500% Rise in EOn Direct Debit

krw_2

After a few years of paying a manageable monthly DD of £34 pcm (and often getting a refund as we were so much in credit) we recently received a letter from Eon that our Electricity DD was rising to just over £200pcm.

Shocked - I checked the meter and went back through the readings on the bill thinking it was a mis-estimation. Was even more shocked when I found they did tally.

As we have an ancient meter (with one dial for the 1000's, one for 100's etc), we have had a few letters saying that it is time to change it for a smart meter. We have so far put them off as we are planning some major alterations involving moving the supply and they agreed it would be sensible to do the work at the same time.

So my first thought was that the meter was faulty. E-on suggested I took a reading every day at the same time for a week to check usage. Just finished this and the usage is close to what I would expect and seems to tally with the Owl Energy Monitor we use.

Looking back through the readings there is a huge jump - around 9000 units - sometime over the last winter. Hence the huge rise in the DD - they are estimating we now use 45 units a day compared to our usual 10.

Our main usage is cooking and an immersion heater for hot water. We have no CH and during winter the immersion is never switched on as we have a back boiler on the real fire.

The Owl Monitor has sat in the kitchen during this period and is set to alarm if the usage rises to 10kW - only time it ever happened is if cooking, heating water and then kettle is switched on. Unfortunately I did not download the data over this period - I used to when it was a novelty and I'm definitely doing it again now. We had no major works done, no changes in big appliances, no Christmas lights to rival Oxford St, no hot-tub...... can't even blame children as she left home a few years ago.

So, if the meter is right then I'm at a total loss as to where all that power has been used. I can get the meter tested but I'm told there is a £90 charge if it turns not to be faulty.

I can see the situation where I say the meter must be faulty - they test it and say it's right then add £90 to our £1000 outstanding bill.

Has anybody else been in a similar situation? Any advise as to dealing with this would be appreciated.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Have you been submitting regular meter readings? And if so, have eon been using them?

It's hard to give 100% accurate advice without knowing your usage in KWh, but £34pcm is incredibly low. The average household spends about £100 a month. If this has been going on for a few years, it stands to reason that you're now in arrears, and have to pay it back via an increased DD.

Ignore what they have/are/are going to estimate you use. Estimate is another word for a guess. It's meaningless. If you want to avoid this in future, read your meter once a month, and check your bills regularly to see if it's all stacking up.

spiro

You say you have looked back through your bills are there is a big jump of 9000. Can you post the dates, readings and type (estimate or actual). It is possible you had lots of estimates followed by an actual reading which caused the jump.

krw_2

P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Thanks folks


Meter readings & estimates from when we took over the property - big jump in red......


DATE READING EST/ACT
26/10/09 40949 INITIAL CUSTOMER READING
23/12/09 41227 ESTIMATED
27/01/10 41706 EON READ
25/03/10 42168 ESTIMATED
24/06/10 42755 ESTIMATED
24/07/10 42755 ESTIMATED
27/07/10 42113 EON READ
23/09/10 42458 ESTIMATED
23/12/10 42890 ESTIMATED
25/01/11 44859 EON READ
04/02/11 44921 ESTIMATED
24/03/11 45218 ESTIMATED
23/06/11 45555 ESTIMATED
21/07/11 46872 EON READ
13/09/11 47537 ESTIMATED
22/09/11 47648 ESTIMATED
22/12/11 49096 ESTIMATED
22/12/11 49096 ESTIMATED
26/01/12 49139 EON READ
27/02/12 49569 ESTIMATED
22/03/12 49892 ESTIMATED
21/05/12 50255 ESTIMATED
20/07/12 51259 EON READ
03/11/12 52374 ESTIMATED
02/02/13 53691 ESTIMATED
25/05/13 54791 ESTIMATED
23/07/13 54093 EON READ
30/01/14 55625 ESTIMATED
25/04/14 62571 EON READ
27/07/14 63757 ESTIMATED


I realise that £32 is not a huge DD but the year before we paid £54 and ended up £220 in credit (which they happily refunded). There is just the two of us, out working most of the day. No CH, dishwasher, tumble drier etc. As I said our immersion is only a back-up for when we are not using solid fuel so what we don't pay on electricity we pay on solid fuel!

kizkiz

krw wrote: »

P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; } Thanks folks


Meter readings & estimates from when we took over the property - big jump in red......


DATE READING EST/ACT
26/10/09 40949 INITIAL CUSTOMER READING
23/12/09 41227 ESTIMATED
27/01/10 41706 EON READ
25/03/10 42168 ESTIMATED
24/06/10 42755 ESTIMATED
24/07/10 42755 ESTIMATED
27/07/10 42113 EON READ
23/09/10 42458 ESTIMATED
23/12/10 42890 ESTIMATED
25/01/11 44859 EON READ
04/02/11 44921 ESTIMATED
24/03/11 45218 ESTIMATED
23/06/11 45555 ESTIMATED
21/07/11 46872 EON READ
13/09/11 47537 ESTIMATED
22/09/11 47648 ESTIMATED
22/12/11 49096 ESTIMATED
22/12/11 49096 ESTIMATED
26/01/12 49139 EON READ
27/02/12 49569 ESTIMATED
22/03/12 49892 ESTIMATED
21/05/12 50255 ESTIMATED
20/07/12 51259 EON READ
03/11/12 52374 ESTIMATED
02/02/13 53691 ESTIMATED
25/05/13 54791 ESTIMATED
23/07/13 54093 EON READ
30/01/14 55625 ESTIMATED
25/04/14 62571 EON READ
27/07/14 63757 ESTIMATED


I realise that £32 is not a huge DD but the year before we paid £54 and ended up £220 in credit (which they happily refunded). There is just the two of us, out working most of the day. No CH, dishwasher, tumble drier etc. As I said our immersion is only a back-up for when we are not using solid fuel so what we don't pay on electricity we pay on solid fuel!

From looking at the actual reads, it does seem a rather large jump compared to what you historically use.
Has anything changed? New boiler etc?

27/01/10 41706 EON READ
27/07/10 42113 EON READ
25/01/11 44859 EON READ
21/07/11 46872 EON READ
26/01/12 49139 EON READ
20/07/12 51259 EON READ
23/07/13 54093 EON READ
25/04/14 62571 EON READ

JJ_Egan

25/05/13 54791 ESTIMATED
23/07/13 54093 EON READ

Thats under the estimate .
Next EON reading is 9 months later .
In that nine months used 8478 kwh

molerat

What does your meter read now, can you post a photo of it ?

krw_2

kizkiz wrote: »

From looking at the actual reads, it does seem a rather large jump compared to what you historically use.
Has anything changed? New boiler etc?

Nope - no changes. Neither in our appliances or in lifestyle.
We have had the meter read by them just about every year and I always check any estimates to make sure they are about right. The credit refund we received last year was based on their own meter reading. So not an accumulated error over a number of years.

If it was a faulty appliance (could probably be only be cooker or immersion) then I'm damn sure I would have seen, smelt, felt, heard something was amiss, the circuit breakers would trip or the Owl alarm would be going off.

krw_2

JJ_Egan wrote: »

25/05/13 54791 ESTIMATED
23/07/13 54093 EON READ

Thats under the estimate .
Next EON reading is 9 months later .
In that nine months used 8478 kwh

Our estimates are usually above actual but never enough to get concerned.... until now...

krw_2

Thanks for the replies.

molerat wrote: »

What does your meter read now, can you post a photo of it ?

Seems I'm too much of a newbie to post links directly but if you copy and paste this....

tinypic.com/r/mtv1z/8

... you'll see the current reading is 64957

Have monitored it for the last 10 days on the meter and the Owl. Both seem to agree at about 15 units a day.

sheffield_lad

I suspect the dial meter has been misread over a long period but your usage is correct.


take the 1st confirmed read on 27/01/10
to 25/04/14
20865 / 1544 days =
UPD = 13.5
given the immersion is used (3units per hr), this sounds more reasonable than around 10upd.


GL