TURNER Prize-winning artist Sir Grayson Perry complained this week after a bill from his energy company EDF saw his electricity costs rocket from £300 a month to £39,000.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday, the Rosebery Avenue-based artist said he received notice of the charge last week and immediately telephoned EDF but without success.

“On Friday I spent three hours at least, trying to get some sense out of a call centre – but you’re talking to a computer really, so it’s very frustrating,” he said. By Monday EDF had cleared his bank account and locked him out of it. The artist, who is known for his pottery, tapestries and transvestism, said he went public with his ordeal out of a worry for those less well off.

“I don’t like it when celebrities use their Twitter power but I noticed there’s a lot of people online who have the same problem and I thought, what is it like if you’re a vulnerable person and this happened to you,” he added. EDF blamed it on a “system error”.