Am I Paying Too Much?

bairn1

Last July I moved into a small new-build two bedroom flat.

Our heating bills for just over 8 months to date are over £450, a lot of which is made up of a standing charge of 91.553p per day. So we think we are looking at around £650 per year.

We were expecting to pay a lot less than this for our heating, especially when our contract says "E.ON operate a Fair Pricing Policy and believe that you should pay no more for heating and hot water than you would in a standard new build property with a gas boiler."

We are tied in with E.ON as they look after the heating system for the whole development. Our contract says that the heating is provided by a "district heating system powered by the development's community energy centre". This includes a CHP (not sure what that is?) and a biomass boiler generating renewable energy and supplementary gas boilers.

So, was just wondering if anyone thought I was being unreasonable in thinking that £650 a year for heating in a new build property (with no way to change tariff or provider) was reasonable? And if so, how would we go about challenging this? An initial phone call to E.ON wasn't very helpful at all.

Thanks for your time.

Bigphil1474

Based on those figures, it doesn't sound too bad. My house is a 3 bed mid terrace and we pay about £1100 a year for gas and electric - gas is mostly heating plus gas hobs, and gas is about two thirds of bill (around £745 p/yr). Your standing charge is about 6 or 7 times what mine is, so the cost per kW must be really low. On the upside, it may mean you can use much more heating than me without paying as much extra as I would, but on the downside, even if you never had the heating on, it would still cost you at least £30 per month. Swings and roundabouts !!

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi bairn1,

You have a Heat account with E.ON, this is different to a normal gas and electricity account with us.

There is a specific team that deal with these accounts, as I don't have access to the system and data that they use.

This is the team that you'd need to speak to about your account, there is also a complete page on the website about this set up.

I'm sorry I'm not allowed to post links

If you need me to put you in contact with right people though, I'm more than happy to help, just let me know.

Helena

bairn1

Thanks both,

I did speak to someone E.On, but they said my bills were correct.

I was mainly querying the standing charge that I'm tied in to that works out at around £350 per year. This seems a bit harsh, especially considering the contract states that E.On operate a "Fair Pricing Policy" and that I should pay "no more for heating and hot water" if I had a "standard new build property with a gas boiler".

If I was in a standard build property with a gas boiler, but was hardly using it, then surely I would be paying a lot less, so I can't really see how their "Fair Pricing Policy" can be fair!

Sounds like there isn't a lot I can do though :-(

wakeupalarm

What is your unit charge for your electricity?

Why not just put your details into a switching site and see how much you would be paying on normal tariffs. Just enter how many KWh you use rather than the amount. And then why not try initiatinig a switch. It may not work if you are tied into Eon but why not just try it once you know how much you will save or pay extra.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Thanks bairn1,

It sounds like you will have spoken to the HEAT team then, as they're the ones with access to these accounts.

I can't change the standing charge or the way these accounts are billed, but I can help get you talking to the right people

wakeupalarm- I'm afraid bairn won't be able to initiate a switch to another supplier for a heat account, it's a valid contract with E.ON for these particular sites.

It's a district heating scheme and is specific to us.

You know where I am if you want me.

Helena

bairn1

Hi again,

Thanks for the advice. I've put our actual readings into a price comparison site and this suggests I could save hundreds of pounds if I was to switch.

I appreciate that I can't switch, but it does call into question E.ON's line on our question that says they operate a Fair Pricing Policy.

I think I'm going to take this up with the company who built the development and are responsible for the contract with E.ON. I'm not expecting to get a fair deal, but I think it's worth pursuing, at least out of principle.

Thanks again for all your help and advice.