EON standing charge but no supply to property

LillyPut_2

Raising the rent might work in London, not so much in the provinces. I have yet to work out how people make any kind of profit out of renting property - I can only guess it's interest only mortgages and hoping the value of the house increases.

It wasn't empty for anywhere near that time, but as I understand it they charge 25p per day for electricity and 25p per day for gas, which puts it up to 50p per day. Even so, that doesn't take it to the £70 they're claiming. I've questioned it, but they were adamant they were correct. I probably should go back and and question it again having done my sums beforehand so I'm not desperately trying to multiply numbers while the customer service person quietly tuts.

Even if it had been empty for 2 years, I don't see how charging £70 for 2kw of electricity (and no gas) is acceptable. Presumably if it had been empty for 2 years and there had been 2kw of electricity used right at the beginning of that 2 years they would be justified in charging £365+ for that 2kw?

scaredofdebt

Slightly off-topic but Offgem are making a big mistake by forcing utility companies to charge a standing charge.

I heave heard of a few elderly people who are seriously considering having their gas supply removed as they are struggling to pay these charges.

This could lead to people freezing to death.

People of pensionable age should be exempt from it at the very least.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

LillyPut wrote: »

Even if it had been empty for 2 years, I don't see how charging £70 for 2kw of electricity (and no gas) is acceptable. Presumably if it had been empty for 2 years and there had been 2kw of electricity used right at the beginning of that 2 years they would be justified in charging £365+ for that 2kw?

Yes.

In 2 years someone will definitely read the meter. Someone may well safety test the meter. Repairs will probably be carried out on the local network in order to maintain supply. This has to be paid for.

If you haven't used gas, you haven't entered into a deemed contract, so you should only be liable for the standing charge on the electricity.

POPPYOSCAR

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Yes.

In 2 years someone will definitely read the meter. Someone may well safety test the meter. Repairs will probably be carried out on the local network in order to maintain supply. This has to be paid for.

If you haven't used gas, you haven't entered into a deemed contract, so you should only be liable for the standing charge on the electricity.

Or in our case not read the meter but claim on the bill that they had!

LillyPut_2

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Yes.

In 2 years someone will definitely read the meter. Someone may well safety test the meter. Repairs will probably be carried out on the local network in order to maintain supply. This has to be paid for.

But surely it should be paid for by the people who use it. I have no objection to paying for stuff I've actually used. But repairs to the local network to maintain supply would hardly effect me if I wasn't using any electricity. And I don't think that metermen are paid so much that two meter readings of 2 minutes each would justify £365 - that's one hell of a well paid job - that's £10,000 per hour!

scaredofdebt

Who said it has to be fair?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

LillyPut wrote: »

But surely it should be paid for by the people who use it. I have no objection to paying for stuff I've actually used. But repairs to the local network to maintain supply would hardly effect me if I wasn't using any electricity. And I don't think that metermen are paid so much that two meter readings of 2 minutes each would justify £365 - that's one hell of a well paid job - that's £10,000 per hour!

That's exactly what you're paying for.

FWIW I agree with you - you shouldn't have to bear the cost, energy suppliers should still be allowed to recover them from those that use them, but that option has removed so they have little choice.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi LillyPut

For a dual fuel account, £70 represents approx 140 days of standing charges. The bill will show the period covered. If this isn't correct, I would certainly question it.

As has been said, Standing Charges are a fixed amount to cover the costs of the connection. This is for things like meter reading, maintenance and certain rental charges where the meter belongs to another operator. They also cover the cost of keeping supplies connected to the relevant networks.

Network costs relate to maintaining the infrastructure. For example, the upkeep of the pipe work which transports the gas or for the pylons and cables that transmit the electricity.

We also have a duty of care to make sure everything is safe.

To make sure energy is available when needed, these costs need to be met.

Previously, we used a two tier pricing structure where the first amount of kWh used were charged at a higher rate. This covered the above costs. I'm afraid, we no longer have this option.

In rented properties, when a tenant moves out, responsibility for the energy supply reverts to the owner unless another tenant takes over immediately. This is under the terms of a deemed contract.

The use of deemed contracts takes away the need to disconnect power supplies each time responsibility changes.

However, as Bluebirdman says, deemed contracts only apply where energy has actually been used. If there's been no usage of gas at the property during your period of responsibility, you may be due a zero gas Standing Charge.

An up to date meter reading will let us see if there's been any usage. If not, we can make the necessary adjustment.

Hope this is of interest.

Malc

kennyjosiah

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Morning all

Just thought I'd pop on and confirm some details about our standing charges.

As Battybird says, we replaced the previous two tier pricing structure with a standing charge on all our tariffs on 18 January 2013.

Before this, we had a combination of standing charge and two tier priced tariffs. These were introduced on 27 September 2012.

Previously to this, most of our tariffs were two tier priced. This is where the first portion of kWh used were charged at a higher rate.

These changes came about as part of our Reset review. This was launched in November 2011 and looked at all our relationships with customers.

Following this review, many of our customers and consumer groups told us they preferred simpler pricing with a single unit rate. We listened to this and replaced two tier pricing with standing charges.

Whilst we understand this won't please all our customers, feed back tells us the majority prefer this method of charging.

We've written to all affected customers to let them know about this change.

As others have said, whilst there's a meter at the property, we'll apply the standing charge even if there's no usage. This is to cover things like maintenance, rental and making sure the meter is safe.

For those not using gas, meters can be removed and the supply capped. Charges for this vary depending on the type of meter and whether it's owned by the National Grid or an Independent Gas Transporter. Best to contact our Gas Disconnections team for a quote.

Hope this explains the changes made recently. Give me a shout if anyone needs any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc

SORRY !!! But I dont think standing charges are fair, if the meter is not being used , WHAT MAINTENANCE RENTAL AND MAKING IT SAFE !!! rubbish you never see maintenance men unless YOUR meter is faulty, it should be based on your actual consumption and the price built in to that, which is fair,because if you are using more you are paying your fair share of charges as you are using it, my daughter is on a pre-payment meter, on very low income, and couldnt actually afford to have gas/electric (especially gas) as every time she topped up most of it was swallowed up IN STANDING CHARGES !!! whcih put her on emergency but she wasnt allowed to use because it took her too far into emergency, and she was topping up £10 each time, it was a never ending cycle and she spent weeks with barely any heat in winter and meant her and her young daughter were continually ill which made her depressed and felt in a hole, all of which in effect meant she was paying for a meter ornament in the corner as she couldnt acutally afford the product it was supposed to produce, and no she wasnt in debt and paying off a debt too, she was always on pre-payment but the problems seemed to start when an old faulty gas meter was replaced, cant help thinkig the standing charges were upped to pay for a new meter which should have been replaced anyway !!!!

p.s. that was with british gas not eon, ..... but dont get me started on EON took you 6 months to send me my first bill after I had a pre-payment meter taken out when we moved into our new house, so was on your worst rate for about six months, (despite requests from me, so I could sort out my supply), with a massive bill to pay which you wanted instantly , if your not going to produce a bill, people should be put automatically on the best rate for them NOT THE WORST !! but besides that unless you are up and running as an 0nline customer BILLS SHOULD BE PRODUCED QUARTERLY AT THE VERY LEAST !!!

Nada666

kennyjosiah wrote: »

SORRY !!! But I dont think standing charges are fair, if the meter is not being used , WHAT MAINTENANCE RENTAL AND MAKING IT SAFE !!! rubbish you never see maintenance men unless YOUR meter is faulty, it should be based on your actual consumption and the price built in to that, which is fair,because if you are using more you are paying your fair share of charges as you are using it, my daughter is on a pre-payment meter, on very low income, and couldnt actually afford to have gas/electric (especially gas) as every time she topped up most of it was swallowed up IN STANDING CHARGES !!! whcih put her on emergency but she wasnt allowed to use because it took her too far into emergency, and she was topping up £10 each time, it was a never ending cycle and she spent weeks with barely any heat in winter and meant her and her young daughter were continually ill which made her depressed and felt in a hole, all of which in effect meant she was paying for a meter ornament in the corner as she couldnt acutally afford the product it was supposed to produce, and no she wasnt in debt and paying off a debt too, she was always on pre-payment but the problems seemed to start when an old faulty gas meter was replaced, cant help thinkig the standing charges were upped to pay for a new meter which should have been replaced anyway !!!!

What [STRIKE]complete[/STRIKE]large proportion rubbish.

If your daughter had placed £10 a week in her meter over summer when it wasn't being used she would have built up a buffer of £8.20 per week to take the sting off her winter bills when the heating was needed.

If she was on a no standing charge tariff (a la Ebico rather than two-tier) then she would have even more difficulty paying the more expensive price per kWh on demand as it seems she would be a modest to above average user (particularly with a child.)