Can they change my Direct Debit

Moonbeam

Hi

I'm a customer with EON - I currently pay £180 per month in duel fuel to them and have just had a letter saying they want to increase my payments to over £450. When I called they said the minimum they could offer me would be £352 per month, which I simply can't afford.

They suggested I cancel the Direct Debit and just pay what I can, but this means I will lose 8% Direct Debit discount...

Can they simply put the direct debit at any amount they want to or do I indeed have to cancel?

They are basing their estimates on the fuel we used last year, but since then we have taken major steps to reduce the amount of energy we are using in the home so don't expect to use as much this winter.

Help please....

jalexa

Moonbeam wrote: »

Can they simply put the direct debit at any amount they want to or do I indeed have to cancel?

They are basing their estimates on the fuel we used last year,

The "technical" answer to your question is that the supplier "controls" the amount and if you cannot "agree" a mutually acceptable figure then you may have to cancel. However that may not be a consequence free action if it results in a bill that needs to be settled in full. That is the real concern, not the loss of the 8% DD discount.

To get meaningful help here you need to be more open. £180/month is quite excessive energy consumption. Is there already a "catch-up" element in that? What is your current energy account balance and the previous account balance (Important: on the occasion of actual reads)? What was your previous annual consumption and what do you think is your current annual consumption after your energy saving measures? What is the split between gas and electricity? When did you last submit actual reads and is the "£450" demand based on actual or estimated reads? Is it possible there is an error with the latest read?

There are still avenues to explore surrounding the reasonableness and accuracy of the Eon calculation, but you need to post more details.

Moonbeam

Hi Jalexa

There is an amount owing on our bill for just over £400. This resulted when they drastically reduced our bill as we were in credit by over £400 and it wasn't adjusted back up at the correct time when we started owing them more...

I was going to pay some towards this lump sum owed, but they say even if I do that my payments will go up to at least £352.

I am in the process of converting some tesco clubcard rewards to put towards the overdue amount, but that will only take about £90 off.

They've advised me that our usage for gas & electricity over the summer months was approx £100 per month and they expect that to double over the winter months to around £200 based on previous years usage. However, we're working really hard to ensure our usage is low - buying hot water bottles, thermal underwear, slippers and using blankets in the evening to keep warm.

Last year we kept the heating on constant, but I think that was bad advise, so this year we are putting our water and heating on timed....

Submitted a read to them today, and generally try to log on every few months with a reading. Also last year we didn't realise that one of our children had flicked a switch and put on our underfloor heating in the conservatory. That won't happen this year!

Would agree to increase D/D to about £220, but can't afford any more - even that will be a struggle...

McKneff

Are you a large family, £100 a month over the summer seems to be a helluva consumption.

Moonbeam

Nope - just a family of 4 in a 4 bedroomed house. We've never understood why our bills and our usage is so high...

I really struggle to know what is best...it's not like our house is really warm all the time, we are out all day as well at work. We do live in Central Scotland which means that summer months are not exactly warm!

jalexa

Moonbeam wrote: »

There is an amount owing on our bill for just over £400....

...They've advised me that our usage for gas & electricity over the summer months was approx £100 per month and they expect that to double over the winter months to around £200 based on previous years usage....

It's always difficult to deal with an autumn debit balance, but purely on the numbers posted the "£450" (and £352) is completely ridiculous (and why should there be 2 figures?). Based on an "annual review" zero-balance in 7 months time and "£200 winter consumption" I would say £250 would be "about right".

You need to quit negotiating this by phone and formalise your approach. You should ask for "written explanation of the calculation in accordance with Standard Licence Condition 27.14".

Until the supplier has provided their estimate of annual consumption for each fuel, and confirmed the "annual review" date (should be sometime in April/May), the applicable "winter weighting" for each fuel, and the detailed justification for a "annual review zero-balance", IMO they are in breach of their licence conditions. And you might still have grounds for challenging their consumption assumptions.

Normally I advise a written complaint but given that agreement on a revised monthly payment is time critical, I suggest you make one further attempt to agree £250 and if unsuccessful move to a telephone complaint citing failure to explain in accordance with SLC27.14 and make it clear you expect the payments to be no more than the "£200 winter consumption" until the conclusion of the complaints process, including the possibility of Energy Ombudsman referral. Check back, for the telephone record, that the adviser understands all the points you want to make. Ask for a response target timeframe and keep on top of any failure to respond in accordance with the timeframe.

Meanwhile make sure you put aside the balance of £250 over your monthly payment each month until April/May.

And just a "long shot", check that your gas meter reading is being correctly calculated on your bill. Post you last two meter readings and the bill calculation here for advice on that.

deanos

Check your serial numbers against the bills make sure they match

Moonbeam

Thanks Jalexa

I'll be back in touch with them as I've asked a manager to call me back on Monday morning to discuss.

I'll print out your response and have it to hand when I'm on the call.

re the serial numbers, they do match...just waiting to regain access to account online to check further details (I can never remember my log-in and always have to re-set it).

Thansk again.

McKneff

When you have a few minutes switch everything completely off and check that your wheel in the meter is at a standstill.


Im still gobmacked at the summer consumption to be honest.

jalexa

jalexa wrote: »

And just a "long shot", check that your gas meter reading is being correctly calculated on your bill. Post you last two meter readings and the bill calculation here for advice on that.

Something I alluded to in an earlier post but I don't think you have picked up, check that you are not affected by a metric/imperial mix-up on your gas billing. As others have pointed out you do seem to have very high consumption, and that is a possible explanation to be eliminated.

spiro

Moonbeam wrote: »

There is an amount owing on our bill for just over £400.

What date is this bill and what was the balance/date of the previous bill? This will help work out how much you have been underpaying during the summer.

As an example if the £400 was accured over 3 months and during that period you were paying £180 then you were actually using £313.33 per month which means over the winter you could easily be using £450.