Son pleads with energy company Ovo Energy to stop billing his father - who 'could die any day' from a brain tumour

Deucalion Mcgregor-Sims, whose 65-year-old-father Peter Sims has a terminal brain tumour and is in an unresponsive state, has hit out at electricity and heating provider Ovo Energy for its refusal to stop charging Peter.

Deucalion, from Fratton, said that other companies have been compliant, but Ovo’s policy would require him to have power of attorney to fulfil his request. He feels that charging Peter for bills at his former residence, an assisted living facility in Waterlooville, is ‘unethical’. He told an Ovo spokesperson in a phone call: ‘I just need you to stop charging him’.

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Deucalion said: ‘My father never had a will or any kind of documents in place. We thought he had a lot more time. When he found out he had this tumour, he was told he could have a few more years still and in the last six weeks he got really bad. He was still coherent and mentally aware, and then he just kind of fell off the face of the earth.

‘You couldn’t get anything out of him, you couldn’t medicate him, you couldn’t even get him awake. Very rapidly, he declined. He’s no longer in a state to contribute anything. I wish he did have a power of attorney and I wish he did have a will, but he didn’t. He was very quickly not in a position to make any decisions. As it stands, my father is still being charged by Ovo for a service he is not using in an accommodation he has not been living at for six to eight weeks.

‘I understand that there are security concerns, that I could just be anybody doing anything questionable with any motive. I offered to provide proof that I was his son. I offered to get some form of document or letter from a hospital or a doctor, or the hospice to prove what state he was in.’

The 30-year-old said that applying for power of attorney, as he has been instructed, would cost more than would be saved if he managed to cancel the payments.

He added: ‘It would just be nice if they just stopped charging him and maybe reviewed their policy to make this kind of thing easier. Right now, what would be really lovely is if I could just deal with the fact that my father is dying – and grieve. Transactions such as this should be quite seamless, as they have been with other service providers.’

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Responding to the situation, an Ovo spokesperson said: ‘We’re very sorry to hear about Mr Sims and our thoughts are with the family. We’ve advised Mr Sims’ son that he requires Power of Attorney and provided information on how to set this up online. We’ve also referred the case to Citizens’ Advice who will be able to offer guidance.’

The spokesperson added that the bills are for ‘minimal’ gas usage and around one kilowatt-hours of electricity a day for appliances on standby, alongside daily standing charges.