E-on Direct Debit

jem16

Been with E-on for a few years now and never had anything to complain about regarding direct debits as they have usually been accurate.

However logged in today to read my new bill expecting to see the annual review. No mention of an annual review but instead an intimation that they are planning on increasing the direct debit from £94 to £105. Looking back at my account the last annual review was May 2010.

My direct debit for most of the year has been £109. At the end of March they wanted it put down to £94 with the payment coming off on 1st May. 10 days later they want put it back up to £105.

I am now in credit by £114. Based on their figures of my usage, I should be expected to use £1203 of energy next year. Take off my £114 credit and that's £1089. Divide that by 12 and it should be about £91pm.

Tried to phone E-on about it but their systems are down. What are E-on playing at and where is my annual review?

E-on reps - can you help?

Terrylw1

Divide by 10 issue?

jem16

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Divide by 10 issue?

Why 10 and not 12?

Terrylw1

The value minus your credit would be close if it were divided by 10.

Its been mentioned on other threads that some suppliers use a by 10 rule. Not sure about Eon, but it be closer that way. It still wouldn't be completely accurate, just closer.

backfoot

Probably not a divide by 10 (other than coincidence). EDF may have a divide by ten issue but who really knows? Certainly not EDF as they don't give data to explain it.

One for the Eon Reps to have a look at your account.

jem16

backfoot wrote: »

One for the Eon Reps to have a look at your account.

Unfortunately none of the Eon reps seem to have taken a look at this.

jem16

Spoke to Customer Services tonight.

Apparently the problem lies with me putting in meter readings every month and that this is down to their new system of making sure I don't pay too much or too little according to my usage.

Still no explanation as to why it's necessary to put up my DD in May when I'm already £115 in credit. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.

Richie-from-the-Boro

jem16 wrote: »

Spoke to Customer Services tonight.

Apparently the problem lies with me putting in meter readings every month and that this is down to their new system of making sure I don't pay too much or too little according to my usage.

Still no explanation as to why it's necessary to put up my DD in May when I'm already £115 in credit. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.

If, only if, leccy companies use an honest accounting calc for payments surely a four weekly regular read would mean more accurate billing integrity over any period as opposed to an irregular 12 or 24 week read that will allow one seasonal period to disrupt the usage and skew it higher or lower.

"""making sure I don't pay too much or too little according to my usage"" is the standard bilge that all energy utility companies write into the script for their phone jockeys, take it for what it is - what it is - is nothing whatsoever to do with your problem, just a bit of camouflage.

"""£115 in credit""" is not at all unusual at this time of the year, this is particularly the case if you are all electric / E7 type system. However if your average meter readings are x4 weekly and your average DD's meet your annual consumption /price per kWh there would be no reason to increase your direct debit, other than a price increase per unit from your supplier.

Terrylw1

So, you try to be proactive and it caused a problem with the system, but they can't explain why.

Sounds like a fob off I'm afraid.

Hopefully the Eon reps will spot this.

Andy_WSM

jem16 wrote: »

Spoke to Customer Services tonight.

Apparently the problem lies with me putting in meter readings every month and that this is down to their new system of making sure I don't pay too much or too little according to my usage.

Still no explanation as to why it's necessary to put up my DD in May when I'm already £115 in credit. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.

Hi Jem, same is happening to me. I submit monthly readings on line to E.on and like you, have suddenly seen the DD go up & down even though my account is in credit.

I'm not overly bothered, it's £15 a month extra towards the Winter bills - now the Sun is shining too my electricity consumption falls to nearly nothing as the Solar PV looks after that, so I know at the next reading the DD will decrease again anyway. As long as I don't build up more than a couple of hundred £ credit I'm ok with the new system.

jem16

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

"""£115 in credit""" is not at all unusual at this time of the year, this is particularly the case if you are all electric / E7 type system.

For Eon this is unusual as the Spring Review is supposed to bring me back to £0 - any credit should be refunded.

I am not all electric - use gas for heating.

However if your average meter readings are x4 weekly and your average DD's meet your annual consumption /price per kWh there would be no reason to increase your direct debit, other than a price increase per unit from your supplier.

The DD that they have now set does meet the annual consumption but takes no notice of the credit already built up. So either it should refund the credit or alter the DD to take it into account.

Terrylw1 wrote: »

So, you try to be proactive and it caused a problem with the system, but they can't explain why.

CS person that answered couldn't work out what was happening either and seemed as confused as I am. He went to check it out with his supervisor and came back with the "too many readings" response. He didn't have an answer when I said that surely me giving monthly readings should be good for both of us as it gives an accurate picture rather than causing a problem.

Hopefully the Eon reps will spot this.

Yes hopefully they will as I'd like a clearer explanation. I've also emailed them using the email address in their profile.

Andy_WSM wrote: »

Hi Jem, same is happening to me. I submit monthly readings on line to E.on and like you, have suddenly seen the DD go up & down even though my account is in credit.

I'm not overly bothered, it's £15 a month extra towards the Winter bills - now the Sun is shining too my electricity consumption falls to nearly nothing as the Solar PV looks after that, so I know at the next reading the DD will decrease again anyway. As long as I don't build up more than a couple of hundred £ credit I'm ok with the new system.

Thanks. At least I'm not alone.

I've no problem with the DD adjusting, although if it's doing it too often it negates the whole idea of spreading your monthly payments evenly to avoid the ups and downs of winter vs summer. It seems pretty daft to me to be going from £109 to £94 to £105 all in the space of 2 months.

However surely there still needs to be some kind of annual review. This time last year I had a credit of £66 approximately. Now a year later I have a credit of £115 approximately. So something isn't quite working properly in my opinion.