EON Illegally Manipulating Bills?

o6uoq

Hi,

I've been with EON for around ~3 years now, using them for heating and electricity. Sometimes I am out of the country for 6-8 weeks at a time.

One thing I've noticed, more so with my heating vs. electricity, is that the bill does not fluctuate that much when I'm gone. One would assume this would drop alot, but it doesn't. One theory, if they are manipulating bills, is that they see a drop in usage and reflect this just enough so that the customer sees a small drop / difference and doesn't think anything of it.

After 3 years, I've begin to become paranoid. I am absolutely positive that my usage through December should be at a minimum and it's the most expensive bill I've received to date.

So, I have no proof of this other than me being out of the country does not equal a price drop. I've calculated this by working out a monthly bill, over the year, and work out my daily usage. I then apply this daily usage to the days I am / am not out of the country. It doesn't add up.

So - as a consumer, do I have the right to request a break down of my bill, per daily usage vs monthly, for the last few years? I would LOVE to see them itemise my usage - per day - and compare that to all the days that I've been out of the country. I am sure that there will be days of usage which would be impossible, because I am not in the country!

I hope to hear your advice. Thanks!

ChumpusRex

Do you submit daily meter readings when you are out of the country?

If not, how do you expect, your bills to show a day-by-day itemised charge?

Bills are issued between 2 meter readings, or if an up-to-date meter reading is not available, then an estimate.

If you want a bill that exactly reflects your consumption, it is your responsibility to provide meter readings at the start and end date of each bill.

CKhalvashi

They won't have daily readings unless you submit them.

My usage, averaged out over a year is completely different to a day-to-day bill, exactly same as summer/winter.

o6uoq

I have an EON Smart Reader:

(can't post a link, but Google EON Smart Reader)

"The smart meter sends your meter reading directly to us, so you don’t have to. That means more accurate bills and one less thing to think about."

My experience with these meters, is that, oxymoronically, they're not smart at all.

I have supplied these every few quarters or so in the past. I'm not happy as a consumer and they've even stated on the phone their 'Smart Reader' is not smart at all and/or doesn't work as advertised.

Andy_WSM

o6uoq wrote: »

I have supplied these every few quarters or so in the past. I'm not happy as a consumer and they've even stated on the phone their 'Smart Reader' is not smart at all and/or doesn't work as advertised.

So you know the Smart Meter isn't working as intended. There are plenty of stories on here about Smart Meters not working correctly.

If you know it's not working correctly then submit monthly reads to Eon otherwise they can't possibly bill you accurately.

It's not illegal for Eon to "manipulate" (the correct word is ESTIMATE) your bills.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Andy_WSM wrote: »

There are plenty of stories on here about Smart Meters now working correctly.

Did you mean not?

Andy_WSM

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

Did you mean not?

Yes I did. Thank you. Corrected

One letter, big difference!

Nada666

The smart meter only throws out the latest reading to the instalment calculator. The instalment calculator does not care about unusual or flat usages - it will always assume you have a winter-weighted pattern and will not factor your jaunts in its calculations.

You can look for a tariff that allows quarterly direct debits based on actual readings - some will be competitively priced. But other than that just ride with the fluctuating debits.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi o6uoq

I'm sorry your Smart Meter doesn't appear to be doing what it should. It's possible the meter may not be able to talk to us. It could be blocked or the signal might not be strong enough. Also, if the smart meter was fitted by another supplier, we may not be able to receive reads from it.

Sometimes we have intermittent issues with signal strengths. This means we might successfully take a reading one day but not on another.

When you've a minute, check the user guide to see if there's a good reason why the meter isn't behaving as it should. Don't worry if you don't have the guide. There's an online version on our website.

If there's still an issue, have a chat with our Smart specialists. Contact details are on your bills and our website. They're around from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 6pm Saturdays. They'll be happy to talk to you.

Where we're unable to download a reading remotely and we don't have a reading from another source, we'll send an estimated bill. This will be based on the usage history we have for the property. We're happy to accept meter readings from customers and will gladly re-bill any estimated accounts to accurate readings.

If you let us have up to date readings, we'll re-bill the account to these so you've a good picture of the ongoing usage. The daily standing charges will be the same though.

When all's working as it should, we collect readings from Smart Meters once a month. You can let us have them more regularly if you wish. They can be entered online (up to 12 every three months) or phoned in more frequently. The more readings we have the more accurate estimates will be if we need to go down this route.

If you've registered with our website, you'll be able to see the last two years of statements by logging in with the username/password. These will show all the readings we've used, both actual and estimated.

You can also raise your own bills through a tool called Real Time Billing. Provided the account is outside the billing window (14 days either side of the bill date for quarterly billed customers), you can enter readings and choose to either see the balance or issue a bill. Readings entered during the billing window automatically lead to a bill.

Sorry again if the smart meter's playing up but hope this helps point you in the right direction.

Malc