Capped - but have a huge bill!

simiisme

Hi,

In July (I think) I changed my electricity and gas accounts to Eneregy Saver capped accounts with EON, submitting my meter readings at the same time.

I have just had a letter saying my monthly Direct Debit has been raised to £296 per month! (That's £3,552 per year). Not only that, £296 has been taken from my bank account.

I understand that my bills were estimated for a long time (my husband and I work long hours and are usually out when a meter reader calls.)

What has gone wrong and what can I do about it? I cannot afford to pay this much every month. Also, how is it possible to take £296 from a capped account?

Thanks,
Simiisme

spiro

Capped applies to the price per unit not how much you pay. Just because you work long hours doesn't stop you checking the readings on the bill and calling your supplier if they are out. I know this sounds harsh but you only have to see the number of threads here that mention estimated readings and unchecked bills. You energy supplier only has to read the meter every 2 years in between its down to you.

Find your last bill and see how the reading (estimated) compares with now, you'll probably find its 000s or 0000s out and now they have caught up. You might also want to check with your supplier how long the DD may stay at this amount as they may try and recoup the money is 3,6,9 or 12 months. If its only 3 or 6 try and get them to extend it but dont expect them to go over 12.

whatatwit

A lot of people think that capping means they can have unlimited gas and electric for a set amount of money.
As Spiro mentions, it is only the unit price that is fixed.

You need to start taking regular readings ideally every day for a couple of weeks and see just how much you are using and work out the cost.
Armed with this info, you may be able to ask for the arrears to paid off over a longer timescale.
Or, could you make a lump sum payment to get the account a bit more up to date, this would then reduce the monthly payment.

Magentasue

There are two issues here: the estimated bills and your usage.

The estimated bills issue is addressed in the above posts - did you never check the meter against the estimated amounts? If not, start doing it! Ideally send in accurate readings (takes two mins online) but at least budget for what you've used.

Secondly, your monthly payment is high because you have to clear these arrears but also to pay for the energy you're predicted to use. Such a high bill suggests high usage and although you can't turn the clock back and reduce what you've used, you can reduce what you use from now to bring the payments down or clear them more quickly.

There are several 'cutting my bills' threads on this board, Old Style and the Green board. Check them out and see what you can do. For a start, you need to take weekly (or even daily) readings to see how much you are using.

Good luck!

DGJsaver

simiisme wrote: »

Hi,

In July (I think) I changed my electricity and gas accounts to Eneregy Saver capped accounts with EON, submitting my meter readings at the same time.

I have just had a letter saying my monthly Direct Debit has been raised to £296 per month! (That's £3,552 per year). Not only that, £296 has been taken from my bank account.

I understand that my bills were estimated for a long time (my husband and I work long hours and are usually out when a meter reader calls.)

What has gone wrong and what can I do about it? I cannot afford to pay this much every month. Also, how is it possible to take £296 from a capped account?

Thanks,
Simiisme

What are your cirumstances ? size of house etc etc ?