Smartmeter/faulty meter/EON

Ferdihorse

Hi, can anyone help please? I pay EON £120 per month by direct debit for electricity only (no mains gas) and have run up a debt of over £800. They estimate my yearly usage, based on readings from my old meter, is 13,600 units - very high for a two person household who are out a lot.


They fitted a smart meter (at my request because I thought the old meter was faulty) in Feb and it says I use about 350 units per month (4200 a year) and my recent bill says that too, but Eon say the direct debit must stay the same and they will 'review' in 3 months.


There must have been a problem with the old meter since I've not changed anything since the smart meter was fitted. I don't want to carry on paying three times more than I use to pay off arrears which I don't think should have built up anyway, but do I need to prove the old meter was faulty? The man who removed it didn't think EON test them, so how can I prove it?


I'd like to change suppliers, but EON would still chase me for the £800 they think I owe them.


Thanks for any help

dogshome

An all Electric household can easily burn 13,600 Kwh a year, with hopefully some of it via an ECO 7 meter
At the same time 350 Kwh for a month in Spring when some heating will still be required seems low, but is achievable depending on insulation and life style

The main problem is that you are comparing one Spring months use, with that of a complete year including an entire Winter, and even Eon's 3 month revue over what will be 3 Summer months is a poor indicator of your years consumption.

Best to record your monthly meter readings and compare them to past bills season-by-season

Ferdihorse

Thank you dogshome, but we're not 'all electric' ie the heating and hot water run from an oil fired boiler - there is no electric heating.

I have been comparing with the same period last year and we now use about 10-15 units per day, compared with 55-60 last year.

espresso

Ferdihorse wrote: »

I have been comparing with the same period last year and we now use about 10-15 units per day, compared with 55-60 last year.

Ferdihorse wrote: »

They fitted a smart meter (at my request because I thought the old meter was faulty) in Feb and it says I use about 350 units per month (4200 a year)

You have handled this rather badly. Requesting a smart meter because you believed the original meter was faulty was a silly thing to do.

You should have requested that a check meter was fitted alongside your original meter to prove any discrepancy.

Now that the old meter has gone without proving that it was faulty, you can only beg that they recalculate based on your recent usage.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Ferdihorse

Depending on when in February your Smart Meter was fitted, we're looking at 10 weeks usage at most. A good part of this is also in Spring.

As dogshome says, best to take regular meter readings and compare over a longer period.

Did last year's usage include any estimated readings? This can sometimes give a false impression of how much is being used at one particular time.

I'd suggest having a talk to our specialist Consumption Team. Tell them about your property and appliances. They'll be happy to go through your account.

Assuming part of the £120 a month is going towards clearing the arrears, this leaves the balance to cover ongoing usage and stop a similar situation happening in future.

You might be interested in a tool on our website called the 'Direct Debit Manager.' This lets you keep an eye on your payments to make sure all is ok going forward. You'll need to register with our website to use it.

Hope this is of interest Ferdihorse. Let me know if you need any more details as happy to help.

Malc

Ferdihorse

espresso wrote: »

You have handled this rather badly. Requesting a smart meter because you believed the original meter was faulty was a silly thing to do.

You should have requested that a check meter was fitted alongside your original meter to prove any discrepancy.

Now that the old meter has gone without proving that it was faulty, you can only beg that they recalculate based on your recent usage.

I asked about a check meter, but was told I'd have to pay for the test if it turned out the meter was correct and we really did use that much.

When you say 'beg that they recalculate' do you mean retrospectively or just that once I've cleared the debt I'll only have to pay for what I use?

Ferdihorse

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi Ferdihorse

Depending on when in February your Smart Meter was fitted, we're looking at 10 weeks usage at most. A good part of this is also in Spring.

As dogshome says, best to take regular meter readings and compare over a longer period.

Did last year's usage include any estimated readings? This can sometimes give a false impression of how much is being used at one particular time.

I'd suggest having a talk to our specialist Consumption Team. Tell them about your property and appliances. They'll be happy to go through your account.

Assuming part of the £120 a month is going towards clearing the arrears, this leaves the balance to cover ongoing usage and stop a similar situation happening in future.

You might be interested in a tool on our website called the 'Direct Debit Manager.' This lets you keep an eye on your payments to make sure all is ok going forward. You'll need to register with our website to use it.

Hope this is of interest Ferdihorse. Let me know if you need any more details as happy to help.

Malc

Hi Malc,

Thank you and I will take regular readings and compare them with previous years. I appreciate it will take a while to be sure the readings from the new meter are significantly and consistently lower and some of the previous readings were, as you say, estimates.

Could you give me some idea what I should do if after (say) a year, my consumption is still a fraction of what it was with the old meter? Is espresso right that, without the meter, it's impossible to prove it was faulty? The old meter registered 56 units used in one day before it was removed - the following day the same appliances used 14!

Thanks

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Ferdihorse

Taking regular meter readings is the way to go.

Once you've a good idea of your ongoing usage, talk to the Consumption Team I mentioned earlier. Tell them about your situation and how big you feel the discrepancy is between the old and new meters.

If you've an online account, pop meter readings on there at regular intervals. These will show directly on your account and help our consumption specialists with their investigation.

Have to say, I think espresso is right. The way to have gone would've been to have a check meter fitted before the old meter was taken out. I know there's an initial charge but this would've been fully refunded if the meter turned out to be faulty.

I suspect it's going to be very difficult to come up with any definite proof now the meter's gone. This is why I'm suggesting our consumption specialists. They deal with these queries on a regular basis and have more access/knowledge about such things. Please call the phone number on your bills and ask to be put through.

Sorry I can't offer anything more positive but hope this points you in the right direction.

Malc