So-called 6% cheaper E-On charges

Snorch

I spend on average £190 pcm on Gas+Elec. on E-On's Standard tariff.
E-On advertise 6% cheaper combined bills by monthly direct debit.
On the verge of switching, they tell me my DD will be £285 pcm.

That's £95 more - and £95 of my money going into E-on's Savings account every month! 11.7% of my bill overpaid to "prevent it going into debt".

Has anybody actually seen these 6% savings?

echoecho_2

I expect this is to do with the way eon calculate direct debits. They try to hit a zero balance by Spring, if you are setting up a direct debit now you won't have built up the credit over the summer to ensure your account hits zero.

only thing i can think of,

Airmike23

echoecho is spot on, if credit is small or none then dd will be higher than average monthly spend until april/may review, rather than setting payment at average combined cost for gas and electric and the account being in debit april/may review, and then dd will go up to clear balance and ensure a credit is built up over summer. Also check what tariff you are on, if not on save online 3 or 4, would be better to get on the online tariff eon offer

dogshome

Hi Snorch - 'Standard' tariffs are expensive, but your previous D/Debit level of £190 works out to £2,280 a year which is more than twice the National Average, so unless you are living in a very large house with a very large family, something is wrong.
Also the demand for a higher D/Debit payment on the new cheaper tariff looks suspect - The 'Build up credit for Winter' stance only holds water if there was zero credit on your account when you changed tariffs.

Swapping tariffs with the same supplier is better than doing nothing, but to do the job properly you must go the whole market via the Switch sites, and to do this you need to know your Annual Gas & Elec consumptions in Kwh - Ask Eon to give you these and visit the Switch sites

Gas meter changes have caused a recurring problem with the way Gas is billed - Look at the face plate on your meter, if it is marked M3 look at your Gas bill and on the line which lists how many meter units were used which is then converted to Kwh for chargeing, divide the Kwh figure into the Units used - If the answer is appx. 11 you are being charged correctly, but if it is appx. 31 you are being charged for a Ft3 meter and being overbilled by 181%

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi Snorch,

I agree with echoecho, it does sound like the Direct Debit is being calculated to ensure you achieve a zero balance at your spring review.

The monthly amount would be higher as we are going in to winter and you won't have any credit on your account.

This will even out once you pass the spring review.

The discount you have been advised of is taken off at the billing stage, you will be able to see this under the charges on your bill.

I would also check the tariffs, if you are happy to have a Direct Debit and manage your account online there are many more options open to you.

I would do as dogshome says and ask for your kWh for the year and pop this in to a comparison site, see what’s best for you.

Helena

macman

OP you have fallen into the classic trap, a 6% reduction means that your tariff price is 6% less. That is not the same as saying that your DD payments wil fall by 6%.
Forget about what your DD level is, what matter is how much you use and what rate you pay for that usage.

Snorch

Thanks dogshome - I'll check.

Snorch

Thanks helena - can I reduce my DD by paying into that E-On piggy bank towards my future bills? I can 0% on a credit card for 9 months, so I can pay up front and get a smalled DD.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Snorch wrote: »

Thanks helena - can I reduce my DD by paying into that E-On piggy bank towards my future bills? I can 0% on a credit card for 9 months, so I can pay up front and get a smalled DD.

Hi Snorch,

This should work the same way as if you had a debit balance on the account, for example, if the account is in debt this will be taken in to consideration when calculating the monthly payments (they would be higher) to ensure the account achieves a zero balance for the spring review.

So if your account is in credit, this again would be taken in to account for the Direct Debit payments (being lower) to achieve the spring zero balance.

Every account is different and this would need to be calculated on an individual basis and it depends on what the customer would like to reduce the monthly payments to.

I will be happy to help you with your account if you would like me to, you can use the email address in my profile page and I can take a look

Helena:)