In credit with Eon

Lizbet69

I have just checked my bill online after giving my own meter reading and have found out I am £240 in credit. Eon want to hold on to my money and decrease my monthly DD. I want my money back! Any ideas what my rights are please?

E.ON_Company_Rep_Chris

Hi Lizbet 69

It's great that you've built up some credit for winter and that you're in a position for your payments to be lowered.

We only automatically refund credit balances at your Spring review.

What we've done here is forecast how much we think you'll use over winter, taken off your credit balance and then divided what’s left by the number of payments until your Spring review.

This figure then becomes your new payment amount.

If you'd prefer to have some or all of your credit back then we can certainly arrange this for you. We'd just need to make sure that your payments will cover your use.

Double check your meter readings and then give us a call on the number from the letter we sent about your payments.

The advisor will be able to give you some options as to how much you'd need to pay if you had all credit back (or half and so on) and then you can decide what suits you best.

See how you go and let me know if you need any more help.

Amanda

backfoot

Lizbet69 wrote: »

I have just checked my bill online after giving my own meter reading and have found out I am £240 in credit. Eon want to hold on to my money and decrease my monthly DD. I want my money back! Any ideas what my rights are please?

You should have been given a written explanation/calculation of the change in Direct Debit. I am surprised that the Eon Rep has not mentioned this.

Once you have this, you can see how they have calculated the amount.

Neither have they asked what your annual bill is to determine whether a credit balance of £240 is appropriate at this time of the year.

When did you join Eon (month)? How much are you paying currently and what do they want to reduce it to?

Read some of the other threads about Eon and 'Zero Spring balance' policy. In many cases,this is causing unfair and unnecessary hikes in DD's. In your case, your post indicates that you feel that they are holding onto your cash without good reason and it could be for the same reason.

jalexa

Lizbet69 wrote: »

Eon want to hold on to my money and decrease my monthly DD. I want my money back! Any ideas what my rights are please?

The (helpful) Eon explanation is an explanation of their interpretation of what the regulations may (or may not) allow. It is an ongoing debate in this Forum.

My view is that the correct monthly payment is the correct regular fixed monthly payment, which may appear to be a circular argument. My recommendation FWIW is that the "correct" payment is 1/12 of annual costs with the current credit balance adjusted to achieve an account balance at the "annual review" - whenever the account annual review is. That a reduction can be suggested is an indication that the calculation at the previous "annual review" was not accurate (for whatever reason). A good enough reason never to take a supplier's calculation at face value.

This leads to the next issue - Eon's "forecast" of your consumption between now and the "annual review". For the heating fuel (normally gas) that is a highly seasonal projection, very sensitive to small error, which I would never accept without scrutiny. As an opener you should ask for two numbers, the assumption being used for your "annual" consumption and the assumption for consumption between now and the "annual review". If you post the numbers I can give an "opinion" whether they are reasonable.

backfoot

jalexa wrote: »

This leads to the next issue - Eon's "forecast" of your consumption between now and the "annual review". For the heating fuel (normally gas) that is a highly seasonal projection, very sensitive to small error, which I would never accept without scrutiny. As an opener you should ask for two numbers, the assumption being used for your "annual" consumption and the assumption for consumption between now and the "annual review". If you post the numbers I can give an "opinion" whether they are reasonable.

It is exactly this that should have already been provided to explain the change in DD.

We can't be sure but it doesn't look like it has been provided by Eon.