Pub faces cut-off threat over £55k electric bill

14 hours ago

Tanya GuptaSouth East

News image — Rich Spicer and Becky Gomery are facing an electricity bill of more than £55,000

Becky Gomery Rich Spicer and Becky Gomery stand together behind the wooden bar of a traditional pub. Polished metal beer pumps fill the foreground, with further taps mounted on the wooden bar behind them. Bottles of spirits, glasses, an ice bucket and other bar equipment surround the pair. Dark green panelling covers the back wall and heavy exposed timber beams run across the low ceiling. — Rich Spicer and Becky Gomery are facing an electricity bill of more than £55,000

A pub is facing the threat of having its electricity cut off over a disputed bill of more than £55,000, despite claims the meter is faulty.

Becky Gomery and Rich Spicer, who own the Chequers Inn in Lamberhurst, Kent, are disputing the amount with Yorkshire Gas and Power (YGP) after they were billed £55,589.77 and warned that failure to respond could lead to disconnection.

The energy ombudsman has said YGP should investigate concerns about the meter and look at whether the pub had been billed accurately.

YGP said the matter was still under review by the ombudsman and it could not discuss an individual customer's account.

The couple took over the pub in March 2025 following a community crowdfunder, and said they paid a monthly direct debit of about £2,000.

Gomery said the dispute began in April after YGP requested a meter reading and billed them £39,000, with the amount later rising to more than £55,000.

She said the meter should have shown three rates but displayed only one, and an electrician said it might be faulty.

Utility Collections later told them the account had been escalated to its warrants department.

Becky Gomery Rich Spicer and Becky Gomery stand side by side outside the entrance of a traditional pub. The building has white-painted brickwork, a large white wooden porch with a square column, and a black entrance door. A weathered metal and glass lantern hangs beside the doorway. To the left, a large hanging basket overflows with red, yellow and orange flowers and trailing green foliage. — The couple took over the pub in March 2025 and made monthly £2,000 payments

Gomery described the daily calls as "harassing".

She said their 12-year-old lives at the pub, but claimed they had been told the electricity could still be disconnected because the child was not under five.

"We are just a family living above a pub, working really hard to make this work for the community," Gomery said.

"This is going to ruin us if they cut us off. It will have a massive effect on the business."

The pub is listed as a community asset by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and the couple are holding a fundraiser for Hospice in the Weald this month.

Gomery said they wanted a corrected bill and to be released from their three-year contract.

Becky Gomery Becky Gomery and Rich Spicer stand together behind a wooden bar inside a traditional pub. Gomery is wearing a white textured top and dark clothing, while Spicer is wearing a dark short-sleeved shirt over a white top and glasses. The bar is surrounded by bottles of wine and spirits, glasses, beer taps and bar equipment. Dark wooden beams cross the low ceiling. Other people can be seen further behind the bar area. — Gomery said they were just a hard-working family, living above a pub

In correspondence seen by the BBC, the energy ombudsman said the evidence did not establish if the meter was faulty but found YGP had not "adequately or promptly" investigated an apparent mismatch between its registers and three-rate billing.

The ombudsman requested a YGP site visit to establish whether the meter was working correctly and whether the account had been billed accurately, plus an apology and £150 goodwill.

The YGP spokesperson said: "As the matter is under review by the energy ombudsman, it would also not be appropriate to comment on the substance of the dispute while that process is ongoing.

"We will, of course, fully engage with the ombudsman's process."

A Utility Collections spokesperson said that after visiting the premises, it investigated and returned the account to the supplier.

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