Are Eon allowed to guess how much a bill is?

I recently had an issue with Eon, I have 4 accounts with them for my business ( yearly i spend anout £12k), one on a property that admittedly payments had slipped on and I had a letter saying if I did not pay I would be cut off.
So I Paid the bill.
A few days later I get a call from a neighbour saying that a man is outside my property with a locksmith to turn off the power. I ask to speak to them and tell them that a.) The meter is not in the property they are about to break into and b.) the bill has been paid. The guy eventually finds that he is not meant to be there and apologises (still should not have disclosed info to a neighbour). He does take a meter reading though.
It then turns out that I have another £4,000 to pay!
So I call Eon, who tell me that I am out of contract for 3 months (admittedly my fault) and they have not read the meter for 14 months( agin possibly my fault because I should take meter readings).
Here is my real issue.
I say to Eon that if the have not had a meter reading for 14 months obviously not all of the electricity charge should be on an out of contract tarriff. They say this is correct so adjust the bill and say that they will also backdate 1month on a new contract at a set/ lower tarriff.
Also as a matter of goodwill, they offer £30 for sending someone around to m break into my property, disclose private information to a neighbour and take up a couple of hours of my time unnecessarily.
My problem is that they cannot tell exactly how much electricity was used when I was in contarct and out of one, they say they can only "guess" based on previous usage. Is it fair that my bill is "guessed"?
I might be paying hundreds of pounds too much, I may be paying too little, nobody, including Eon knows! So I have refused their offer.
I said to the woman at Eon, "Would you accept going into a supermarket and the cashier guessing the value of the goods in your basket rather than scanning them through the till?
I am going to pay the entire period at the in contract rate and ague the remaining balance.
It would be interesting to know if anyone has any views as to my right as a consumer as to having a correct bill as to a "guessed" bill.
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Comments

  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Hi - welcome to the forum. I cannot speak for business contracts but, for domestic supply contracts, suppliers are allowed to use estimates based on historical data that is held for every property known as the Annual Quantity (AQ) for gas and Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) for electricity. The 2 yearly meter reading requirement was dropped by Ofgem in April 2016 so to a large extent suppliers do rely on customers providing them with readings. Once verified, these readings have to be used for billing purposes: sadly, not all suppliers seem to be aware of this particular Licence Condition.
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    Its a business not a consumer rights .
    You should look at the T&C of your contract .
  • So as a business I do not have rights to an accurate bill?
    I understand why they use estimates, but my point is the fact they cannot possibly give me an accurate bill.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Jimbo2018 wrote: »
    So as a business I do not have rights to an accurate bill?
    I understand why they use estimates, but my point is the fact they cannot possibly give me an accurate bill.

    Well this business supplier seems to be happy to bill using estimates:

    Quote:

    When and why to submit your meter reading(s):

    At EDF Energy we make it easy - we'll send you a reminder when it’s time to read your meter. You can choose to get this by email if that’s easier for you – just by logging into MyAccount.
    The frequency for when we ask you for a read will depend on your payment method and when we need to bill you but you can leave a read anytime and we’ll use it to help calculate your next bill.

    You can also login or download the MyAccount app from your smartphone and send us a picture of your meter reading. We'll then read the meter from the photo you’ve taken.

    If you don’t leave a meter read we’ll estimate how much you’ve used based on your previous billing history but we'd prefer you to give us a read so we can bill you accurately.

    Unquote
  • I can understand why they do this and it is fair if you are on the same tarriff throughout as the end result is accurate.
    My problem is that my final bill could be Hundreds of pounds wrong.
    For Example:
    If you use 100 units over a 10 month period.
    for 8 months you are charged at 10p per unit and for 2 months at 20p per unit.
    It is not as simple as the bill is £12.00
    Because 90 units may have been used in the first eight months or it may have been 70 units, nobody knows.
    Yes we can guess that the previous year was X, but it is not accurate, but what if I was away for 6 weeks of the 2 month period and hardly any electricity was used (this is actually true)?
    Are we saying that it is acceptable for Power companies to charge what they think is due rather than what is actually due?
  • Jimbo2018 wrote: »
    So as a business I do not have rights to an accurate bill?
    I understand why they use estimates, but my point is the fact they cannot possibly give me an accurate bill.
    Check your T and Cs. It may well be part of the contract that you supply two accurate readings a year. You have nt supplied any in 14 months ! Suppliers are nt magicians. I work for Eon and BG meter reading and many times its impossible to get a reading especially for businesses where we get supplied addresses which relate only to the bill payers central office and not where the units are.
    You have rights for an accurate bill, just provide them a couple of times a year .Its not up to a supplier to micro manage your electric bill for you
  • elsien
    elsien Posts: 32,522
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    Jimbo2018 wrote: »
    So as a business I do not have rights to an accurate bill?
    I understand why they use estimates, but my point is the fact they cannot possibly give me an accurate bill.

    So what alternative do you suggest. You obviously owe them money - what do you think what be a fair way to calculate the amount?
    All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

    Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.
  • I honestly do not know, that is why I am asking for opinions.
    I am not disputing the fact that I owe an amount. I only want to be sure that the amount is correct.
    Nobody knows what this amount is, but it sounds like the onus is on me to prove what I actually owe rather than eon bill me correctly and fairly.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Community Admin
    Jimbo2018 wrote: »
    I honestly do not know, that is why I am asking for opinions.
    I am not disputing the fact that I owe an amount. I only want to be sure that the amount is correct.
    Nobody knows what this amount is, but it sounds like the onus is on me to prove what I actually owe rather than eon bill me correctly and fairly.

    The answer is simple. Read your meters and ask the supplier to revise your bill. When estimates are raised it is not simply dividing the annual consumption total by 12 times the number of months. All suppliers use algorithms to apportion energy used month by month. Bear in mind, if you overpay today, you will underpay when your next bill is raised - provided that actual meter readings have been used.
  • Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc
    Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc Posts: 6,558
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Organisation Representative
    Jimbo2018 wrote: »
    I recently had an issue with Eon, I have 4 accounts with them for my business ( yearly i spend anout £12k), one on a property that admittedly payments had slipped on and I had a letter saying if I did not pay I would be cut off.
    So I Paid the bill.
    A few days later I get a call from a neighbour saying that a man is outside my property with a locksmith to turn off the power. I ask to speak to them and tell them that a.) The meter is not in the property they are about to break into and b.) the bill has been paid. The guy eventually finds that he is not meant to be there and apologises (still should not have disclosed info to a neighbour). He does take a meter reading though.
    It then turns out that I have another £4,000 to pay!
    So I call Eon, who tell me that I am out of contract for 3 months (admittedly my fault) and they have not read the meter for 14 months( agin possibly my fault because I should take meter readings).
    Here is my real issue.
    I say to Eon that if the have not had a meter reading for 14 months obviously not all of the electricity charge should be on an out of contract tarriff. They say this is correct so adjust the bill and say that they will also backdate 1month on a new contract at a set/ lower tarriff.
    Also as a matter of goodwill, they offer £30 for sending someone around to m break into my property, disclose private information to a neighbour and take up a couple of hours of my time unnecessarily.
    My problem is that they cannot tell exactly how much electricity was used when I was in contarct and out of one, they say they can only "guess" based on previous usage. Is it fair that my bill is "guessed"?
    I might be paying hundreds of pounds too much, I may be paying too little, nobody, including Eon knows! So I have refused their offer.
    I said to the woman at Eon, "Would you accept going into a supermarket and the cashier guessing the value of the goods in your basket rather than scanning them through the till?
    I am going to pay the entire period at the in contract rate and ague the remaining balance.
    It would be interesting to know if anyone has any views as to my right as a consumer as to having a correct bill as to a "guessed" bill.

    Hello Jimbo2018 and welcome to the Forums.

    Helena and I usually deal with residential rather than business accounts so sorry if this is a bit sketchy. It looks as though you're already dealing with our business teams and this is the best way forward. As far as meter readings and estimated bills are concerned, the situation between residential and business is broadly similar.

    We're always keen to have actual meter readings and provide various ways for customers to send them. This includes online through our website or phone app, by phone or text, email or letter. The more readings we have, the more accurate accounts are.

    As others have said, we'll use estimates where we don't have actual readings. These are based on the past usage history we hold for the premises and use the data Hengus refers to. Estimates are adjusted to take into consideration seasonal variations.

    I'd ask for an explanation as to how we've arrived at the estimates used. If you're a small or medium business, go down our complaints route. A dedicated Complaint Manager will look at this and offer a resolution. If you're unhappy with this, we'll let you have a Final Resolution Offer letter you can use to go to the Energy Ombudsman for an independent review. There's more information about how we look after business complaints on our website.

    Small and medium businesses are those using no more than 100,000 kWh of electricity per year; or no more than 293,000 kWh of gas per year; or have fewer than 10 employees and has an annual turnover of less than 2 million Euros.

    Sorry again I can't offer much more on this Jimbo2018 but hope it gives you a bit of a steer.

    Malc
    Official Company Representative
    I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
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