Prepaid electric meter debt

executiverocker

Hi all,

I've been investigating my E.on meter as it seems to be taking more money than usual lately. Finally got a list of what all the menus mean on the meter but while looking through I found out there is a "debt" of £49 on there which is being paid back £1 a week.

How does a prepaid meter get a debt? Surely you pay for what you use? If anyone could shed any light on the matter I'd be appreciated.

Thanks!

Craig

shirleymarye

You must owe them some money for it to be charging you.

mattcanary

The company may have made a mistake and added a debt on to the meter by mistake. Has happened....

Alternatively, maybe the OP hasn't contacted the supplier in which case they haven;t reset the meter after he moved - possibly the OP is paying back a debt that the previous occupier of his home ran up.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Craig

How long have you been in the property? If fairly recently, are you using the former occupier's payment device (either a card or key) or have we sent you a new device?

As mattcanary says, if a former account hasn't been closed down and you are still using the old occupier's payment device, you may well be re-paying a debt built up previously.

Give one of our Prepayment teams a call and ask about the status of the account.

Sometimes a prepayment meter will be fitted in place of a credit meter because the occupier at the time is struggling to pay the bill. In this case, the debt will be put on the prepayment meter to collect at a set amount each week.

I also agree with matt, in that, the debt could have been added by mistake.

I'm not saying either of these situations apply to your meter; they are just examples of certain possibilities. As I say, talk to us about this.

Hope this is useful Craig. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help. Drop an email to the address in my Profile if you prefer.

Malc

happyfeet11

i just recently moved out of property where i had a pre paid meter from eon . i was a single parent of a small child and was on very low income so a pre meter seemed a great choice i was topping up the meter with key in multiples of 5 the meter didnt alter when top up was applied but i just thought
that was normal as i was new to the whole thing later i noticed that the meter was still not telling me how much credit was on the meter . i did have a telephone conversation by someone from eon who was lovely and helpful just saying that there was a fault with the meter and by topping up the meter the credit was not acknowledged and updated to the system so the meter would have a system update and we went through a unit check to see how much was used ... time goes on nothing changed a man from eon came to house twice and read the meter and said that the units used was very low ( which they would of been as i was never there and only a few things was used for the electric ) after leaving the property and having a new key installed later and still paying credit i have a bill for 1700 or round about and i have not got that amount to pay off a debt which was only estimated ... estimated sounds like fun for them because there was no way i ever used that amount of elactricity for one adult and a baby who dont use electric ???? .i have contacted eon as they are demanding the full amount and because i am no longer a customer i have to pay it under 12months which they want 150 i havent got that i dont get any help with my child and i do struggle day to day to survive now i have this hanging over me wht can i do please help me sum 1

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi happyfeet

I'm sorry you're having this problem and would suggest you refer it to our Director's Office (contact details are on your bill).

Ask for a complaint to be raised. This will stop any debt follow up whilst the matter is investigated. If, after 56 days, you're unhappy with our explanation/resolution you can refer the matter to the Ombudsman for an independent ruling.

From what you say, I'm assuming the meter wasn't registering the top ups you put on. It seems it was also not moving on or just moving very slowly.

Have a look at the bill we sent you. Does it show the payments you made? If not, we need to find these. I know it's probably a while ago, but have you kept any receipts from when you bought the electricity?

If you have, let us have copies as this will help locate any missing payments.

When you first moved in, did you let us know and did we send a new key? If not, you may have been using an old key. Consequently, your payments may have been put on to the wrong account. These will need finding and transferring to your account.

Sorry for all the questions happyfeet but am a bit unsure what's happened here.

Malc