Northern PowerGrid, an energy supplier in the United Kingdom, has issued an apology to 74 customers after they were issued compensation cheques for over 2.3 trillion pounds due to a clerical error. Thousands of customers suffered blackouts when Storm Arwen swept the UK in November last year. They are in the process of receiving compensation cheques from the energy supplier.

But a clerical error saw cheques worth trillions of pounds sent out to the customers who were left without power. The reaction was hilarious when one recipient, Gareth Hughes, took to Twitter to shed light on the incident.

Sharing a picture of the cheque, he wrote, “Thank you for our compensation payment @Northpowergrid for the several days we were without power following #stormarwen. Before I bank the cheque, however, are you 100% certain you can afford this? #trillionpounds.”

Thank you for our compensation payment @Northpowergrid for the several days we were without power following #stormarwen Before I bank the cheque however, are you 100% certain you can afford this? #trillionpounds pic.twitter.com/z5MNc2Nxl1

— Gareth Hughes (@gh230277) February 12, 2022

A company representative responded to his post and thanked him for bringing this to their attention.

The post has received over 55,000 likes and several other users have chimed in to make fun of the blunder. One user wrote, “Be a sport and take the money to clear the national debt.” Several others jumped in to ask Mr Hughes to lend them some money.

The company has responded with an apology and acknowledged the clerical error. It clarified that all the issued cheques have been stopped and could not be cashed.

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“We thank those customers who were honest and contacted us and we have been making contact directly over the weekend with all 74 customers affected to make them aware, apologise for the error and reassure them that a correct payment will be issued to them on Monday," a spokesperson of the Northern Grid said, as reported by Sky News.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)