E-ON threathing court action

jmp1971

Hi,
I'm at the end of my wits end. I'm in a great deal of debt due to losing a full-time job. I'm now working part-time, but my hours have now been cut. I was paying e-on £75 per month, which I was finding hard to find. I recieved a letter from e-on saying I now have to pay £160.00. I called to say this is imposs for me, and was told I have to or they will take me to court and will have to have a payment metre. I'm a single mum and both my children with asthma. I can't have the metre as it will cost more money and if it runs out ( which is highly poss as i get paid monthly) I can't leave the kids to go and get if they are ill ect.
I have written to e-on, but only recieved a call saying I have to pay it and must go to CAB to get help. I told them the CAB can't help and I can't get help elsewhere as I earn just over £16'000 a year. I was just told to go back to CAB and tell them they must help me. I also only get £5.00 per week from the father of the children as he fiddles his books in his company and it looks like thats all he can afford. What do I do now? Can they take me to court because I can jump from £75 per month to £160? They also said I have to pay all their court cost. This is making me sick with worry. Please advise.

jalexa

jmp1971 wrote: »

I called to say this is imposs for me, and was told I have to or they will take me to court and will have to have a payment metre.

Is that *exactly* what was said word for word? Can you prove that?

Set at trap for E.ON by asking them to "confirm in writing your options as discussed in the telephone call".

HappyMJ

jmp1971 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm at the end of my wits end. I'm in a great deal of debt due to losing a full-time job. I'm now working part-time, but my hours have now been cut. I was paying e-on £75 per month, which I was finding hard to find. I recieved a letter from e-on saying I now have to pay £160.00. I called to say this is imposs for me, and was told I have to or they will take me to court and will have to have a payment metre. I'm a single mum and both my children with asthma. I can't have the metre as it will cost more money and if it runs out ( which is highly poss as i get paid monthly) I can't leave the kids to go and get if they are ill ect.
I have written to e-on, but only recieved a call saying I have to pay it and must go to CAB to get help. I told them the CAB can't help and I can't get help elsewhere as I earn just over £16'000 a year. I was just told to go back to CAB and tell them they must help me. I also only get £5.00 per week from the father of the children as he fiddles his books in his company and it looks like thats all he can afford. What do I do now? Can they take me to court because I can jump from £75 per month to £160? They also said I have to pay all their court cost. This is making me sick with worry. Please advise.

If you cannot come to an agreement regarding the arrears and stick to it then a prepayment meter would be an option. If you allow them access without the court order then it will cost you less.

What is your annual usage in kWh and how much is outstanding today and for how long? Have you arranged a payment plan before? A prepayment meter isn't all bad. If you haven't been paying your bills on time you would have lost any direct debit discounts you would have got. Prepayment tariffs now cost the same as a suppliers standard tariff. Once the debt is repaid then you can pay a refundable deposit and around £50 to switch back to a credit meter.

dude89

jmp1971 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm at the end of my wits end. I'm in a great deal of debt due to losing a full-time job. I'm now working part-time, but my hours have now been cut. I was paying e-on £75 per month, which I was finding hard to find. I recieved a letter from e-on saying I now have to pay £160.00. I called to say this is imposs for me, and was told I have to or they will take me to court and will have to have a payment metre. I'm a single mum and both my children with asthma. I can't have the metre as it will cost more money and if it runs out ( which is highly poss as i get paid monthly) I can't leave the kids to go and get if they are ill ect.
I have written to e-on, but only recieved a call saying I have to pay it and must go to CAB to get help. I told them the CAB can't help and I can't get help elsewhere as I earn just over £16'000 a year. I was just told to go back to CAB and tell them they must help me. I also only get £5.00 per week from the father of the children as he fiddles his books in his company and it looks like thats all he can afford. What do I do now? Can they take me to court because I can jump from £75 per month to £160? They also said I have to pay all their court cost. This is making me sick with worry. Please advise.

What is the outstanding balance at the moment? How much do you use a year in KwH? These will help to judge wether what they are asking is reasonable.

Where they are saying they will take you to court, i am presuming this is to obtain a warrant to fit a prepayment meter. You do not want it going that far as they will add court charges on top of your debt where as if you choose to have a prepayment meter fitted, they will do this free of charge.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi jmp1971,

Some good info from HappyMJ so thank you.

I think you need to have a conversation with E.ON to get things sorted so you know where you are.

It sounds like the monthly amount you have been paying isn't enough to cover the amount of energy that your using and this is the reason for the increase.

Paying too little and not covering your usage will make the balance go up and not help in the future.

Is the account billed up to accurate meter readings? are you on the best tariff for your needs?

These are the questions that you need to ask, you can also ask to speak to the consumption department to help you use less and help you become more energy efficient.

Having a pre-payment meter is not always bad, you will be charged the same as standard prices and you will be able to see exactly how much you are using.

Having a pre-payment fitted on a warrant is a last resort and as HappyMJ says if you agree to this before it goes to court the charges will be less.

But go through all the options first.

If I can help further, just let me know.

Helena

bored_at_home

i assume you already have a large debit balance with them?
they wont be wanting to take you to court, but they are pushing that the matter is dealt with by you in some way.
i dont realy know what anyone can do to help you , you could push the kids having asthma as a reason not to have a meter installed, i know they cannot enforce a meter if you have a disabled person in the house...
the biggest problem needs to be finding the money to keep up with useage, i live on my own and pay 40ppw to eon, 3.80 of that is towards arrears the rest is for currant useage, so what you are paying cant possibly be anything near your usage, which isnt realy their problem...

do you get tax credits now you are part time? do you have any non priority debts you are putting above your utility bills? ie credit cards etc, if so cab WILL be able to help you with a statement to send to creditors asking interest to be frozen. your utility bills need to be higher priority than other debts . if you were not yet in a mess with creditors when you last spoke to cab but you a.re in a mess now they may be able to now help.

if you do a statement of incomings and outgoings on here you may get more advice offered.

vax2002

Call EON and ask them the UNIT price they are charging you for electricity.
Then compare this to other providers UNIT prices.
Switch if you get a better deal.

dude89

vax2002 wrote: »

Call EON and ask them the UNIT price they are charging you for electricity.
Then compare this to other providers UNIT prices.
Switch if you get a better deal.

They wont be able to switch. They have a debt.

vax2002

Yes they can switch, its called "you pay the final bill and switch provider trick"
And its not a debt, its an outstanding invoice, a debt is a judgement.

macman

A PPM will cost the same as the supplier's Standard tariff. Given your situation, it would seem that a voluntarily PPM is the best solution, since it seems that you are neither able to repay enough of the debt, nor the ongoing costs.
You don't say how much of the £160 is debt and how much ongoing-that's crucial to know.

NittyGritty

vax2002 wrote: »

Yes they can switch, its called "you pay the final bill and switch provider trick"
And its not a debt, its an outstanding invoice, a debt is a judgement.

whenever you switch to a diffrent company you always have to pay the outstanding (final bill) as most wont allow the switch otherwise