EON District Heating mis-quoted

Prometheus3k

Hi all,
it's my first post here, and I really need some advice.

I recently purchased a new build property. During the process purchase, the property developer told me the new build would have a District Heating system maintained by EON Heat (a department within EON).

I was also told there would be a annual Standing Charge in addition to a charge on how much much heating we actually use. This was quoted at around £85 per year (around 25p per day). Aside from this quote, there was no documentation regarding EON prices.

Fast forward 10 months and I called EON Heat to sign up. I was surprised to find the Standing Charge was just under £1 a day + VAT (£382 per year to be exact). The first "Heat Bill" also confirms this. I now also have a Residential Customer Agreement contract EON want me to sign accepting these charges, but I feel I've been mis-sold and so have a number my neighbours.

I've raised this with EON by email only for them to ignore answering my questions and demand payment. I do not want to pay the bill (usage + standing charge) if it means EON can take this as me accepting the contract. Is this a correct assumption? I don't want to get into debt either.

I don't think going after the property developer will help here, despite them mis-quoting the costs. It's EON I'll have to strike a deal with.

Is there a third party I can raise this with? I've read that District Heating is not covered by OfGem regulations as it is "off the grid".

Any advice is much appreciated.

Nada666

How much is a kWh? You need that information before you can decide whether or not your standing charge is acceptable.

macman

I agree. What really matters is the annual overall cost, not the standing charge. If a lower kWh rate offsets the high SC, how have you lost out, unless you are a very low user?
Take your estimated kWh usage and compare with what it would cost you on a conventional 'grid' tariff.

Prometheus3k

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The EON Heat Agreement document states:
Unit Price: 8.2 pence per kWh
Standing Charge: 0.9967 pence per day

The document also states my property's "Forecast Annual Heat Demand" is at 2295 kWh.
So for EON Heat:

• Annual cost for estimated usage will be (0.082 * 2295) = £188.19 + VAT.
• Annual cost of Standing Charge will be (0.9967 * 365) = £363.7955 + VAT.
• So total is (188.19 + 363.7955) = £551.98 + VAT@5%

I'm having trouble getting EON Unit Price for Gas for this property. As I'm registered as as EON Heat, the website just says I'm already a customer. No quote

With that in mind, I looked at British Gas - "Tariff Rates" site

With my postcode and using British Gas' Clear and Simple tariff, the quote is:

• Unit Price: 4.3 to 4.6 pence per kWh (inc VAT)
• Standing Charge: 24 to 26 pence per day (I'm not sure if this includes VAT or not. Website doesn't say).
• So based on EON's "Forecast Annual Heat Demand" of 2295 kWh for my property
• (2295 x 0.046) + (365 x 0.26) = £200.47 (give or take VAT on Standing Charge).

So I am basically being charged more than double the price I would be with British Gas.

Does this breakdown help?

spiro

Prometheus3k wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The EON Heat Agreement document states:
Unit Price: 8.2 pence per kWh
Standing Charge: 0.9967 pence per day

The document also states my property's "Forecast Annual Heat Demand" is at 2295 kWh.
So for EON Heat:

• Annual cost for estimated usage will be (0.082 * 2295) = £188.19 + VAT.
• Annual cost of Standing Charge will be (0.9967 * 365) = £363.7955 + VAT.
• So total is (188.19 + 363.7955) = £551.98 + VAT@5%

I'm having trouble getting EON Unit Price for Gas for this property. As I'm registered as as EON Heat, the website just says I'm already a customer. No quote

With that in mind, I looked at British Gas - "Tariff Rates" site

With my postcode and using British Gas' Clear and Simple tariff, the quote is:

• Unit Price: 4.3 to 4.6 pence per kWh (inc VAT)
• Standing Charge: 24 to 26 pence per day (I'm not sure if this includes VAT or not. Website doesn't say).
• So based on EON's "Forecast Annual Heat Demand" of 2295 kWh for my property
• (2295 x 0.046) + (365 x 0.26) = £200.47 (give or take VAT on Standing Charge).

So I am basically being charged more than double the price I would be with British Gas.

Does this breakdown help?

I don't think this is an accurate comparison because the 2295kwh per annum figure is about a quarter of the average gas consumption figure for the UK. Others may know more about why they have quoted such a low figure.

happenstance

Prometheus3k wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The EON Heat Agreement document states:
Unit Price: 8.2 pence per kWh
Standing Charge: 0.9967 pence per day

The document also states my property's "Forecast Annual Heat Demand" is at 2295 kWh.
So for EON Heat:

• Annual cost for estimated usage will be (0.082 * 2295) = £188.19 + VAT.
• Annual cost of Standing Charge will be (0.9967 * 365) = £363.7955 + VAT.
• So total is (188.19 + 363.7955) = £551.98 + VAT@5%

I'm having trouble getting EON Unit Price for Gas for this property. As I'm registered as as EON Heat, the website just says I'm already a customer. No quote

With that in mind, I looked at British Gas - "Tariff Rates" site

With my postcode and using British Gas' Clear and Simple tariff, the quote is:

• Unit Price: 4.3 to 4.6 pence per kWh (inc VAT)
• Standing Charge: 24 to 26 pence per day (I'm not sure if this includes VAT or not. Website doesn't say).
• So based on EON's "Forecast Annual Heat Demand" of 2295 kWh for my property
• (2295 x 0.046) + (365 x 0.26) = £200.47 (give or take VAT on Standing Charge).

So I am basically being charged more than double the price I would be with British Gas.

Does this breakdown help?

That yearly usage figure seams low, but I guess its because is a new flat.

Anyway that makes it almost 25p per kwh, seams very expensive. Heating via leckie would be 10p less and you wouldn't have to pay the quid a day standing charge if you went on holiday for 3 weeks in the winter.

macman

As above, you can't heat and hot water any property with under 3,000kwh a year.
But I'm unclear about what you are comparing to. Do you actually have mains gas into the property? If you don't, then you should be comparing it to the cost of heating via E7, which would be much more than gas CH.
What does the district scheme provide-heating and hot water via centralised boiler system? If so, the other advantage is that you have no ongoing annual maintenance cost for the boiler.

Nada666

You will have to dig deeper and find what the £385 covers - is it just a standing charge or a standing charge plus a flat rate charge for a base level of centralised. If you assume £85 standing charge then £300 buys you 6,666 kWh at 4.5p. Does the centralised system provide you more than that? An average use of 16,500 - that's a possibility of 7,500 kWh extra 'free'.

The trouble with such a scheme is that you have no guarantees or control over the level of centralised charge - it is possible this is mitigated by the metered 2,295 the householders will be charged but it is also possible that it ends up as untenable as council schemes and the initial unmetered version of StayWarm.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Scotland's REIF I assume ?

advantix

As far as i am aware (i'm sure an EON rep will be able to clarify) The EON DISTRICT HEATING is only supplied by EON so it doesn't matter who supplies your gas and electricity, you will still have to pay EON for the EON DISTRICT HEAT

Prometheus3k

Hi guys, I'm trying to find out more information. I'll post the full indicative usage table as soon as I can.

In the meantime, can anyone tell me, if I pay the due bills (usage + standing charge) is this considered me accepting the service?

Note, there is a separate document which requires my signature (Service agreement) that I'm not going to sign until this is sorted. But surely paying the bills shouldn't mean I accept anything other than money owed?