Gas and Electric charges with EON

pacman040372

Aaaaaaaarrrrrghhh !!!!!
Can anyone shed any light on a situation i find myself in. I have the need to know if what i have heard is true, i have heard that fuel companies can only charge for the 12 months of any 1 billing period, can anyone back this up ??
The reason for this is that i moved into a rented, brand new property in March 2009 and set about finding out who suplied my gas and electric, to be told by all the companies i called that they could not find my property and to call metering services, which i did, to be told that they could not find the meter either and to speak to the letting agent, which i did, to be told that it would turn up in the post, after repeating this for 6 months i finally found out by trying to get a quote online, that EON was my supplier, but in the builders name, i called them numerous times and finally got my electric account set up when i moved out after another 12 months !! now they are asking for £1450 pounds for 18 months of fuel and would possibly reduce it to a bill for 12 months of gas and electric if i could prove that i called previous to March 2010 when my gas account was setup. Can anyone clarify this at all. :mad:

Premier_2

There is a thing called the 12 month back billing rule.

However it essentially only applies when a company fails due to their own failure to not bill a customer correctly.

I'm trying to work out the timings here.

You say you originally moved in March 2009? You took 6 months before finding out which supplier's energy you were actually using - that's September 2009.
But, for whatever reason, you didn't actually inform the supplier for another 12 months? i.e. September 2010.

If that's correct, they had until September 2011 to bill you.

Otherwsie, what proof have you got you tried to contact them in September 2009?
A letter sent recorded delivery with evidence of proof of delivery would be perfect

spiro

You say the energy account was in the builders name so he will have been receiving the bill. It seem odd that in all that time he has not passed them over to you or advised you to get the account changed into your name.

I agree the back billing rule only applies if you contact the supplier and they fail to bill you. It does NOT cover them issuing actual bill s having previously sent estimated bills and also when you fail to or cant prove you contacted them.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi pacman

Just to confirm what Premier and spiro say, the Billing Code applies where we are at fault for not issuing a valid bill to a domestic customer.

Where we have been told of a change of responsibility for a property but haven't taken the correct action, then we will be at fault if we haven't sent a bill.

In these cases, there will be a cut off point. This will be when the account was corrected and a valid bill sent.

We are able to charge for 12 months energy usage prior to this cut off point.

However, we will not charge for energy used before the 12 months following the cut off point.

For instance, if your account was corrected on 10 January 2011, we will charge for usage back to 10 January 2010. Charges for usage before 10 January 2010 will be cancelled.

Hope this is of use pacman. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

Malc

pacman040372

To start with thanks for all the comments.
i originally contacted all the suppliers i knew including eon back March 2009 and all of the providers could not find my address !
i was informed by one provider to contact metering services and they could not find my home either.
after 6 months of trying to find out who was to supply my services the letting agent told me too just choose any supplier. So in september 2009 i tried on the eon website and that is when i was told that my property was already with them when previously it wasn't, but up until that point i had no contact from them at all not even when i called them myself.
i recieved no electricity bill at all until i moved out in November 2010 !! its not that i stopped trying, it took 14 months to setup the account in my name!!!!!!!! and i have been told that i have had no contact with the company before march 2010, i may be many things but a liar is not one of them.
the problem is also proof of contact, all contact was done by phone with the new connection dept and the only way for me to prove that i did actually contact them is to show phone records and in that lies another problem, due to moving home my old virginmedia account is closed and they cannot see my records, i am awaiting contact from virgin's head office.
thanks again for taking the time to reply guys, it is very much appreciated.

pacman040372

To start with thanks for all the comments.
i originally contacted all the suppliers i knew including eon back March 2009 and all of the providers could not find my address !
i was informed by one provider to contact metering services and they could not find my home either.
after 6 months of trying to find out who was to supply my services the letting agent told me too just choose any supplier. So in september 2009 i tried on the eon website and that is when i was told that my property was already with them when previously it wasn't, but up until that point i had no contact from them at all not even when i called them myself.
i recieved no electricity bill at all until i moved out in November 2010 !! its not that i stopped trying, it took 14 months to setup the account in my name!!!!!!!! and i have been told that i have had no contact with the company before march 2010, i may be many things but a liar is not one of them.
the problem is also proof of contact, all contact was done by phone with the new connection dept and the only way for me to prove that i did actually contact them is to show phone records and in that lies another problem, due to moving home my old virginmedia account is closed and they cannot see my records, i am awaiting contact from virgin's head office.
thanks again for taking the time to reply guys, it is very much appreciated.

Premier_2

For your future information:

How to identify your gas supplier

How to identify your electricity supplier

(note the numbers for electricity relate to regional supply companies, not retail electricity suppliers - you only need to call the one that supplies your region)

pacman040372

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi pacman

Just to confirm what Premier and spiro say, the Billing Code applies where we are at fault for not issuing a valid bill to a domestic customer.

Where we have been told of a change of responsibility for a property but haven't taken the correct action, then we will be at fault if we haven't sent a bill.

In these cases, there will be a cut off point. This will be when the account was corrected and a valid bill sent.

We are able to charge for 12 months energy usage prior to this cut off point.

However, we will not charge for energy used before the 12 months following the cut off point.

For instance, if your account was corrected on 10 January 2011, we will charge for usage back to 10 January 2010. Charges for usage before 10 January 2010 will be cancelled.

Hope this is of use pacman. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

Malc

Hi Malc,
I recieved the first bill for the electric account in november 2010, your company says that they have no contact with me previous to this and as yet i have no way to prove this, what would that mean in respect to what you say above and i do have the company representative that i spoke to all those months ago, why, if the account was in the builders name would it take so long to change over ?
Thanks again for taking the time to answer previously.
regards

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi pacman

With new builds, I'm afraid it's not uncommon for there to be delays in the builders/developers sending us details concerning changes of responsibility for their properties. Some are better than others.

It's always advisable for the new owner/occupier to contact us as soon as they take over a property.

When you called us originally, did you give us your meter serial number and any details about the property such as a plot number and the builder's name? This usually helps us track down properties.

If you can find any contact details at all, like the phone records you referred to earlier, it may be possible to review our decision.

Without some proof of contact, I doubt if the Billing Code will be applied. However, each request for the Billing Code is looked at on its individual merits and it's certainly worth asking again if you can show some kind of proof of contact.

Sorry I can't offer anything more positive pacman.

Malc