E-ON overcharge?

norrchr

Hello,

I had a recent high bill (500£+) and from looking at the bill breakdown online, i noticed i got two blocks for both electric and gas, one with and one without a standing fee charge. Fair enough i thought, they would of just split the bill and start charging the standing charge from the 18/01/13.. but then i noticed the number of electric units used between the period of 03/12/2012 and 18/01/2013 infact near enough equals my usage between 18/01/2013 and 07/03/2013, as well as my gas usage. So my usage seems to magically doubled, near enough tripled within a single month...

Here is the break down of the bill:

Total electricity charges £333.81

E.ON EnergyOnline (No Standing Charge)
Electricity charges between 03/12/2012 and 18/01/2013
Meter Number D9885982
Normal previous 14035 read by us on 03/12/2012
Normal current 15281 estimated on 18/01/2013
1246 Normal kWh (kilowatt / hour) used

Charges
Normal units used 106 kWh at 23.45p each £24.86
Normal units used 1140 kWh at 11.03p each £125.74
E.ON EnergyOnline
Electricity charges between 18/01/2013 and 07/03/2013
Meter Number D9885982
Normal previous 15281 estimated on 18/01/2013
Normal current 16581 estimated on 07/03/2013
1300 Normal kWh (kilowatt / hour) used

Charges
Normal units used 1300 kWh at 13.13p each £170.69
Standing Charge 48 days at 26.09p per day £12.52

Total gas charges £230.58

E.ON EnergyOnline (No Standing Charge)
Gas charges between 03/12/2012 and 18/01/2013
Meter Number G4A03779170001
Gas previous 15892 read by us on 03/12/2012
Gas current 16135 estimated on 18/01/2013
Difference - 243 units - with multiplier value 1.0, conversion value of 1.02264, calorific value 38.9
Converted into - 2685 kWh (kilowatt / hour) used

Charges
Gas units used 316 kWh at 8.165p each £25.80
Gas units used 2369 kWh at 3.552p each £84.15
E.ON EnergyOnline
Gas charges between 18/01/2013 and 04/03/2013
Meter Number G4A03779170001
Gas previous 16135 estimated on 18/01/2013
Gas current 16372 read by us on 04/03/2013
Difference - 237 units - with multiplier value 1.0, conversion value of 1.02264, calorific value 38.9
Converted into - 2619 kWh (kilowatt / hour) used

Charges
Gas units used 2619 kWh at 4.128p each £108.11
Standing Charge 48 days at 26.09p per day £12.52

I rang up EON, tried to explain it too them, as i know for sure i have not tripled my electric and gas usage between those dates.... they put it down to the christmas period, but yet since last year instead of 4 living in the house, there is now only two, so our usage has infact gone down, but yet this bill tops last years high bill, which was mainly gas charges. I am one of those people who will walk around in winter in a tshirt and shorts, so i know full well i have not tripled my gas usage during that period.

To add insult to injury, when i rang them up to discuss this bill, even though i had a new metre fitted on the 15/05/13 and they took an up-to-date reading, they told me i owed them even more. I had to pay my debt off over the phone to keep my direct debits at £100, otherwise im stuck with £166 and well im convinced those numbers dont add up and i dont want to be paying an extra £66 into eon's hands whilst i look into it further...

If anyone could take a look and put my mind at rest, because either im reading it wrong, or its an error.

Much thanks in advance!

marisa

Go and read your meter now, does it match and/or is higher than what they say?

My guess would be that when they estimated it in 18/01/2013 they estimated much less than you had used, so it appeared to 'jump up' a lot when they finally read it.

If the reading matches what they say then you have used that much power, but unless you keep accurate readings of it month to month yourself you have no real way of knowing when you used what.

They also do not know, so have to presume you used it between the last estimated reading (jan) and the real one(march), which is why you get standing charge for it all.

If they had a accurate reading in jan and that showed the units had been used before then, they would have been exempt from that charge.

However without a time machine there is no way to know, and arguing with them over how much you think you use over time etc is not factual enough to count for anything.

Going forward you could read your own meter every month, take a photo of it and keep a log so you can see your own usage. Put it in EON energy tracker online to see it in a nice graph. If you cant read the meter then you can get a energy monitoring device (EON sent me one for free so ask them about it) and use that to see how many KWh you are using at anytime and estimate your costs.

dogshome

Hmmm - It's always a bit difficult when a supplier charges 2 different tariffs on one bill, but I think that it looks Kosher

Elec The split is almost in the middle of a 95 Day billing period, and each section charges for 26/27 Kwh per day, so apart from the worry that the End Reading is Estimated and could create an overcharge, the bill looks OK
However 27 Kwh a day in a Gas heated home is a LOT - how does this daily use compare with previous bills for the same period

Gas A bit odd that this covers only 92 Days, but at least it's End Reading is based on an actual reading - Again over 2 periods, (47 days & 45 days), the chargeing is consistant at 57/58 Kwh a day

As a footnote I would suggest the OP keeps the note of the meter readings on the meter changeover day, in a very safe place

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi norrchr

The two blocks of charges on this bill have come about because of our price increase on 18 January 13.

Where we don't have actual meter readings at the time of a price change, we'll estimate a reading for the day in question. This will be based on the Average Daily Consumption figures we have for a property.

As dogshome says, looking at the entire period from 3 December 12 to 4 and 7 March 13, the estimates for 18 January do seem to be fairly consistent.

If you've an electricity reading for 7 March 13, we'll be happy to re-bill to this and re-assess the reading for 18 January.

As others have said, checking meter readings regularly will help you keep track of your ongoing usage.

Hope this is of interest.

Malc