EON pre-paid meter rip off

barry478

I have a pre paid electric and gas meter with eon, I am in debt with them, and agreed to pay £3.00 per week per meter to pay off the arrears, which incidently built up because my then partner did not pay the bills as he said he would, he has since moved out and left me with this and other debts.:(

In can only put £5.00 per 3 days on my gas and elcetric, but every time I put £5.00 on the meter I only get £2.00 of electric/gas. So if I put £5.00 on Monday, and then £5.00 on Friday . I only get £2.00 of power each time. I am not in a position to put the £10.00 on in one go without having no electirc or gas for a week, and having an 8 year old daughter to look after as well is not an option.

eon get £6.00 per meter per week, which is double what the agreement was. How can I overcome this problem, without getting into more debt by borrowing the money to put £10.00 on each meter? The £4.00 that I actually get to use does not always last the week, so I have to go to my parents to have a hot bath and a hot meal.

WhiteHorse

Contact them. I would guess that they have assumed that you will top up once a week. Thus, it takes £3 per top up.

It may be that their system is unable to cope with anything more frequent or complicated. They are all slaves to the computer ...

robchap_2

you would pay a 3 pound debt per week plus 2.50 (about) standing charge
so it looks about right to me

spiro

On both meters you can scroll through the display to see what the prices, debt recovery rate, standing charge etc are set to. For some information, like debt, you need the key/card in the meter for it to be displayed.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

barry478 wrote: »

I have a pre paid electric and gas meter with eon, I am in debt with them, and agreed to pay £3.00 per week per meter to pay off the arrears, which incidently built up because my then partner did not pay the bills as he said he would, he has since moved out and left me with this and other debts.:(

In can only put £5.00 per 3 days on my gas and elcetric, but every time I put £5.00 on the meter I only get £2.00 of electric/gas. So if I put £5.00 on Monday, and then £5.00 on Friday . I only get £2.00 of power each time. I am not in a position to put the £10.00 on in one go without having no electirc or gas for a week, and having an 8 year old daughter to look after as well is not an option.

eon get £6.00 per meter per week, which is double what the agreement was. How can I overcome this problem, without getting into more debt by borrowing the money to put £10.00 on each meter? The £4.00 that I actually get to use does not always last the week, so I have to go to my parents to have a hot bath and a hot meal.

Hi Barry

Already some good advice on here. I would just add a couple of points.

Once a debt is set on a meter, it will only collect the agreed weekly amount regardless of how many times you top up during the week.

As spiro says, check the settings on both meters to make sure the agreed amount has been set.

For electric key meters, it is setting T; and for gas Quantum meters it is setting number 26. In both cases, the key/card needs to be in the meter.

Call us asap if the incorrect amount has been set. This can quickly be put right by sending an electronic message to the meter.

As well as debt, Prepayment Meters also collect other amounts. There is a daily standing charge on electricity prepayment meters and a primary (tier 1) charge on the gas.

If there is not enough credit on the meter to pay these charges, they will be stored in the meter's memory and taken the next time you top up.

Another thing to consider is the emergency credit. If you have used this, all debt/daily charges are suspended whilst the facility is being used.

Again, these charges are stored in the memory and taken back, along with the amount of emergency credit used, when you next top up.

Hope this explains what might be happening. Give me a shout if you need any more advice as will be happy to help.

Malc

VOIRREY

I bought a repossessed house in Nov 2007, it had a prepaid meter in and I rang EON to get it removed and offered to pay £30 per month on Direct Debit. This was refused and I were told it had to be used as a prepaid meter for 12 months before they would consider changing it. In Nov 2008 I rang again and were told that EON would remove the pre paid meter at a cost of £50, we refused. In March 2009 I rang them again to inform them that the house would be unoccupied as my daughter(who was living in it )had got a job abroad. I have spent the last 12 months trying (in between work) to make the many repairs to the house and using the key to purchase electricity to do said jobs. I was buying £20 of electricity each time but found each time I went back to the house(between 2 and 5 days) there wasnt any electricity. I rang Eon, only to be informed that there was a 43p charge per day for the pleasure of having electricity to the house, not using it just for it being there. I have been in hospital for some time and the meter now shows I owe Eon £100 for no electricity, is this legal? I have lodged a complaint but so far have had 3 letters saying they havent completed their investigations. My point is if they had accepted the £30 on offer as a Direct Debit I would have been in Credit to work on the house and they would have got regular payments, even if I had reduced it when my daughter went abroad, any advice please !!!!!

C_Mababejive

Maybe Eons week isnt the same as hours? I heard some suppliers weeks start and end on for eg Wednesday so if you put money in on tuesday,you get a deduction and if you put it in again on thursday,you get another deduction..

spiro

VOIRREY wrote: »

I rang Eon, only to be informed that there was a 43p charge per day for the pleasure of having electricity to the house, not using it just for it being there. I have been in hospital for some time and the meter now shows I owe Eon £100 for no electricity, is this legal?

Yes it is. Suppliers either charge you a daily standing charge or you have a tariff that has 2 tiers and the 1st tier is more expensive so the net result is you still pay a standing charge but under another name.

Just because you dont use anything the supplier still has to pay rental for the meter, pay someone to maintain it, someone to read it, the network for your connection.

Premier_2

VOIRREY wrote: »

I bought a repossessed house in Nov 2007, it had a prepaid meter in and I rang EON to get it removed and offered to pay £30 per month on Direct Debit. This was refused and I were told it had to be used as a prepaid meter for 12 months before they would consider changing it. In Nov 2008 I rang again and were told that EON would remove the pre paid meter at a cost of £50, we refused. In March 2009 I rang them again to inform them that the house would be unoccupied as my daughter(who was living in it )had got a job abroad. I have spent the last 12 months trying (in between work) to make the many repairs to the house and using the key to purchase electricity to do said jobs. I was buying £20 of electricity each time but found each time I went back to the house(between 2 and 5 days) there wasnt any electricity. I rang Eon, only to be informed that there was a 43p charge per day for the pleasure of having electricity to the house, not using it just for it being there. I have been in hospital for some time and the meter now shows I owe Eon £100 for no electricity, is this legal? I have lodged a complaint but so far have had 3 letters saying they havent completed their investigations. My point is if they had accepted the £30 on offer as a Direct Debit I would have been in Credit to work on the house and they would have got regular payments, even if I had reduced it when my daughter went abroad, any advice please !!!!!

What's the basis of your complaint?

The supplier has a tariff and that is what it is charging you. Would you complain if you bought an item in Tesco and found it was on sale cheaper in Asda?

Just like the supermarkets, the energy suppliers operate in a competitive market. You are free to look at other suppliers and choose one that offers you a better deal, some for example don't make a standing charge for a PPM, some suppliers are not quite as restrictive as E.On are when it comes to replacing a PPM and some suppliers do make a standing charge even on their credit meters.

E.On eventually agreed to install a credit meter for you, but you declined as you didn't want to pay the cost of that work. (not all suppliers directly charge for such work, so again it's up to you to shop around to find the best deal)

Any complaint you have appears to have been of your own making.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi VOIRREY

We introduced a charge for non-essential meter changes a couple of years ago. This applies to both credit and prepayment meters.

It basically covers the cost of the engineers visit and the associated admin expenses.

As you opted not to go ahead with a meter replacement, you will have remained on our prepayment electricity tariff. This includes a daily standing charge which is payable whether electricity is used or not.

Our gas tariff used to include the same but this was replaced with a two tier system in July last year. Here, whilst the higher tier one rate acts in a similar way to a daily standing charge, you only pay for gas actually used.

At this moment in time, I am not aware of any impending similar changes to our electricity prepayment tariff. Therefore, as Premier says, your best option may be to find a supplier who has a prepayment tariff similar to our gas one.

There are no restrictions with our prepayment tariffs, so you can change supplier at any time without penalty.

Just a quick thought. You mention a daily standing charge of 43 pence. This sounds like an Economy 7 price.

Do you have a two rate Economy 7 meter? If you do and given the type of usage you have posted, you will probably be better off on a single rate tariff.

Give us a call if your tariff is Economy 7 and we will switch your account to a single rate whilst you are on the phone. No need to change the meter. We will add the day and night units together and charge as a single day rate.

Still worth doing even if you change supplier. Switches take approx 4-6 weeks to complete, so you would save a bit whilst the change goes through.

Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc

VOIRREY

Thanks for all replies and comments, I received no information from Eon re charges after we first rang up, and the only letter I have received was for the attention of the occupier noting the house looked un occupied. Why was I not notified there would be a charge for the removal for the said meter in the first instance. But my point still stands why refuse a direct debit from myself when I have been a direct debit customer in the past with themselves. Re the comment about tesco and asda, I wouldnt complain I,d take it back, but i do take your points about shopping around but would have appreciated any communication from Eon with , for example cost of the electricity ,tariff the meter was on , cost of removal of meter anything really