Bradford father-of-two Gerard Cunningham knows heating his home during a cold spell can add a few pounds to his fuel bill but when he was charged more than £5,000 he knew there must be a mistake.

Mr Cunningham, of Dracup Avenue, Lidget Green, opened his quarterly gas bill at the end of January and was amazed to see the amount due was £3,286.85.

"When I opened it I did a double take and laughed, I knew it couldn't be right," said Mr Cunningham, a gluing operative at Fields Packaging.

"The thought that someone could be plugging into my supply crossed my mind momentarily but at that amount it would more likely be the whole of Lidget Green."

He rang the helpline for npower, which supplies his gas and electricity.

"I was left on hold for ages and have probably run up a huge bill, but eventually after being passed on to a supervisor they assured me it was all cleared up and a new bill would follow," he said. It did - this time for £5,440.97.

"I nearly fell over when I saw this one and couldn't stop laughing at their double mistake," said Mr Cunningham, 36.

Mr Cunningham said the fuel bill for the three-bedroom semi he shares with his wife and two children is on average between £200 and £300 a quarter.

A spokesman from npower said: "We are very sorry Mr Cunningham has received large incorrect bills from us for his gas account.

"We are in the process of correcting his account and we will be in touch with him to apologise for our error and to confirm that the correct bills have been received. We are also sending vouchers to Mr Cunningham for any upset we may have caused."

Mr Cunningham said that other people could have been upset by the experience.

"If this bill was received by someone vulnerable it could just tip them over the edge," he said. "Greater care should be taken when dealing with bills of such a large amount by comparing them to previous bills."