Direct Debit Utility Bills - Underpayments

nicknacknick

:mad:

I move home and set up electricity direct debit payments with EON. They set it up for £25 per month as they say that this will be enough and then tell me that if direct debit payments need to change they will notify me. I recieve one bill after two months which is very confusing and says I am in debit but they regularly review accounts to see direct debit amount needs to change. It was not clear if debit amount at this time was paid off by my monthly payments.

Now, 8 months after paying £25 per month, they say we owe them £150 and they need to increase monthly payments to £42 per month to pay this off monthly, OR pay off lump sum, and this is said based on estimated readings (actual readings are even slightly higher).

Are EON responsible for not acurately keeping track of whether our direct debit amounts are reaching actual figures? How can we accrue owing them so much before they notice our direct debit amounts need to change?

Meanwhile, the plan I am on, the energy prices have gone up and gone down and EON have only estimated the meter readings at the point of the price change. Surely I can say I did not use any energy when it was more expensive if they are estimating the numbers?

Please help?!!?!?! :j

McKneff

Sorry, but its also up to the consumer to be responsible for keeping track too.
You could, instead of dealing with estimated readings, have contacted the once a month with your meter readings.

£25 a month is ridiculously low and now its all catch up. Youve been paying £25 a month for say £50 quids worth of fuel.

You cant say you havent used it, the meter tells a different story,
My fule bill for over the year averages out at £100 a month for gas and leccy, 3 bed semi.

Keep a close eye on the readings in future.

Stephen_Leak

If they have a scheme, where you can advise them of your own readings online, register for it.

backfoot

My advice would be as follows:

1.Submit firm up to date meter readings to Eon.

2. Ask them to give you an up to date account balance.

3. Ask them to give you an annual forecast of consumption.

4. Ensure you are on their cheapest tariff. An online tariff will be better than a standard tariff.

5. Ask Eon to give you an estimated cost for the next 12 months.

6. Ask Eon to spread the account balance over the next 12 months.

7. This should give you a fair time to pay off the arrears.

Regrettably I don't think there is a great deal of scope for any reduction in cost.

One of the Eon Reps may well offer assistance and they are likely to give you a fair chance to pay and help manage you through the above process.:)

jalexa

nicknacknick wrote: »

Now, 8 months after paying £25 per month, they say we owe them £150 and they need to increase monthly payments to £42 per month to pay this off monthly, OR pay off lump sum, and this is said based on estimated readings (actual readings are even slightly higher).

Are EON responsible for not acurately keeping track of whether our direct debit amounts are reaching actual figures? How can we accrue owing them so much before they notice our direct debit amounts need to change?

Welcome to the forum and a hot topic.

There are a few things going on here, unfortunately on balance E.ON have paid more attention than you have.

First of all 2 months is too soon to have seen a pattern, 8 months is not unreasonable. Do you use electricity for heating? I'm guessing not from the £42 monthly payment to recover a £150 balance arising over 8 months. I calculate that indicates a monthly usage of £43.75 so not sure what £42 will do. Alternatively it is a very reasonable figure you should jump at, but not if you want to eliminate the £150.

Unless you are on smart metering, the answer to your question about "actual figures" lies in you eyeballing your own meter daily, weekly or monthly, not E.ON guessing.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi nicknacknick

Welcome to the forum, I am sorry for the delay in my response on this one but thanks to the guys that have replied

I agree with lot's that has already been said.

First thing is get the account billed up to your accurate meter readings, then you know where you are.

Check you are on the best tariff for your needs, ask if there is anything better.

Talk to us, get the figures that you need and to help you understand what your average usage is, this will help when the Direct Debit amount is calculated correctly for you.

There are many things you can do to keep your account accurate, take regular readings, enter these online to keep the account up to date.

If you need me to help you with your account, I will be more than happy to do so, just email your details to the email address in my profile page

Helena

nicknacknick

Thank you all. :money:General answer seems to say pay more attention to meter readings etc.

Although at the time of setting up the direct debit no-one ever explained how there could be a possibilty of acruing any amount of money/debt.

I was only ever told that I would have to pay £25 per month unless it needed to go up. It was sold as though the £25 would cover the costs of our bills no matter how much we used and it would go up if neccessary. IE not an accruing a debt, but a monthly increase if needed.

This means that as I now must pay off the debts along with increased rates, each monthly payment has jumped massively. If EON had explained it correctly in the first place we would have checked our meter readings more regularly as stated.

Premier_2

nicknacknick wrote: »

...It was sold as though the £25 would cover the costs of our bills no matter how much we used and it would go up if neccessary. IE not an accruing a debt, but a monthly increase if needed...

If you truely believed that £25 per month would cover your consumption, no matter what that consumption was, then under what circumstances would you consider that a monthly increase would ever be necessary?

Why do you think they bother to meter energy consumption if you truely believed a monthly payment would cover whatever consumption you incurred?

Why do you think older, not so well off people are often scared to turn on the heating if perople were charged a single monthly fee no matter what their consumption was?

Why did you ask in your opening post "Are EON responsible for not acurately keeping track of whether our direct debit amounts are reaching actual figures?" if you truely believed the monthly amount agreed with E.On covered your bills no matter what you used?

Sheesh ... some people, eh? :cool:

lithopsian

I was only ever told that I would have to pay £25 per month unless it needed to go up. It was sold as though the £25 would cover the costs of our bills no matter how much we used and it would go up if neccessary.

Yes, and now its necessary for it to go up

Possibly the person on the phone gave you confusing information (I sometimes think they don't even understand what they're saying half the time), but direct debit is not a fixed-price all-you-can-eat buffet. It is a way to spread your bills evenly over the year, but ultimately you have to pay for what you use.

If you can't handle that and all it implies (ie. the possibility of temporarily paying too much or too little and the need to actually keep an eye on your bills) then you need to be on pay-monthly billing or even pre-payment, although nobody here would recommend that because direct debit is distinctly cheaper.

macman

Never ceases to amaze me that a large number of posters on here (usually students or people in their first home away from parents) think that a 'fixed tariff' means 'as much as you can use for £x per month'.
Do they not teach this stuff at school?

abwsco

macman wrote: »

Never ceases to amaze me that a large number of posters on here (usually students or people in their first home away from parents) think that a 'fixed tariff' means 'as much as you can use for £x per month'.
Do they not teach this stuff at school?

Nope and they should!! but there again parents should tell them as well. Same as making sure bills are based on actual meter reads.