A PENSIONER has told how a door-to-door salesman tried to con him into switching to a different electricity supplier.

Terrence Weston was taken by surprise when a Southern Electric employee knocked on his door and claimed British Gas was no longer his supplier.

The 69-year-old, of Fernhill Heath, near Worcester, said he thought the claim was "weird" but when he asked why, the man said he did not know.

After boasting that his company could beat rival prices, the salesman persuaded him to fill out registration forms and left.

Mr Weston, of Dilmore Avenue, became increasingly concerned and called British Gas, who confirmed his suspicions - they had not cancelled his supply.

He immediately called Southern Electric and demanded the firm terminate his contract, which it did.

Mr Weston said: "It is totally wrong. If I was an old woman living on her own, I could have been worried to death, not knowing if I had done the wrong thing by signing up.

"They shouldn't go around telling people this."

He said Southern Electric was critical of its salesman when he called the firm

"They said he shouldn't have used tactics like that," he said.

A spokeswoman for Scottish and Southern Energy - the parent company of Southern Electric - said: "Southern Electric are proud to have the lowest level of complaints in the industry, but we believe one complaint is one too many.

"We offer good value for money and we have a policy of responsible pricing. As soon as the prospective customer contacted us we put things right straight away."

However, Madeleine Burbidge, of watchdog Energywatch, revealed it was not an isolated incident.

She said: "Last autumn, Scottish and Southern Energy hired the agency Universal to do its doorstep selling. There were lots of complaints about bullying and deceitful tactics with some people even calling the police because they were so concerned.

"After BBC TV Watchdog did an expose in November, Scottish ended its contract with Universal but said that it would take on the best sales staff.

"However, Energywatch alone has received 200 calls so far this year from concerned consumers. That's 200 too many.

"And from those cases, it appears Scottish doorstep sales people are targeting the elderly and more vulnerable. We continue to forward cases to industry regulator Ofgem."

To contact Energywatch about doorstep selling, call 08459 060708 or visit www.energywatch.org.uk