EON - Direct Debit Change of Policy

iankerwin

Hi All,
I have just got off the phone from EON about one of their "We need to change your Direct Debit to £xxx" letters after their computer decided my DD needed to go up £26 a month, despite me being £60odd in Credit.

Now usually every quarter I phone them up, they put the DD back down to the usual level and refund the full credit amount straight back to my bank account.

Not this quarter, they have a new policy!
They will now only reduce the DD by 10% when asked even if it is obviously over the top. Despite much protestation I have to accept that I'm only getting a 10% reduction. Next. Can I have my £60 pound back please. Reply: we need meter readings. I have never been asked for meter readings before to get a refund but now they have a new policy. So I run around and get new readings - only 6 days after I supplied readings for the latest bill - and hand these over only to be told I will be getting back £47 instead of £60. So now on top of a massive hike in my DD I am making a prepayment on my next quarters billing. Cheekily I ask if the difference will be taken off my DD. No dice.

Despite speaking to a higher authority, policy is policy and there is nothing they can do.

Now I used to think EON was a good company, certainly an improvement on NPower who couldn't even put the charges for dual fuel on one bill, but it seems that now all they want to do is grab as much of your money by DD and hang on to it for as long as possible, whether you have used the fuel or not. They will always say, "winters coming" and you will use more fuel, but if the accounts ever been in debit I've always paid the due amount over the phone and I've never missed a payment. I can only speculate how much money they must be making when all this is pooled together from their DD customers. I keep on top of this every quarter but I can imagine some may let the DD increases slide and end up having large credit balances with them. In my experience they never phone me and offer the money back.

Anyway, now that's off my chest, after my fixed deal has ended I will definitely be switching so can anyone recommend an energy supplier that charges a reasonable amount for fuel and doesn't keep trying to grab your money?

Cheers
Ian

Meadows

That does seem odd as they normally check your usage and then ask what you want to pay, they have always done that if I have phoned and one time when I was quite a bit in credit they were the ones that suggested they refund the credit and keep the payments as they were because I did not want to drop to their new suggested rate because we were about to go into winter bills!

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

KimYeovil

Bravo, Eon.

Why are you complaining? What is the reason for your anger? It is now standard where if you pay by monthly direct debits nearly all suppliers expect you to be continually in credit. If you are unhappy with this policy then you are free to switch to a more expensive tariff.

Why do you think 'policy is policy' is a bad thing? Treating all customers equally is fair. Are you wanting advantageous terms just because you gripe and moan?

iankerwin

Kim, you are right, I am upset and switch I certainly will. My reasoning is that whilst it may be standard for suppliers to keep you in credit all the time there has to be a reasonable limit to how much of my money they can help themselves to without a) my consent and b) reasonable explanation. All their letter says is that the increase is based on an estimate of what I am going to use which is supposed to justify a 54% increase in my payments.

I am not asking for preferential treatment only that I should be paying for what I use more or less.

KimYeovil

But you have not provided numbers to support that your claim is genuine. A £60 credit in October is nothing. Nov through Mar is five months. £190* extra is a very small amount to cover a household over winter.


*£26 x 5 + £60

iankerwin

Numbers wise i'm currently paying £48 / mth (dual fuel) and this has been generating a credit. Now they estimate £74 / mth. In the past I have run up some debits over the winter months but have paid these promtply. It's not so much the increase in the payments that has annoyed me but the change in policy. Now they will only reduce the DD by 10% if you ask them to, and when asked to refund the credit balance you have to supply a meter reading so that they can effectively take a prepayment in addition to the DD for the month. Why would they do that when they are getting a regular DD?

SwanJon

iankerwin wrote: »

In the past I have run up some debits over the winter months but have paid these promtply.

You know that the DDs are meant to cover your annual usage don't you? You're not meant to under pay and then top up when you feel like it.

Joyful

It sounds very reasonable what Eon are doing. If companies let you underpay a DD and go into debt in this day there is no guarantee that it will get paid due to a persons change of circumstance. Much better to pay a set amount 12 months of the year that will cover usage.

Be aware that if you change companies you will most likely have the scenario above with them too. Also £60 credit is not a lot to be going into winter.

rosie383

Thisn is exactly why we are switching to a variable quarterly DD. So we pay for what we use. It may be a bit more expensive over a year, but at least we won't be in a position where we are paying what the company wants to charge, but will be paying for only the units used.

KimYeovil

rosie383 wrote: »

Thisn is exactly why we are switching to a variable quarterly DD. So we pay for what we use. It may be a bit more expensive over a year, but at least we won't be in a position where we are paying what the company wants to charge, but will be paying for only the units used.

Excellent idea - well worth paying an extra £250 per year for that convenience.

rosie383

Sorry. What company charges an extra £250 per year for paying by DD? I know monthly is cheaper, but £250?