MSE News: Eon shakes up direct debits to stop bill shocks

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"The giant has reformed its direct debit system to prevent customers being hit with huge hikes in their monthly demands ..."

Read the full story:
Eon shakes up direct debits to stop bill shocks

aggrieved

It's ok to say we should submit regular readings but every time I sent a reading to npower they issued an updated bill which made it difficult to keep a record of past usings and payments. Sometimes it was replacing a previous bill and sometimes an additional bill for a few days usings.

jalexa

MSE_Guy wrote: »

"The giant has reformed its direct debit system to prevent customers being hit with huge hikes in their monthly demands ..."

Where does it say in the E.ON press release that customers who are subjected to an "interim review" (either scheduled or following a meter reading), a few months prior to their already determined "annual review" date won't experience "sudden excessive hike" syndrome?

Only a rolling 12 month calculation can avoid that.

VT82

I wasn't aware of this problem, despite being an Eon customer. But even as I was reading it, I was thinking 'the direct debit review should be after 12 months rather than at a fixed point in the year, obviously'.

There must have been someone with a brain at Eon who realised this within 10 seconds flat as well, who saw this coming? And surely, whatever impediment was stopping them doing it like the new method in the first place could have been overcome more cheaply than having to answer however many hundreds of complaints about the issue, and then do it anyway??? Weird how sometimes companies do themselves no favours.

DirectDebacle

This is a bit behind the curve.

The real discussion on this story commenced yesterday on the E.On press the re-set button thread.

Some weeks ago a request was sent to MSE Towers for this issue to be highlighted in the weekly email. It never was.

Now it has come to your attention can we expect some support on this continuing problem. A T.V or radio mention by Martin would be useful. E.On have not eradicated the problem but merely moved the goalposts.

This issue potentially goes way beyond a little local DD difficulty with one supplier. If it spreads to other suppliers then the original but imperfect DD scheme will cease to exist and be replaced by something far more complex and disadvantageous to millions more customers.

(Can someone post a link to the E.On reset thread. Since the site revamp my posts just disappear if I put a link in it)

brewerdave

IF they actually do this, then they are just returning to the way they organised things previously- when a customer of EON in 2009 I received assurances on these forums from the EON reps that I would NOT be subject to a Spring Review during the first part year ending April 2010 - and I wasn't! At some stage in 2010 the bean counters obviously had their wicked way with the EON computer!!!

Pincher

Set it too low, it's entrapment to build up debt.

Set it too high, poor people complain.

Probably easier to go by number of bedrooms for new customers,
and then do a review in April when a year's data is available.

backfoot

:eek:

MSE Guy,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. So it's all alright now?

Nothing like being up to date with events. :shocked::wall:

meggsy

DirectDebacle wrote: »

This is a bit behind the curve.

The real discussion on this story commenced yesterday on the E.On press the re-set button thread.

Some weeks ago a request was sent to MSE Towers for this issue to be highlighted in the weekly email. It never was.

Now it has come to your attention can we expect some support on this continuing problem. A T.V or radio mention by Martin would be useful. E.On have not eradicated the problem but merely moved the goalposts.

This issue potentially goes way beyond a little local DD difficulty with one supplier. If it spreads to other suppliers then the original but imperfect DD scheme will cease to exist and be replaced by something far more complex and disadvantageous to millions more customers.

(Can someone post a link to the E.On reset thread. Since the site revamp my posts just disappear if I put a link in it)

E-on reset thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3629707

Consumer Focus thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3686969

Consumerist

DirectDebacle wrote: »

. . . If it spreads to other suppliers then the original but imperfect DD scheme will cease to exist and be replaced by something far more complex and disadvantageous to millions more customers. . .

It already has; Ovo Energy have recently started to build-in a one-month credit balance by the end of a year.

[Deleted User]

I ended up being asked by Eon for payments of £550 a month because I had built up a debt of £1,400 over 11 months. My meter had been read twice during that time. In the end I sold my car, paid off two thirds of the debt and agreed to pay £128 a month and lowered my useage of utilities to a minimum. I then left Eon when I moved, and went on a prepayment meter because of the stress caused by this system. I have no car now so goodness knows what I would do if the same thing happened again. The effect was MAJOR as on a prepayment system, I am not able to get any favourable tariffs and what i feed into the meter is alarming, in spite of being cold most of the day and unplugging everything I am not using. Without selling the car, I would have had to pay a minimum of £350 a month. Unbelievable!