Eon nightmare (lengthy post, sorry ! Blame EON !)

fimonkeygirl

am hoping you can help me and my ex partner get some sort of resolution to the difficulties we have been having with our Eon (previously) Powergen Economy 7 Energy Supply.

I moved into a flat with my partner in 2003, at the point of signing the lease we signed documents with the landlord to switch utilities into our names. This happened with water and we registered ourselves for council tax. After some months we hadn't had an electricity bill and didn't knwo who our suppliers we're. Didn't think to ask landlord. i rang as many energy companies as I could think of to check if I was a registered customer. Got told wither no or that they couldn't say who was the bill payer due to Data Protection Act.

I gave up thinking" well we will get a bill eventually", put a small amount of money on one side to cover it.

Three years (!) later the first bill turns up for close to £4k. This was issued by Powergen. In the intervening period there was no contact at all, not even the bumf they send about joining special schemes etc. The bill was in both mine and my partner's name.

We checked the metre as the bill seemed very high even for this length of time, we're on economy 7 and make as much use of it as we can. We gave metre readings to customer service rep who was really shocked that we'd only had one bill in three years and confirmed that only one bill had ever been sent out despite an account being established in our name from the day we took the tenancy.

After this we had a standard reply from Powergen asking for metre readings again, and duly sent these off. A couple of weeks later we got an amended bill with all the electricity charges deducted but not the VAT, then an amended bill with the original VAT amount, the exact same charges reapplied and then VAT AGAIN. They applied VAT to VAT !

Again we rang and spoke to them, customer representative seemed to have no idea what I was talking about and couldn't understand what I was saying about the reapplied and recalculated charges being the exact same charges they had cancelled, plus the extra bit of tax on the VAT.

We refused to make an offer of payment as I refused to acknowledge the level of debt as I was aware of the Billing Code and did not feel we were at fault. We got sent another letter asking for metre readings, which we duly supplied. At this point it had been going on 6 months (this was in 2006) and no solution. We wrote a complaint letter and had no response. We then approached Energy Watch. That led to being contacted by a named person in the Complaints Department which resulted in ANOTHER request for metre readings. At this point Powergen/EON say they are sending out somebody to read the metre as well. We then get told that the wrong metre has been installed and they cannot work out the E7 charges correctly. In our metre box is the card from when the metre was installed which was in 2003, a week before our tenancy commenced. Powergen/Eon say they will need to investigate.

We then get told we need to start paying. I was massively reluctant to do this as I don't want to acknowledge this level of debt which they have admitted they cannot say is correct due to metre issues. My partner writes to offer £100 a month. We never have a response to this. Subsequently, we do not start making payment as we are reluctant to give money to a company which has so far completely failed to handle the account with any level of accuracy or good service.

Six months later we got a letter requesting metre readings, we contacted the customer complaints lady again. she promised to investigate and somebody apparently comes to read the metre. Although I was at home all day nobody ever turned up. Again,we are told that we have the wrong metre and they need to investigate and will be in contact in due course. Every time we ring Powergen/Eon we are told that yes there are problems on the account and they will be in touch once resolved. Every six months or so we get an automated letter with a request for metre readings, which we give over the phone only to be told, oh there is a problem with your account, somebody needs to come to read the metre. And then we get told AGAIN, we have the wrong metre. We have several phone calls with customer reps asking us to read the metre while we are on the phone and them telling us a person will have to come read the metre. I specifically request that the metre reader comes on a certain day and that they have me present while taking the reading. This does not happen and when I ring I am assured that the metre reader has been and everything is in hand.

December 2008, we got another request for metre readings. Again we call and write with these. We take metre readings an hour apart and get told for the umpteenth time we have the wrong metre. At this point my partner writes to the head of customer services explaining the lunacy of this ongoing situation. I have depression and anxiety and the whole issue hanging over me is driving me crazy. The last bill was for over £5000 !

Am I right in thinking that under the Billing Code we should only have to pay for the last 12 months due to Eon/Powegen's complete failure to bill us correctly. We were contacted by a senior complaints manager yesterday who didn't really tell us anything other than it was being looked at (don't just look at it, sort it out !) and that he will update us every Friday.

I've since separated from my partner, amicably, and I now need to have my name taken off the bill and make arrangements to pay what we owe, although I believe that we should only have to pay the last 12 months due to Eon's repeated failure to bill properly. Personally, I feel that due to the incompetence in handling the account the debt should be reduced further. Is this likely do you think ?


Thank you for reading my novel. Any advice, ideas or any other thoughts on Eon would be great !

Cardew

I can only see that you have written one letter in Dec 2008; is this correct?

The problem is that you got your first bill in 2006 and at that time I am not sure if the 24 months backbilling rule was in force(it is now 12 months i.e. they can't back bill more that 12 months if no bill has been raised) Before that date they could back-bill 6 years.

So I am afraid you are not correct that "under the Billing Code we should only have to pay for the last 12 months due to Eon/Powegen's complete failure to bill us correctly."

It is only if no bill has been raised - not an incorrect bill.

I would wait for the outcome of EON's deliberations and see what is on offer. They will pretty obviously offer you a sizeable reduction on the outstanding amount, and if you are not satisfied with their offer you can take the matter to the Regulator.

Premier_2

Hi, fimonkeygirl, and welcome to MSE.

What an epic! :eek:

However, I think it can summarized as follows.
You moved into a flat in 2003. You didn't get any bill for 3 years and then when it arrived it was for £4000. This may be because you failed to inform the sup[plier that you were responsible (you claim you didn't know who the supplier was) but then contradict that by saying the supplier knew you were responsible from the date you moved in.
Anyway, you disputed this and despite various investigations by Eon and even Energywatch, you still dispute it.
In the meantime, the bill has now risen to £5k

You still dispute it and think Eon can only bill you for the previous 12 months anyway now.



Sorry, but I've some bad news!
The 12 month back-billing rule didn't come into force until July 2007. A 2 year back billing rulke was introduced in July 2006 as a lead in.
However, it only applies where the supplier is at fault for not billing.

I'm a little confused by your post. You say you didn't inform the supplier you were responsible for the account when you moved in since you said you didn't know who the supplier was?
But then you say they knew from the moment you moved in who you were.
How did they know this, if you didn't tell them when you a originally moved in?

Anyway, that's a mute point really. In July 2006 they were allowed to back bill you 2 years, Before July 2006, there was no back-billing restriction.
You didn't say exactly when in 2006 they billed you £4k, but at best case scenario they would have been allowed to back bill you 2 years then i.e. 2004

Although you dispute you owe the money, you don't seem to have convinced either Eon or Energywatch of this at the time. So you probably do owe the £4k. It was billed. Even though it is now 2-3 years later, you still owe that money.


Now there's the bit of the extra £1k ( i.e the difference between the original disputed £4k bill and todays £5k bill.)
This is where it is unclear from your post whether the supplier has been billing you in the meantime, and if not, whether it was their fault they haven't.
Theres something about a wrong meter

Anyway, best scenario for this £1k is they can only back bill you 12 months which might reduce it a bit, but I'm not convinced.

I suspect you do owe the £5k and that Eon will pursue you for this debt.



How much do you think should realistically pay to cover your entire electricity consumption since 2003, since from your post you appear not to have paid anything yet?

SwanJon

Tell them that you have had enough and you would like to register this as an official complaint with a vue to taking it to the energy ombudsman. They have 8 weeks to respond to your satisfaction before you can go to the ombudsman, so you could try speaking to them if they have already registered this in the last 6 months.

As above I reckon you are going to have to part with some serious cash (at about £1k/yr for all electric is realistic), but you may get them to reduce it some.
It sounds like you have moved out. You need to get them to recognise this fact, and create a new account for your ex to keep everything seperate.