Richard Baron from Kent thought the bill was “quite amusing” at first until the energy provider proceeded with the first direct debit payment, leaving the family more than £75,000 over their overdraft limit.

The payment was refunded by their bank’s fraud team before any serious damage was done. However, after cancelling their direct debit, they were put on a higher tariff with the energy provider.

“It was quite amusing to begin with, until it actually happened,” said Mr Baron, who lives in Deal with his wife and two young children.

He had received an email stating his direct debit payments were going up to £80,124 a month, totalling £961,488 for the year.

“I assumed it was just an error because obviously it’s nothing, by any means, to do with our usage,” he told The Guardian.

The family’s electric bill usually came to about £150 a month and they were already in credit by £1,000 because EDF had been taking bigger payments than the family’s usage, despite them having a smart meter.

When contacted by the Guardian, EDF apologised to the Barons and said the family’s direct debit had been reinstated at the previous level and that a full review would be conducted to ensure the payment error would not happen again.

“We’ve been in touch with Mr Baron to apologise and agreed for EDF to apply a gesture of goodwill to his account and have reinstated the direct debit at his requested level.”