Getting bullied off eon

liam2010

Hi guys,

I recently moved into a new place, when I first got the keys I'd go around to do a bit of decorating and whilst there some guy from eon called round with a £300 bill, obviously I told him it's not mine then he came in and read the meter, I regret letting him in, anyway apparently there was a call out fee for him, but I refused to pay that as i said I didn't want him coming round.

Anyway, that day I called u switch and changed companies and eon cut off my heating, now they have sent me a bill for around £70, but it feels wrong to pay it considering they cut me off, I'm guessing this is their settlement payment before the new company takes over.

Anyone got any advice? Would I be best to just pay or is there a way out of it considering I've had no heating for th last 2 mths or so.


Thanks

macman

Did you register for the account with Eon and supply a meter reading as soon as you moved in? From day one you are in a deemed account with the existing supplier-you can't switch away until you have registered with them. If not then they had no way of knowing that the old tenant had moved out, and would continue billing and building arrears against that account.
If the bill is just for energy used during your residence to date,then yes you do have to pay it.
Your switch will probably not go through because the existing supplier will have blocked it if there is debt on the account and it's not now in your name.
And they will want to try and charge you for a reconnection unless you can unravel this.

echoecho_2

Did you take any meter readings the day you took responsibility of the property? You should have done this.

You need to contact eon, inform them of the date you were responsible for the property and provide them with the meter reading for this date. They will then ensure they are only billing you from the date your tenancy started to the date the new supplier took over. They may ask you for the copy of the tenancy agreement to confirm dates.

In future, make sure you take a reading on the date you move in/out and provide it to the current supplier asap.

There are eon reps on this board. I'm sure if you email the information to them with the tenancy agreement they can investigate and resolve.

undaunted

Contact Consumer Focus & ask for their help if you are not making progress alone.

This appears to be an administrative issue rather than your own debt so there should be no difficulty in getting you reconnected without delay. (the electricity act places a duty to connect upon suppliers)

It isn't clear from your post what the £70 is for. You should obviously pay for what electricity you used between moving in & disconnection but that's it. Call out fees for someone else debt are not your responsibility & under the circumstances it would be harsh to expect you to pay any reconnection fee in my opinion.

http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/

macman

The OP refers to 'heating cut off'. It think it may just be the gas that has been disconnected, as he does not say that he has been without power for 2 months.

undaunted

Hmm, you may be right. Nevertheless the principle should still apply if it isn't the posters debt there is no justification for disconnecting them - just refer to the utilities act, gas act etc as appropriate.

macman

But it appears that the OP has made no effort to take on the account or inform Eon of the change of tenancy. The disconnection process must have been underway long before they arrived.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi liam2010,

I agree with the other posters on here.

Did you contact E.ON when you first took responsibility of the property with your details and meter readings?

If not then it sounds like the debt collection process has carried on from previous occupants, so some of the debt will be theirs.

I think the best thing to do is to contact E.ON asap and give your details and a copy of the tenancy agreement and you meter readings from when you moved in.

This will enable us to open a new account for you and bill you for the energy you have used.

Once your account is set up and billed accurately, you can start the process of changing supplier if that's what you would like to do.

There is a specific department in E.ON that deal with home moves, if you need their details you can email me using the email address in my profile page or just ask for them when you ring up.

Helena