E-On disputed bill, what can I do now?

elstar80

Hello all,

I wondered if anyone can please offer some advice on what my partner and I can do to resolve the bill Eon are currently disputing with themselves....I shall explain...

My partner and I have been in the same apartment for a year and 3 months now. We have never had any problems with any previous bill.

We received our electricity bill from E-on in February. I called them to pay the bill straight away (as always) and they informed that they they were disputing it - I had received no written information of this and even on the phone they wouldn't say what the actual dispute was. I was told to call back in a few weeks.

I called back and they told me it was still in dispute - again I wasn't told and they weren't able to explain what this dispute was.

I again called back another week or so later (end of March by this point) and was told that the dispute was resolved and they would send me a new bill out. It was explained to me then that they believed we had the wrong meter assigned to our flat (we can't gain access to the meter reading cupboards, the concierge can only gain access) but it turns out we didn't. So it was a pointless dispute.

I waited for the new bill to arrive and called back again to pay it, the same thing happened again. They said they would someone out to check the meter readings. 2 weeks later a man phones me at 9am on a weekday to ask for access to the cupboards, I explain I am at work but the concierge should be able to help. He disappears and calls back 2 weeks later to arrange an appointment to check the meter readings.....I could go on and on.

My partner and I have called quite literally 20 times since February to get this resolved, we always end up speaking to someone else, and 'management' always fail to call us back when we are told that they will do.

We have received a bill since then which was for £950 (E-on have quoted us from April 09 - April 10. Incompetent.) We haven't paid it, but are still receiving letters from debt collectors and E-on still aren't calling us back, even though we are always told that someone will.

This is the most infuriating situation to be in as its not even my partner and I who raised any dispute?! It's the company itself and all we want to do is pay our bill, which will now be so expensive we will have to set up a pay plan - again something we didn't want to or can't afford to do. We were told in March this dispute was sorted and it's now July.

I would like to know what I could possibly do to get through to these idiots? I want to pay my bill as the longer its left the more expensive it is going to get, obviously. And I would like to know about kind of compensation I can receive for this hassle; for the phone calls we have had to make to E-on, for the fear of having debt collectors knock on my door, and for the pure frustration that their own dispute has caused us?

Any kind of advice would be greatly apprecaited, I would like to get this sorted ASAP.

Thanks all :rotfl:

KimYeovil

Your primary dispute should be with your landlord not with Eon. Get them to sort out the access to the meters. Or tell them to at least ask the concierge to provide everyone a regular monthly reading.

I fail to see why the bill will be any more expensive or will require a payment plan.

elstar80

I am able to ask my concierge for our meter readings - which I am able to get.

My lettings agents have nothing to do with building management.

The bill is going to be more expensive because they are unable to solve their own dispute. And will now be charging us since February.

spiro

It is possible that another person in the building raised a dispute with their supplier and that it may have transpired that 'crossed meters' exists i.e. the label on the meter does not match the flat it supplies.

Unfortunately it is not uncommon and is complicated by lack of access to meters. A simple test you can do, if you can get access to the meter, is watch the meter you think is yours turn on the kettle and it should move faster. Turn everything in the flat off and it should stop. If this does not happen you are looking at the wrong meter.

Your supplier should be able to advise if a cross meter investigation is in progress.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi elstar

I'm sorry you are having problems sorting out the billing on your account.

As Spiro says, I too suspect this is a crossed meter issue. If you are living in a block of apartments where all the meters are in a central area, it is possible some or all of the meters have been allocated to the wrong apartments.

Is this a relatively new build? New builds are sometimes particularly susceptible to this type of issue.

If a lot of properties are involved, it can take a long time to sort out. Even if your property has been allocated to the correct meter, you may still be caught up in the overall dispute at the apartment block.

We need to check that each individual meter is attached to the correct property. This can entail our engineers visiting the apartments to check which meter is supplying which property.

Consequently, they will need access to the meter area and sometimes to individual properties. Such investigations can be delayed where we are unable to gain the access required.

We have a specialist department who deal exclusively with crossed meters. These are the people you need to talk to.

The above notwithstanding, we should still have allowed you to make payments when you called in to help cover ongoing usage.

In the absence of validated meter readings, these payments could have been based on average usages for your type of property/appliances. This would have at least restricted the debt building up. I'm sorry you weren't offered this option.

If this is a crossed meter issue as I suspect, I strongly recommend you talk directly to this department only. An individual agent will have been assigned to the whole project. This agent will be best placed to explain where we are currently at with the dispute.

Ask for a complaint to be raised. This will automatically suspend all debt follow up whilst the matter is sorted out.

Once resolved, we will be happy to set up a payment arrangement to spread the outstanding balance over a more manageable period.

Again, I'm really sorry you are experiencing these frustrations but hope this helps point you in the right direction. Give me a shout if I can help further as will be happy to do so.

Malc