Eon complaint

Hoddie_2

I have been trying to resolve a dispute with EON on behalf of my cousin. He moved to EON about 4 years ago because they told him that his energy bills were absurdly high for the type of property he has (2 up/2 down, gas c/h elec oven).

After the switch it became apparent that his bills didn't go down, but instead actually increased slightly.

My cousin spent the best part of 3 years trying to get them to explain why his bills were so high. His mother eventually witnessed him talking on the phone to EON and couldn't believe that he burst into tears during the call. Apparently this had been a regular thing. My cousin had stopped heating his home, started taking showers instead of baths, stopped using the gas hobs, etc, and his bills showed very little change.

However, the bills proved too much to keep on top of, and eventually it got to a point where the debt owed to EON had escalated to approx £2,000 with letters threatening disconnection, bailiffs, court action, etc are a regular thing.

In January 2012 his mother arranged for a family friend to come and test the gas connections inside the house, and lo and behold there were 3 leaks. One near the boiler, one on the gas hob, and one at the gas meter. This person then arranged for a Gas Safe engineer to come and repair.

EON have said that they are not responsible for leaks beyond the meter, and that any gas registered at the meter must be paid for. If that's the law then fair enough.

My argument is that EON had plenty of opportunity throughout those 3 years and many tearful phone calls, to realise that there was an issue here, particularly given their own admission that the useage was high, and to either themselves arrange or suggest my cousin arrange, for an engineer to come and check everything out. I believe they should accept some responsibility here and either re-calculate his bills based on his actual useage since the leaks were fixed, or otherwise offer a fixed sum in lieu of such.

When I originally contacted EON I was told that a named complaints manager would be dealing with this right through to resolution. However, since being told that I'm aware that the case has been passed on to at least 2 other people. When I call I am offered call backs but these never happen. I am told that this complaint is 'above the pay grade' of those in the contact centre and that there's nothing they can do to help. I have still not received the recordings of my cousin's calls that I requested over 4 weeks ago (I believe these would help us demonstrate their lack of action despite the many tearful calls).

I believe I have to allow a further 4 weeks before being able to escalate this to the regulator, but my question to the good folks of MSE.com, is: Should I be chasing these people every day in the hope of getting a resolution, or should I just wait out the 4 weeks and take this to the regulator?

notbritishgas

I am afraid the leaks have nothing to do with the high debt. If they were bad enough to cause that extra gas usage your cousin and the house would no longer be here, and gas has a very noticeable smell.
Even if they did cause it I cannot see EoN being held responsible for poor workmanship within the house.

The cause will be elsewhere so to help can you post details of as many bills as you can, ie DD amounts, units used and whether readings were actual(A) or estimated (E).

As for EoN saying his bills would reduce, if they said they would increase would he have switched to them.

Hoddie_2

His mother did smell the gas, that's why she called in the family friend. But my cousin lives next door to a farm and there's a very pungent smell all day long, presumably that didn't help.

I'm not suggesting that they're responsible for bad workmanship in the house, only for not realising there was an issue here long before it was found by someone else.

I too have concerns about the small amount of leaking gas not having much of an impact on the amount owed, but whatever the amount is, I don't feel as though my cousin should have to pay it. Who's to say it was a small amount anyway, perhaps his life was in danger due to the amount of leaking gas, who's to know for certain? Could the leaks have been getting steadily worse? I have no idea how such things work. Would EON have been responsible had the house blown up in December last year, taking my cousin and his daughter with it?

I don't have exact meter readings with me at the moment but I did create a spreadsheet with them all on, together with twice-weekly readings since I became involved. Before the leaks were fixed it worked out at a an average of just over 6.5 gas units per day over the course of the year. Since then it's showing average useage of 4.4 gas units per day. There's a clear difference, maybe explainable by some other reason.

Edit - I should add - since about 3 years ago there have only been actual readings.

cr1mson

Not sure how Eon can be responsible. Yes ideally they could have been more proactive but they are under no obligation. It is entirely possible given that he was wooed to Eon as his bills were too high that the issue has been going on prior to them being his supplier.

The responsibility lies with your cousin I am afraid. I would focus on working out a payment plan rather than trying to shift the blame.

C

victor2

Leaks alone could not have accounted for that size of debt, as he must have been paying a monthly amount towards the gas usage anyway. As already said, E.On cannot be held responsible for that. I don't understand how that amount could have built up over 3 years either, with actual readings being used. Surely, E.On would have reviewed his payments from time to time and required more to be paid?
In my experience, E.On staff have been very helpful when there has been a problem. See if you can talk to someone there, who will tell you the best tariff to be on going forward and how to address the outstanding bill. Haven't dealt with them personally, but the E.On reps who frequent this forum also seem like quite a helpful bunch.

molerat

That type of usage is high but not outside the bounds of normality for a metric meter, 6.5 units = 26600 kWh annually. If an imperial meter then it is very high, 75900 kWh annually. Has it been confirmed that the meter units agrree with the bill re metric / imperial. To get £2k arrears he must have been paying very little by way of DD. The only thing EON seem to be guilty of is not increasing the DD. That said they were a bit lax and let my account go into debit by £700 over a year a couple of years back, the difference with me was I knew it was happening and the money was stashed away, interest free loan from EON which I paid back over 6 months.

Terrylw1

Since a leak has been found, its becomes a convenient explanation.

A leak over 3 years doesn't sound right, surely it would have been spotted?

So, first, do the bills show any spikes, adjustments, amended bills, clocking, etc. Billing errors are always the most likely reason for very high unusual bills. Can you see any of this or is it all consistent consumption?

You've got to bare in mind, they've got to pay the distributor for this so if its not their fault, they will be against it.

notbritishgas

Hoddie wrote: »

I don't have exact meter readings with me at the moment but I did create a spreadsheet with them all on, together with twice-weekly readings since I became involved. Before the leaks were fixed it worked out at a an average of just over 6.5 gas units per day over the course of the year. Since then it's showing average useage of 4.4 gas units per day. There's a clear difference, maybe explainable by some other reason.

Edit - I should add - since about 3 years ago there have only been actual readings.

You are saying the difference now is 2.1 gas units and blame the leaks.
If you have a metric meter that is 2.1 cubic metres of gas, if you have an imperial meter that is 210 cubic feet of gas per day:eek:.

I am no expert but I would say that would be likely to explode, especially from the hob in the kitchen having built up overnight.

Like the others I think he has been paying a very low DD (you have not told us the amount yet) as this is another ploy to entice you to change energy suppliers.

macman

The condition of his gas pipes and devices beyond the meter is nothing whatsoever to do with the supplier.
Nor can the supplier be expected to deduce that leaks exist simply because his bills were high.