EON's rubbish computer ....

backfoot

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Must be your unlucky day. Obviously your call was dealt with by the only Eon CSA who doesn't know how to calculate DD payments according to Eon policy.

Email their details to an Eon rep who can set the wheels in motion for further training.

Good thing they send letters fully explaining DD payments before anyone signs up.:D

DD, conversely, it was my 'lucky' day.;)

I can now quote her as authority for signing up. £100 per month gas, unless there is a price rise or consumption changes.

I'd hate to think there was any element of misselling.

Presumably,it will be all spelled out in the Contract Terms and Conditions when they arrive.:D

dshart

backfoot wrote: »

DD, conversely, it was my 'lucky' day.;)

I can now quote her as authority for signing up. £100 per month gas, unless there is a price rise or consumption changes.

I'd hate to think there was any element of misselling.

Presumably,it will be all spelled out in the Contract Terms and Conditions when they arrive.:D

The quote they gave you was as per their DD policy

"We work out how much energy we think you're going to use between now and your next annual review.
Next, we add any balance you may have
Then we divide this amount by the number of payments you'll make between now and your Annual Review. So that over the year, your payments should cover your usage and bring you back to a zero balance again in spring."

I do not have a problem with this, its the next bit they get a bit creative with.

"We also review your payments each quarter in case anything changes, for example, changes in your prices or the amount of energy you use. We want to make sure that you're not paying too much or too little for your energy. We always aim for your balance to be around zero at your Annual Review."

this too should not be a problem as they are checking if you are paying too much or too little. But how do they do this.

"We forecast how much energy you will use based on the amount you've used so far."

Its this forecasting where they fabricate the figures. I had my annual review in June and was refunded to zero balance and they set my DD based on annual usage including their price increase. Then in September they suddenly want an extra £49/month on my direct debit yet they have not taken or received a meter reading and on the bill my estimated usage remained the same.

So how did they arrive at the forecast increase in use that would account for a 27% increase in DD? Basically they just made it up to get more money from me and ensure my account had excess credit.

So if they have quoted you £100 monthly DD a few months down the line they will suddenly without any valid reason send you a letter stating that they have reviewed your account and require to increase your DD payment to ensure your account will not go into debit.

Maybe an EON rep can explain how they come up with these increase usage figures with no readings, and do not use the "coming into winter" excuse as this should already be covered by the set DD at annual review according to the website quote below.

"Each year, you'll usually use more energy in winter and less in summer. Rather than paying a high bill in winter and a low bill in summer, paying by monthly Direct Debit lets you spread the cost more evenly over the year. And we give you a discount for paying this way."

I look forward to their response.

dshart

Mr_K wrote: »

Although I started this thread off as 'Eon's rubbish computer', just thought I'd say overall I'm quite happy with EON. Save Online 9 seems like a good deal at the moment, although doubtless they'll try and increase the tariff when the weather gets colder....

Their 'computer' certainly does over-inflate DD's (yes, I have read their DD policy, not convinced !). However, in my experience, contact a human being and they seem quite happy to set it at a level that you're happy with. If you're in debit that might be more of a problem but it is possible with EON to make extra lump sum payments to avoid your DD going up. I did this during last year's severe winter. It's possible to make the these lump sum payments either online or by ringing up.

Maybe you have been quite lucky with the customer service people you have spoken to but in my experience it has taken multiple calls and having to speak to several managers to get them to change it and even when they had agreed to change it they still went ahead and took the increased payment by direct debit.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Its this forecasting where they fabricate the figures. I had my annual review in June and was refunded to zero balance and they set my DD based on annual usage including their price increase. Then in September they suddenly want an extra £49/month on my direct debit yet they have not taken or received a meter reading and on the bill my estimated usage remained the same.

Hi dshart,

You had your annual review in the June, your account was at a zero balance and your DD was set to cover your usage for the coming year.

This can't possibly have included the price increase as we didn't announce the price increase until August (two months after you had the review). The prices then went up in the September.

So this is why your monthly payments increased in the September, as the prices had increased. We won't have requested a meter reading as we increased your payments in line with the increase in the unit prices.

Helena

dshart

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Hi dshart,

You had your annual review in the June, your account was at a zero balance and your DD was set to cover your usage for the coming year.

This can't possibly have included the price increase as we didn't announce the price increase until August (two months after you had the review). The prices then went up in the September.

So this is why your monthly payments increased in the September, as the prices had increased. We won't have requested a meter reading as we increased your payments in line with the increase in the unit prices.

Helena

Then please explain how with my account in credit and with approximately the estimated usage on my September bill for the next 12 months equal to my DD (actual figure required an increase of £1 to DD) EON wanted an extra £49/month?

Also what were the % price increases, was it 27%?

edit: BTW leaping on one point to try and discredit my argument without answering the other issues shows how the real question is being avoided.

backfoot

dshart wrote: »

The quote they gave you was as per their DD policy

"We work out how much energy we think you're going to use between now and your next annual review.
Next, we add any balance you may have
Then we divide this amount by the number of payments you'll make between now and your Annual Review. So that over the year, your payments should cover your usage and bring you back to a zero balance again in spring."

Sorry DS.:)

It wasn't.

She quoted a specific monthly amount for each supply of gas and electricity.Nothing else was volunteered.

Then, I asked if the amount was fixed?

She said, it was totally fixed except for price changes or any consumption change. I said, I had consistent annual consumption and she said it wouldn't change then.

I would invite anyone to phone as a potential new customer and let us know what they say.

DirectDebacle

dshart wrote: »

Its this forecasting where they fabricate the figures. I had my annual review in June and was refunded to zero balance and they set my DD based on annual usage including their price increase. Then in September they suddenly want an extra £49/month on my direct debit yet they have not taken or received a meter reading and on the bill my estimated usage remained the same.

.

A week a ago I posted this on another thread.

Without having the benefit of all your consumption and price details this is what I think has happened.

You joined in December last year (presumably with no debt on the account) and agreed a DD of £100 which should have covered your usage to this December.

As a result of an 'annual review' they reduced the DD to £67.

Quite rightly you think that an annual review will be done annually, in your case around December.

However Eon do an 'Annual review' which is not the same as an annual review. You might think there is no difference between an 'Annual review' and an annual review apart from an upper/lower case 'a'.

In the world of Eon an Annual review is a review designed to bring DD accounts to a zero balance in the spring each year.

I suspect that when your DD was set last December it was set at a level to ensure a zero balance in the spring and not this December as you would have expected.

It seems likely that this excessive DD was continued and a mid term review has thrown up the excessive credit balance and the DD was reduced as a result.

This mid term review may not have included a recent price change and they have reviewed the account again to factor in the price change. As a result they reset the DD to achieve a zero balance in the spring.

If the DD had been set correctly in the first place i.e. to achieve a zero balance in December, then by now your DD account would probably only have a relatively small credit balance. An appropriate upward adjustment to the DD may have been made to accomodate the price increase and achieve zero in December.

Of course any confusion between 'Annual review' and annual review is entirely accidental, coincidental and unintentional.

As Eon say to you, the last thing they would want to do is charge you more than they should. Ofgem said so.

I think that maybe you have not recognised the difference between annual review and Annual Review. It seems to me that Eon fully intended this to happen by putting it in such a way.

In June I suspect that what you thought was a price rise was in actual fact a reassessment of your DD to zero it by your Annual Review, which we know is in the spring (probably April for you) and not by your annual review which you were mis-led (by the confusing terminology) into believing would be June.

The next change you had to your DD would be to reflect the September price rise.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

The new way is more accurate and as we have said the Direct Debit is only reviewed outside of the spring review if the usage changes or the prices change.

Helena

Hi backfoot,

So it appears what you have been told, is the same as what I have said earlier on in the thread.

Helena

dshart

backfoot wrote: »

She said, it was totally fixed except for price changes or any consumption change. I said, I had consistent annual consumption and she said it wouldn't change then.

This statement is their get out clause, they increased my DD based on increased consumption when there had been no readings taken and even when I supplied readings that were lower than their estimate they still wanted the increased payment as they expected my consumption would rise through the winter.

By all means if you are happy with what they have said then move to EON, but please come back and tell us if they do this to you as I am sure they will.

Please dont get me wrong I am sure that many other suppliers do the same as the extra credit helps their cashflow. But I think it is wrong that they try to con people that the DD averages their payment out over the year.

dshart

To show what a farce their system is listed below are their estimates on power I would use over the next 12 months taken from their bills for the past year.

DEC 2010 - 33559 Kwh
MAR 2011 - 33625 Kwh
JUN 2011 - 33230 Kwh
SEP 2011 - 31174 Kwh

Notice how even though they estimated that my consumption for next 12 months would drop in their September statement they still felt that I should increase my DD by 27% and it is not due to the price rise as my DD was already more than covering my bills on the lower tarif as I indicated in a previous post.

I would advise anyone to have a good read of their bills and you will see many inconsistencies like this.