EON's rubbish computer ....

backfoot

maddipops wrote: »

Eon give generous percentage discounts for paying by dd.

why should they be owed money when discounting the bill heavily for dd customers? You get a discount because you pay in advance for your usage. If you don't like I don't pay this way. How much discount does the council give you for paying by dd? The water board? Tv licensing? Car insurance companies? Energy companies are painted as monsters but in this instance people whining about dd increases however large, right before winter need to get a grip. You are only paying for what you use, any left over credit if there is any, will most likely be automatically refunded on April to June bill.

All suppliers offer discounts for payment by direct debit. They offer discounts because it is their preferred payment method. Without it customers pay quarterly in arrears without the guarantee of regular and secure income streams. They have less follow up action and secure an income flow regularly over the year.

Eon's scheme is different to the original DD schemes in that it advances payments that much more than the normal 1/12th basis. It is a policy designed to exploit seasonality and recover advance payments over a short periods. It is not at all clear to new customers that the impact will be so severe.

There are specific Regulations governing the implementation of DD's for Suppliers. Those Licence Conditions set out the obligations and framework for their use for payment of energy bills. It is pointless to compare and contrast other sectors which have evolved differently.

Explaining the impact to customers who are hit by this policy and pointing out their rights under the SLC's is not whining. It is trying to support customers who may not have the cash flow to meet the manipulation by Eon to support their own cash flow.

Customers do not want to withdraw from DD schemes and discounts but they do want the systems to be operated fairly and within the Regulations drawn up following previous reviews.

Both Ofgem and Consumer Focus, who are the bodies responsible for Customer protection have been made aware of this policy and we will have to see whether they take action.

p.s. It is clear from your posting record that you have a connection with Eon. Something which other posters have challenged you on. No one minds you having an opinion but the rules of the forum require you to declare such an interest.

dshart

maddipops wrote: »

Eon give generous percentage discounts for paying by dd. why should they be owed money when discounting the bill heavily for dd customers? You get a discount because you pay in advance for your usage. If you don't like I don't pay this way. How much discount does the council give you for paying by dd? The water board? Tv licensing? Car insurance companies? Energy companies are painted as monsters but in this instance people whining about dd increases however large, right before winter need to get a grip. You are only paying for what you use, any left over credit if there is any, will most likely be automatically refunded on April to June bill.

Read my posts where I quote figures and show that at no stage was my account ever in debit with EON, they appear to want it always in credit to the tune of at least £200 or more.

They advertise that by paying by DD you will average the costs out over the year so when you start at your spring review your account should build up credit over the summer that will be eaten up during the winter months. Yet come winter they do a seasonal review and increase the DD to account for higher usage over winter.

My point is how do they justify this when the annual review is already supposed to account for increased usage over winter. They claim they only increase if the tariffs change (in my case they increased DD by 27% when the tariff increased by 15%) or when there is increased usage which was not expected (in my case they took no reading and their estimate was for a slight reduction in consumption, my own reading was even less) yet they still increased my DD.

If you want to use them as a savings account giving you no interest then by all means go ahead, but I have better things to do with my money.

donteatthat

I paid off my outstanding balance with Eon in July and moved to British Gas for a cheaper tarrif on electric (no dual fuel for us, its oil) as I got fed up with the cost, and the ever increasing direct debits. We have 2 meters although only one tarrif and I found out this morning after calling British Gas that the start reading provided on the night meter by Eon was higher than the actual reading is now. I have a copy of the readings I provided. Essentially Eons parting shot was to overcharge me around £50 on the final bill we worked out. British Gas have said they will just waive it so we only start to be charged once the meter reading exceeds the one that they were given, but its still a bit annoying that this eletric would have been cheaper from British Gas. Any comments from The Eon reps on this?

jalexa

jalexa wrote: »

Thank you for the table. So far I have only had time to enter the June start into a spreadsheet. The results show that the "6 month" remark you make is "true", but the results appear to show something else, that the number of "£ days" (something I hope our "banking experts" will understand) is quite significantly a customer balance taken over the 12 months. In other words the June start customer is "lending" free money to Eon.

I mentioned that the table figures appeared to show a "front loaded" customer credit balance. This is the graphical representation of what I said. I stand to be corrected if I have made an error but if not this is a very worrying result. I post it to give the opportunity for any error to be pointed out.



Let me say I do repect that at least Eon has a profile of sorts, unlike the Edf "fearties ignorants".

victor2

That is the simplest illustration of the issue I have seen so far. Nicely done.

stewie_griffin

donteatthat wrote: »

I paid off my outstanding balance with Eon in July and moved to British Gas for a cheaper tarrif on electric (no dual fuel for us, its oil) as I got fed up with the cost, and the ever increasing direct debits. We have 2 meters although only one tarrif and I found out this morning after calling British Gas that the start reading provided on the night meter by Eon was higher than the actual reading is now. I have a copy of the readings I provided. Essentially Eons parting shot was to overcharge me around £50 on the final bill we worked out. British Gas have said they will just waive it so we only start to be charged once the meter reading exceeds the one that they were given, but its still a bit annoying that this eletric would have been cheaper from British Gas. Any comments from The Eon reps on this?

The readings that Eon used to finalise your account would have been passed to them by BG. If you gave actual readings at the time then they've failed to pass them on for some reason. Phone BG back and ask them to raise an agreed reads dispute with Eon using the readings you provided at the time. You'll then get an amended final bill from Eon and BG will start your account from the correct reading. Looks like the person you spoke to at BG couldn't be bothered to do this and fobbed you off. Out of the frying pan and in to the fire...

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

donteatthat wrote: »

I paid off my outstanding balance with Eon in July and moved to British Gas for a cheaper tarrif on electric (no dual fuel for us, its oil) as I got fed up with the cost, and the ever increasing direct debits. We have 2 meters although only one tarrif and I found out this morning after calling British Gas that the start reading provided on the night meter by Eon was higher than the actual reading is now. I have a copy of the readings I provided. Essentially Eons parting shot was to overcharge me around £50 on the final bill we worked out. British Gas have said they will just waive it so we only start to be charged once the meter reading exceeds the one that they were given, but its still a bit annoying that this eletric would have been cheaper from British Gas. Any comments from The Eon reps on this?

Hi donteatthat,

I agree with stewie_griffin here, when you change supplier your new provider asks for your meter readings, these are then sent through a third party company and on to your old supplier, in this case E.ON.

The old supplier (E.ON) use the readings given by your new supplier to produce your final bill too, the new supplier starts your account from the same readings.

If E.ON have been provided with the wrong reading making your final bill incorrect, then an agreed read dispute (ARD) needs to be raised.

This is an agreement between the two supplies to re-agree the final and start reads to ensure your not overbilled. This process takes around 28 days to complete.

I would contact your supplier again to get the ARD raised.

If you need any help from me, just let me know.

Helena

victor2

Just a thought about this topic in general, for the E.On reps really....
E.On have involved their customers through their YourSay panel and with a WebCast back in March, which I was involved with and still get the YourSay emails even though I am no longer a customer. As such, they have shown a willingness to listen to their customers.
So, what about opening up some sort of interactive topic on the direct debit subject? There are clearly people on here who have an understanding and opinions about it. I wouldn't necessarily restrict it to actual customers. There's the potential to win new ones with such an initiative, or get old ones back. Having been messed about by that other 3 letter supplier beginning with E, I would seriously consider coming back, even if it cost me a bit more!

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi victor2,

All feedback is always welcome and I will certainly pass on what you have said here.

Thank you

Helena

jalexa

FWIW, this is how my actual consumption compares with the Eon "weighting profile"



ISTM that the issue is not the profile but the supplier's payment management, particularly the first year where there is the potential for "short year" (to "annual review") and "seasonal weighting" to conspire to result in excessive payment hikes over an initial "level payment" ageed at switching time.

I can think of several solutions. Since "comparison" is now so important to the Government (is there a smilie for faint irony?) a starting point could be that a Consumer Focus accredited comparison should not imply an annual "headline cost" which is not reflected in the monthly payments due every month in the first 12 months.

Over to Consumer Focus methinks.