to get to the bottom of the matter in a few minutes by making a few simple calls - something that both Powergen & British Gas could and should have done a long time ago. But instead they chose to ignore the consumer and even threatened them with disconnection.

"Until energy companies learn to produce correct bills, consumers should always check the bills they receive."

Updated: 10:00 Thursday, February 10, 2005