EON's rubbish computer ....

dshart

To show how ridiculous the EON billing system is my figures from my September statement read as follows
Credit from previous statement £225.31
Payments 8 July £179.00 CR, 8 Aug £179.00 CR, 8 Sept £179.00 CR
DD refund £225.31
Useage £366.67
Online Discount £36.68 CR
VAT £16.50
BALANCE £190.51 CR

and the note, we would like to change your DD to £228.00 per month!!!!!!!!

Absolute daylight robbery.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

DirectDebacle wrote: »

It is the detail I wanted to see. I am sure your DD agreement is probably a standard form sent with the T & C's.

Could you complete one using the info given by backfoot (post #18) and post it on this thread please.

Thanks

Difficult to say from the info posted.

Payment arrangements are based on the usage at individual properties and the relevant tariff.

Where info is available, this usage will be weighted to take in to account the time of year.

In certain circumstances we won't have the necessary usage for new customers and will have to rely on other factors ie; property size, number of occupants etc; to calculate the payments. This will be reviewed on a regular basis when we have built up a picture of the usage.

Ultimately it will be the usage and the tariff which decides the monthly total.

It also depends on when the actual spring review will take place.

Using basic figures posted by backfoot will only give an approximation at best and could be very misleading.

This is why we say the Direct Debit can be reviewed at bill dates, as customers circumstances change all the time.

Here’s an example, refer to the picture in the link below

The red curvey line is the amount of energy you use throughout the seasons. If your Direct Debit is reviewed in spring the average would be, say, £100 a month – represented by the blue line.

If your direct debit is reviewed at point A – part way through the winter quarter – over the year you will have paid less than you’ve used and so the average for the rest of the year (green line) might be £120.

If your Direct Debit is reviewed at point B – part way through the summer quarter – you will have paid more than you’ve used and so the average for the rest of the year (pink line) might only be £80.

Remember the aim is to always have the balance at zero by the spring quarterly bill. This is because it’s when the red curvey line passes the average usage and you can start the next 12 months with a zero balance.

http://twitpic.com/6yqor4/full

Helena

dshart

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Difficult to say from the info posted.

Payment arrangements are based on the usage at individual properties and the relevant tariff.

Where info is available, this usage will be weighted to take in to account the time of year.

In certain circumstances we won't have the necessary usage for new customers and will have to rely on other factors ie; property size, number of occupants etc; to calculate the payments. This will be reviewed on a regular basis when we have built up a picture of the usage.

Ultimately it will be the usage and the tariff which decides the monthly total.

It also depends on when the actual spring review will take place.

Using basic figures posted by backfoot will only give an approximation at best and could be very misleading.

This is why we say the Direct Debit can be reviewed at bill dates, as customers circumstances change all the time.

Here’s an example, refer to the picture in the link below

The red curvey line is the amount of energy you use throughout the seasons. If your Direct Debit is reviewed in spring the average would be, say, £100 a month – represented by the blue line.

If your direct debit is reviewed at point A – part way through the winter quarter – over the year you will have paid less than you’ve used and so the average for the rest of the year (green line) might be £120.

If your Direct Debit is reviewed at point B – part way through the summer quarter – you will have paid more than you’ve used and so the average for the rest of the year (pink line) might only be £80.

Remember the aim is to always have the balance at zero by the spring quarterly bill. This is because it’s when the red curvey line passes the average usage and you can start the next 12 months with a zero balance.

http://twitpic.com/6yqor4/full

Helena

So Helena for a person who you have several years history for who has a review in the spring and is assessed their DD as the blue line in your graph, why would you reassess at point A and require the person to pay extra when it is obvious from your graph that if the person remains paying on the blue line they will be at zero balance come next spring?

Is it just the fact that EON wants customers accounts to always be in credit and come the annual review in spring they refund any overpayment to achieve zero balance?

If that is the way it works then please state that clearly that customers accounts will always be in credit and do not try and pretend that you are averaging the payments out through the year for easier budgeting for people.

backfoot

I can't see the diagram but I don't think it matters.

What is described is not a fixed monthly direct debit which may get reviewed, but a seasonally adjusted variable direct debit.Not only that it may get reviewed for any other number of reasons after each bill.

SLC 27 ?

backfoot

dshart wrote: »

To show how ridiculous the EON billing system is my figures from my September statement read as follows
Credit from previous statement £225.31
Payments 8 July £179.00 CR, 8 Aug £179.00 CR, 8 Sept £179.00 CR
DD refund £225.31
Useage £366.67
Online Discount £36.68 CR
VAT £16.50
BALANCE £190.51 CR

and the note, we would like to change your DD to £228.00 per month!!!!!!!!

Absolute daylight robbery.

Nonsensical system.:rotfl:

Lost the plot big time, I would say.

I did predict, that all this would hit the fan on the other threads.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

The Direct Debit will only get reviewed again throughout the year if the usage changes or if the prices change. Otherwise this will be left until the spring review.

In dshart case, I obviously don't have the actual account and figures in front of me but if the yearly total payment is more than the £190 that your in credit by then the payments will need to increase.

We also have an obligation to refund any credit over £5 at the review date.

Helena

dshart

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

The Direct Debit will only get reviewed again throughout the year if the usage changes or if the prices change. Otherwise this will be left until the spring review.

In dshart case, I obviously don't have the actual account and figures in front of me but if the yearly total payment is more than the £190 that your in credit by then the payments will need to increase.

We also have an obligation to refund any credit over £5 at the review date.

Helena

Helena, I am not sure what you mean by the yearly total payment?

At my annual review in June I was £225.31 in credit and that was refunded, so zero balance. They set my DD at £179 per month which was the same prior to the review. Then 3 months later I am £190 in credit, which actually turned out to be £211 when they got the correct readings and yet they still wanted to increase my DD by £49 per month to £228 per month.

Tell me how they justify that? from all my statements going back several years my consumption has been relatively steady or declining so I do not see where they get the increased usage.

Even looking at their estimates my last bill estimates Gas and electricity usage costs for the year of £2351 combined, take off that the £190 credit gives £2161 divide by 12 gives £180 so maybe I need to be paying an additional £1 per month not £49 to achieve zero balance at next review.

Please explain.

victor2

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

In dshart case, I obviously don't have the actual account and figures in front of me but if the yearly total payment is more than the £190 that your in credit by then the payments will need to increase.

Sorry, but that doesn't make the least bit of sense. How are you linking monthly payments to an amount the account is in credit in September?

DirectDebacle

It is the detail I wanted to see. I am sure your DD agreement is probably a standard form sent with the T & C's.

Could you complete one using the info given by backfoot (post #18) and post it on this thread please.

Thanks

Difficult to say from the info posted......etc

Thanks. A simple "No" would have done.

Are there any Eon customers, (present or ex) who joined on or after 18/1/2010 willing to post a copy of the docs Eon sent explaining the T&C's of their DD scheme.

The online T&C's state that payment will be detailed overleaf but the other side of the T&C's are not published.

backfoot

Helena/ Malc,

First off,thank you very much for trying to explain this to the interested parties. The regulars know how helpful you both are trying to be here and always.

I have to say,you have been dealt a rotten hand here. I will focus on impacts and leave others to pick up the Licence Conditions implications.

Such a system, you have described, will be a customer nightmare. The majority will not be expecting it to operate in this way, with wildly fluctuating Direct Debits. It is not how normal DD Schemes operate.

The refund policy of £5 is not an obligation other than a self made one, presumably in your T and C's. It adds to the other issues and amplifies the nonsense seen in DSHart's example.It will drive customer's potty.

The system defies logic in terms of normal domestic budgetary control where we try to manage income and outgoings on a monthly basis. (Evenly as we can to avoid shocks,overdrafts etc.)

It is built on a dogma or premise that a Spring zero balance is imperative, irrespective of joining date. Short term fluctations and relative overcharging will astound customers as we have already seen.

Further reviews allied, to the frankly weird seasonality adjustments will only cause untold confusion.

Someone has come up with this system,presumably for reasons of Eon's cash flow. It's implementation into practice will be one which Eon will regret as it will be a Customer Relations disaster.:(

Eon have managed to turn something so essentially simple into a complete dog's dinner. Being unable to show what would happen in my simple example just illustrates the point.

I would personally avoid such a system like the plague.