A PENSIONER’S two-year battle with a power company over a broken radiator timer has come to an end after the Glasgow Times stepped in to help.

Margaret McLetchie, 87, has been facing monthly bills of up to £160 since April 2019 after relatives realised the timing clock on her electric storage heaters was slow.

READ MORE: Former computer programmer, 89, hits out at online-only bills for cheaper tariff

Storage heaters are supposed to come on at off-peak times, storing heat and then releasing it throughout the day, which is intended to save on costs.

Glasgow Times: Pensioner Margaret McLetchie has been battling with Scottish Power for two years to fix a faulty radiator timerPensioner Margaret McLetchie has been battling with Scottish Power for two years to fix a faulty radiator timer

The family claim that the opposite has been happening for the last two years and the radiators have remained on when heating costs more, resulting in huge bills.

Dealing with the situation on her behalf, Mrs McLetchie’s niece Gillian Stirling said it has been a “nightmare”.

She said “The time clock is running slow. When the heating was supposed to be on, it was off because of this.

Glasgow Times: Mrs McLetchie's timer showing it could be up to six hours behindMrs McLetchie's timer showing it could be up to six hours behind

“Last week when we had the snow, the temperature at her house was 12 degrees. She was freezing.

“It just seems that they have been using Covid as an excuse. This just seems like their get out, they’re not coming to people’s houses. Covid is getting the blame for everything.

“We’ve looked at changing suppliers but we wanted Scottish Power to fix the ­issue first. If we changed supplier, Margaret would still have the same issue.

“It just seems bizarre that she is paying this much.”

The issue has been ongoing for almost two years. The Glasgow Times has been shown records of correspondence with Scottish Power that Mrs McLetchie and Ms Stirling have kept since then, suggesting that the issue had not been resolved satisfactorily.

Glasgow Times: The record of correspondence kept by Mrs McLetchie showing the issue went back to April 2019The record of correspondence kept by Mrs McLetchie showing the issue went back to April 2019

Ms Stirling claims that Mrs McLetchie has had multiple visits from engineers who did not fix the issue.

As well as that, Ms Stirling has submitted multiple complaints via email that she claims have not been dealt with.

Upon hearing Mrs McLetchie’s complaint, the Glasgow Times contacted Scottish Power about the case.

The company sent an engineer out the next day who replaced the faulty timer and the energy giant has pledged to keep in touch with Mrs McLetchie to check on the equipment.

The family are now demanding answers as to why the issue wasn’t dealt with for nearly two years.

Glasgow Times: Mrs McLetchie hopes the ordeal has now come to an endMrs McLetchie hopes the ordeal has now come to an end

Scottish Power spokeswoman said: “We’re very sorry for the issues Mrs McLetchie experienced and for the time it took to get these issues ­resolved.

“We have reached out to Mrs McLetchie and her family to apologise to them and have replaced the faulty timeclock.

“We will continue to work with Mrs McLetchie and her family over the coming weeks to ensure the new timeclock is working as ­required and to monitor her energy use and will refund any overpayments she may have made as a result of the faulty ­timeclock.”