Eon put us on the wrong tariff

cellardoor

Hello,

We've been a bit disorganised and only just realised that Eon have put us on their standard tariff since we moved house about 1.5 years ago. In our property before we were on the online tariff but did not close the a/c as far as we remember. We thought we'd changed the address but were on the same tariff.

GF called them up about it and they say they have no record of us being at the previous property. The chap in question commented that he could see the history for the last 5 years and were no where to be seen. Doesn't make sense as it was British Gas and Southern Elec when we moved in.

Anyway, I'm a little annoyed as they've recently tried to raise our DD's to £88 per month and the chap says it would be £13 cheaper if we were on the online tariff but we need to apply for it online.

Thinking about switching providers but might be cutting off my nose to spite my face as they seem to come out near top when I do a comparison and I should have spotted it before. What do you think? Will I get anywhere putting in a formal complaint to eon? Refund?

Cheers,
Cellardoor

Plushchris

Cant see any chance of a refund if you just assumed you would go to the same tariff without checking, its quite unusual (but not unheard of) that suppliers let you "carry over" tariffs when you move, especially if they are not the suppliers at the property you move into.

Andy_WSM

cellardoor wrote: »

Hello,

We thought we'd changed the address but were on the same tariff.

"thought..." - You might have to chalk this one down to experience. You should have made certain! It is normal practice for all utility companies to put you on a standard tariff unless you ask for anything different.

I wouldn't cut off your nose to spite your face, I'd change now to their cheaper tariff and look forward to savings going forward. Not a lot you can do about the past - it's certainly not E.ONs fault.

cellardoor

OK, thanks guys. Bill is in my gf's name and she's not the best at checking these things. Kicking myself for not checking it though. Not moved that many times so assumed the a/c would be the same but with different address. Will do a comparison and if eon come out top I will stay with them but change the tariff.

Cheers!

bureaucrazy

I moved to a house with a prepayment meter and just assumed I had to buy the cards and that was it. Eon put me on an economy 7 tariff which has a very high day time rate and a cheap night rate. They never consulted me about my expected usage habits or agreed any contract to be on economy 7 (I can only assume they carried on from the tariff the previous ocupant was on). I thought that tariffs were irrellevant as I thought I was on pay as you go tariff. Now they send me a huge bill in excess of what I paid on the pay as you go all at economy 7 rates! I am a very low user and have no storage heaters or electric hot water. My actual consumption was only <700kwh per year daytime and <50Kwh at night per year. I feel that this is unfair because they should have consulted me and put me on a standard or low user tariff. What are my rights?

KimYeovil

bureaucrazy wrote: »

What are my rights?

None. It is up to you to proactively choose and decide what tariff you want. What business is it of the supplier? If the property is set up for E7 and prepayment then the occupant has chosen them for a reason. If a subsequent occupant decide to behave differently then it is up to them to request a change from the ongoing default.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

cellardoor wrote: »

Hello,

We've been a bit disorganised and only just realised that Eon have put us on their standard tariff since we moved house about 1.5 years ago. In our property before we were on the online tariff but did not close the a/c as far as we remember. We thought we'd changed the address but were on the same tariff.

GF called them up about it and they say they have no record of us being at the previous property. The chap in question commented that he could see the history for the last 5 years and were no where to be seen. Doesn't make sense as it was British Gas and Southern Elec when we moved in.

Anyway, I'm a little annoyed as they've recently tried to raise our DD's to £88 per month and the chap says it would be £13 cheaper if we were on the online tariff but we need to apply for it online.

Thinking about switching providers but might be cutting off my nose to spite my face as they seem to come out near top when I do a comparison and I should have spotted it before. What do you think? Will I get anywhere putting in a formal complaint to eon? Refund?

Cheers,
Cellardoor

Hi Cellardoor,

Sorry for the late reply.

The tariff used to bill you will have shown on the bills, if this was incorrect the best thing to do would have been to contact E.ON and get this changed.

E.ON won't backdate the tariff now due to the length of time and the fact that bills will have been sent advising of the tariff.

I would take Andy_WSM advice and get on to the best tariff you can from now on.

Just for general info, if you do move house, you can normally take most tariffs with you if this is what you want to do, but you must ensure you request this and check this has been done on your first bill/welcome letter.

Helena

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

bureaucrazy wrote: »

I moved to a house with a prepayment meter and just assumed I had to buy the cards and that was it. Eon put me on an economy 7 tariff which has a very high day time rate and a cheap night rate. They never consulted me about my expected usage habits or agreed any contract to be on economy 7 (I can only assume they carried on from the tariff the previous ocupant was on). I thought that tariffs were irrellevant as I thought I was on pay as you go tariff. Now they send me a huge bill in excess of what I paid on the pay as you go all at economy 7 rates! I am a very low user and have no storage heaters or electric hot water. My actual consumption was only <700kwh per year daytime and <50Kwh at night per year. I feel that this is unfair because they should have consulted me and put me on a standard or low user tariff. What are my rights?

Hi bureaucrazy,

KimYeovil is correct, the billing on economy 7 may have been carried forward from the previous occupier, some customers do use economy 7 even if they don't have electric heating. This means that tariffs are changed at customers requests as everyone's usage is different.

When you contacted E.ON to advise that you had moved in to the property so they could set up your account and send you a new pre-payment card, you should have received a welcome letter, this letter gives information and states the tariff you will be on, did you receive this?

It is really up to the customer to make sure they are on the best tariff for their needs, this can be checked on comparison sites, on our own website or by contacting your supplier.

E.ON wouldn't know that you are a low user or that you didn't want economy 7 unless you contacted them.

I would make sure you have been changed on to your preferred one rate tariff from now on.

You say you have now received a bill in excess of what you have paid on to the meter, how long have you been in the property? if it has been some time you should have received statements, these show details of the tariff.

Helena

maxmycardagain

E.ON wouldn't know that you are a low user or that you didn't want economy 7 unless you contacted them.

They would if they actually read the meters and thier systems flagged up low amounts, lets say like a responsible utility provider

Bgas got mine wrong (for a 6 month period) and swapped tarrifs and refunded an amount to compensate me

Out of a utilities massive profits such sums are peanuts

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

maxmycardagain wrote: »

They would if they actually read the meters and thier systems flagged up low amounts, lets say like a responsible utility provider

Bgas got mine wrong (for a 6 month period) and swapped tarrifs and refunded an amount to compensate me

Out of a utilities massive profits such sums are peanuts

Hi maxmycardagain,

It could be seen if we had some usage history for the customer, but in this case the customer had just moved in, so we wouldn't have any consumption information for them at the new property.

Helena

spiro

bureaucrazy wrote: »

I moved to a house with a prepayment meter and just assumed I had to buy the cards and that was it. Eon put me on an economy 7 tariff which has a very high day time rate and a cheap night rate. They never consulted me about my expected usage habits or agreed any contract to be on economy 7 (I can only assume they carried on from the tariff the previous ocupant was on). I thought that tariffs were irrellevant as I thought I was on pay as you go tariff. Now they send me a huge bill in excess of what I paid on the pay as you go all at economy 7 rates! I am a very low user and have no storage heaters or electric hot water. My actual consumption was only <700kwh per year daytime and <50Kwh at night per year. I feel that this is unfair because they should have consulted me and put me on a standard or low user tariff. What are my rights?

You say they have sent you a huge bill. When you moved in did you contact Eon and use the payment card they sent you or did you use a card left by the previous occupant. If it is the latter it is possible you have paid (bought credit at shop) but the money has gone to the wrong place as the result of you using the wrong card. What do you mean by 'huge bill' and what period does it cover?