EON - massive overcharge on electricity! :-/

emmafifema

Hi,

I just got my quarterly dual fuel bill from EON and they are saying that I have used £301 of electricity! I live in a small 2 bedroom flat and out of the last 3 months I have not been here for 4 of those weeks.

I just don't understand it?? My previous quarterly bill was £107 and since I moved in here 3 years ago the only difference now is that for the last 6 months I have not used my tumble drier.

I feel sick to the stomach as a disabled single mother I really don't know how I will pay it or even try and prove that something has gone seriously wrong.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

martin2345uk

emmafifema wrote: »

Hi,

I just got my quarterly dual fuel bill from EON and they are saying that I have used £301 of electricity! I live in a small 2 bedroom flat and out of the last 3 months I have not been here for 4 of those weeks.

I just don't understand it?? My previous quarterly bill was £107 and since I moved in here 3 years ago the only difference now is that for the last 6 months I have not used my tumble drier.

I feel sick to the stomach as a disabled single mother I really don't know how I will pay it or even try and prove that something has gone seriously wrong.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

Rather than the cost, how many units have you actually used?

emmafifema

Hi,

It says 2025 kilowatt hours....doesn't say units

martin2345uk

emmafifema wrote: »

Hi,

It says 2025 kilowatt hours....doesn't say units

Good Lord, 2025 in only 3 months? National average is only 3,300 a year!

Are the start and end readings for the quarter your own readings? Are they actual or estimates?

emmafifema

it says "A" - actual.......... then it says estimated use in the last 12 months is 4282????

martin2345uk

Do you have your bills for the last 12 months? Can you check if all the readings are Actuals?

emmafifema

I have paperless billing and only last week they changed me over to their dual bill thing rather than seperate billing. Now all I can see on my online account is Gas bills and then this huge bill!

Nada666

It will most likely be a catch-up bill (so a result of undercharging, not overcharging (or underestimating, rather)). If you were paying £107 a quarter then that is only about 200 kWh (at 14p and £7.50 standing charge.) So nine months at 200 and 2025 for the last quarter is only 3,825 kWh over the year.

Just noticed you say they suggest 4,282. Either figure is fair enough.

In future make sure you check your meters each month or quarter so that you know how much you have actually used so you have some notice if they bill you on an underestimate.

If you are paying quarterly then you have three months to pay the £300 back - or you can ask for a longer period. If you are paying by or switch to direct debit it can be spread over twelve months (although it may make more sense to just pay it now.)

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Morning emmafifema,

I'm sure we can help you sort this out, so please try not to worry (I know that's not easy)

The first thing to do is to read the meter and make sure we've used the actual reading, so check the meter against the bill.

Then have a look over your previous electricity bills and see if they were charged to accurate or estimated reads. Have you been proving your reads to us?

I think Nada666 is right as it does sound like a catch up bill, where we've previously estimated and now billed to an accurate.

Also have a look to make sure you're on the best tariff for you, I understand you've got an online account so you can do this there. You can also view the electricity bills by logging in to the gas account as normal then click add another account, then enter the electricity account number.

If you need some help though, talk to us, we can go through how we can help you to pay with a payment arrangement or setting something up more permanently.

As you say you're single and disabled, don't forget to have a look at the warm home discount online also.

Let me know if you need me.

Helena

zaax

Don't forget power companies have a legal requirement to read your meters once a year, and when you change companies they are supposed to read them but this is not a legal requirement and when you can give them what every reading you like as long it is after the last official reading.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

zaax wrote: »

Don't forget power companies have a legal requirement to read your meters once a year, and when you change companies they are supposed to read them but this is not a legal requirement and when you can give them what every reading you like as long it is after the last official reading.

Hi Zaax,

That's not quite right.

We are obliged to read meters once every 2 years.

This is why we're always happy to bill to customers readings.

When a customer changes supplier, we would not normally read the meters for them unless there was a special reason.

The customer would read their meter and provide the reads to the new supplier, they would then send these readings to the old supplier.

Hope this is clear.

Helena