Eon doubles direct debit amount

storysoldier · 17 November 2017 at 6:41PM

Hi

Using MSE's Energy Saving Club I switched to Eon in May 2017 (I have switched many times before) on a 1yr fix. I signed up with a DD amount of £43/mth which I thought was excellent. My last bill was on estimated readings (debit of £18). When I submitted my actual readings, which were lower, I immediately got a mail saying the DD amount was being increased to £83. I have known with other energy providers that they increase the DD amount in winter. But a doubling of the amount agreed? What do Forumites think?

Thanks for any help on lowering my DD.

footyguy · 17 November 2017 at 6:44PM

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

I don't know which companies you have used in the past, but I don't know any that increase the monthly amount in the winter. That's not the idea. The idea is you pay the same amount every month i.e. 1/12th of the annual cost

(Some new, small companies may apply an uplift for the winter months to this amount if you join them at this time of year, but it only applies to the first year)

Good luck!

Neil_Jones · 17 November 2017 at 6:51PM

footyguy wrote: »

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

I don't know which companies you have used in the past, but I don't know any that increase the monthly amount in the winter. That's not the idea. The idea is you pay the same amount every month i.e. 1/12th of the annual cost

(Some new, small companies may apply an uplift for the winter months to this amount if you join them at this time of year, but it only applies to the first year)

GB Energy used to do this and did it every year. Obviously went well for them as they, um, went under

SpotlandRules · 18 November 2017 at 5:05PM

Log into your account and see what you can reduce it to yourself.

However, I am with EON, and they leave me well alone. I alter my DD according to my spreadsheet. If EON have increased yours, I would say it was probably because you are using more than your DD is covering (or will not cover, on what they are estimating).

molerat · 18 November 2017 at 5:27PM

If your heating energy account is anywhere close to being in debit now, just coming into full on winter, you simply are not paying enough. My gas account is currently 2 months payments in credit and my spreadsheet forecasts I will be around £10 in credit at the end of March. A cold winter would blow that in a few days.

System · 18 November 2017 at 5:47PM

There are two issues here; one of which may not apply. In the days of yore, consumers entered into a fixed term contract and the aim was to achieve a zero balance at the end of the fixed term. It follows that if there was a debit at the 6 month point, this would lead to a higher DD payment for the remaining 6 months. However, increasingly, we are seeing energy companies now working on a rolling 12 month projection based, in your case, on 6 months on present tariff plus debit balance plus 6 months on SVT tariff divided by 12.

Some companies see this as a way of increasing their cash flow without having to resort to borrowing. This is an unintended consequence of the push to get suppliers to re-pay credit balances rather than roll them over to a new fixed term and, also, direction from Ofgem that suppliers should not allow consumers to build up debt. This may, or may not, account for some of your increase. The ‘good news’ is that even if a supplier quadrupled your DD payment it is only money paid on account to be used to pay off actual charges.

My advice. Do your own calculations and tell the supplier what you believe the monthly DD payment should be.

nicobrum · 19 November 2017 at 7:15PM

I've been with EON for a number of years. Unless its been changed for new customers, they do run with a 12 month energy year when your account needs to be at zero at the end of the year. Mine runs from about 7 May each year. Last May I was £28 in deficit but because it didn't amount to an increase of £5 minimum per month, my DD was left as it was and I didn't change it. I'm now £69 in credit as of the beginning of November and they suggested reducing my DD by £3 per month, but I've reduced it by £5 per month. This time last year I didn't have central heating due to a boiler breakdown the previous March, so they are still running on an overestimation of usage. This should disappear by the beginning of January which is the anniversary of the new boiler. If they've increased your DD by that much, I would have thought you have been underpaying based on your anticipated consumption from 12 months from the time you joined them which will be based on your actual consumption (assuming you've been giving them regular readings) from when you joined and not the MSE estimate. If you go to your account online, select "My Account", then "Manage your DD", then select "Energy Overview" it will show you what time period is left covering your current energy year. It shows "Your Total Energy Cost" and "Your DD payments" for the remainder of the energy year. If you click on each of the month columns in the overview, it will show you what they think you will be spending each for electricity and gas. Assuming your energy year is running from the date you joined in May or just after, you should really have a fair amount of credit on the account or you will not be paying enough to get a zero balance by the end of the energy year. That said, doubling the DD at the moment does seem quite a large increase but obviously will depend on when your energy year ends. I try to give readings once a month to give them a better idea of current consumption, in the past I've only done that with the quarterly bills.

Added - I'd also check your account definitely shows you are on the tariff you signed up for through MSE.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena · 20 November 2017 at 9:39AM

Good morning storysoldier,

Thank you to everyone on the thread.

I agree with the others, if you log in to your online account, you can pop your reads in and produce a real time bill or balance.

I can see you have just had an up to date bill using your reads, was the account in debit?

If so, this sounds like the reason for the increase, as your current Direct Debit hasn't been enough to cover what you're using.

We would expect the account to be in credit at this time of year, ready for the larger winter bills.

If you want to have a look at changing the amount you pay, you can use the online Direct Debit manager tool. You can increase or decrease the amount by up to 20% with accurate reads and 5% without.

There's also lots of information on the website about how your Direct Debit works.

If you need any help just ask.

Thank you

Helena

Eon doubles direct debit amount

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