Energy Supplier Mistake Has Caused £1200 Bill - What Can I Do?

IainRW

Hi, I'm new here and looking for some advice on an energy bill I've just received for just short of £1200 due to a billing mistake.

We switched provier last year to EON, and it seems that in that year they have only been charging us for gas. I should probably have noticed this but as we were paying DD and the bills were nice and low I never gave it much thought. In fact throught the year they kept lowering our DD as we were too far in credit, clearly due to the missing electricty component.

I've spoken to them and aparenty the electricty component got "stuck" in the processing at the switch and so this latest bill is playing catch up. They are putting my account under review to see how to handle it, I'm expecting a phone call back in the next week.

My question is, what am I obliged to pay them? Is likely I could come to some sort of deal with them, e.g. I'll pay it off £10 per month for the next 10 years or if you half it I'll pay it right now, or do I just have to go with whatever they decide in their review?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

System

Mistakes happen but it is beyond comprehension that you didn't sense that something was amiss when you were making unexpectedly low payments. The back billing code will not apply so it will be a debt that has to be paid. You have the right to expect a reasonable time to pay and you should ask for some compensation (which will not be that much). They are not going to agree to a 10 year repayment plan!

IainRW

Thanks Hengus, agree I should probably have noticed but co-incidentally the arrival of a new family member around the same time resulted in higher heating bills and a complete lack of time to go over them! The difference wasn't huge, and I just figured it was a really good switch of provider!

Anyway, most of that's an aside, 10 years was a bit of an exageration (as was paying a £600 bill in one go), but I'm wonering how best to deal with this. I figured it may be that they will be happier giving a discount for quicker payment and if I can take advantage of the fact this was entirely their fault.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning IainRW and welcome to the forums.

I'm pleased to hear you've already spoken to us and this will be with a resolution manager to review the account fully.

In this sort of situation I'd expect them to offer for you to re-pay the balance over the length of time it has taken us to produce the bill. When last year did you switch to us?

If you wanted to clear the balance in one go, we may offer a reduction but I'm afraid it wouldn't be halved.

I'd also suggest reading your meters (both) and make sure we have billed you up to date, also have a look at the tariff's on the website and make sure you're on the best deal for both fuels.

I do understand that you feel this was entirely our fault, as we have failed to produce your bill. However, I must say the customer does have some responsibility to check their bills, provide meter reads and keep up to date with the account also.

I do hope this is resolved quickly for you and if I can help, please ask.

Thanks

Helena:)

IainRW

Hi Helena,

Thanks for the response.

The problem with paying it back over the period which was missed is I will now effectively be faced with a double electricity bill for the next year.

I understand what you were saying that I should have paid closer attention to the bill and I will certainly be doing so in future, however as EON were requesting both readings on a regular basis, we were providing both readings on a regular basis and we were being billed on a regular basis, you can I'm sure understand how I only looked at the headline item, the overall cost.

In fact, the bill I just received has a number of electricity readings on it showing that the only thing that didn't appear to be happening was us being billed for electricity.

Anyway, I suppose that's all an aside now, I can only wait and see what EON come back with in way of solution to this, I will however let you know.

Nada666

If you hadn't noticed it not coming out of your bank account then it cannot be that sizeable. As such, paying such a small amount extra now should similarly be barely noticeable.

EnglishMohican

There are some sanctamonious clever devils on here. They never get anything wrong.

If the bill is £1200 then the amount is not that small but you should be able to trust these big companies. If you told them your consumption, they did the sums and got them wrong then it is entirely their fault. These bills are sometimes totally obscure in the calculations they do and how they describe the figures. I have a detailed spreadsheet and I cannot get my suppliers calculations to match my own results, they are near but not an exact match.So it is not easy especially when you are distracted by a new family member. I remember those days.

You should not be required to be an accountant to buy electricity any more than you should be expected to be a power generation engineer

I cannot help you other than give my sympathy and my hope that EON recognise their total failure and give you a lot longer than a year. It is unreasonable to double your electricity bill when it is no fault of yours. I would prefer the money to be taken from the pocket of the EON CEO but as that will not happen, if you do not pay for the electricity, then the rest of the customers will have to so I am afraid I do think it needs to be paid eventually

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

EnglishMohican wrote: »

There are some sanctamonious clever devils on here. They never get anything wrong.

If the bill is £1200 then the amount is not that small but you should be able to trust these big companies. If you told them your consumption, they did the sums and got them wrong then it is entirely their fault. These bills are sometimes totally obscure in the calculations they do and how they describe the figures. I have a detailed spreadsheet and I cannot get my suppliers calculations to match my own results, they are near but not an exact match.So it is not easy especially when you are distracted by a new family member. I remember those days.

You should not be required to be an accountant to buy electricity any more than you should be expected to be a power generation engineer

I cannot help you other than give my sympathy and my hope that EON recognise their total failure and give you a lot longer than a year. It is unreasonable to double your electricity bill when it is no fault of yours. I would prefer the money to be taken from the pocket of the EON CEO but as that will not happen, if you do not pay for the electricity, then the rest of the customers will have to so I am afraid I do think it needs to be paid eventually

Aww bless you Doris.

Would you say the same if a mistake were made by a local sole trader? Businesses (regardless of size) have the right to reclaim money where they made a mistake. Yes, a mistake.

Ultimately the OP has used a product, and not paid for it. And maybe I am a sanctimonious clever devil, but I, and most others on here, would notice if a DD I'd set up had suddenly halved.

stator

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

Would you say the same if a mistake were made by a local sole trader? Businesses (regardless of size) have the right to reclaim money where they made a mistake. Yes, a mistake.

A sole trader wouldn't make such a stupid mistake, they actually pay attention to their dealings.

There are some ethical companies out there, for example PetPlan. They over paid one of my claims (via vet's computer, I didn't actually put in the claim) and when I wrote to them to tell them they had paid me a few hundred too much they wrote back and said I can keep it. It's called customer service.

Personally when a huge faceless corporation makes a mistake like this they should write it off. It's not going to make any difference to the dividend paid to shareholders.

And I agree with EnglishMohican, there certainly are some sanctamonious, spiteful and rude people on this board.

spiro

As you are a dual fuel customer and therefore presumably have GSH, £1200 for less than a years worth electricity seems on the high side. You don't say how low your DD went as this in itself should have set alarm bells ringing.

If nothing else this issue should teach you and others reading this thread to check ever bill you receive.

System

stator wrote: »

A sole trader wouldn't make such a stupid mistake, they actually pay attention to their dealings.

There are some ethical companies out there, for example PetPlan. They over paid one of my claims (via vet's computer, I didn't actually put in the claim) and when I wrote to them to tell them they had paid me a few hundred too much they wrote back and said I can keep it. It's called customer service.

Personally when a huge faceless corporation makes a mistake like this they should write it off. It's not going to make any difference to the dividend paid to shareholders.

And I agree with EnglishMohican, there certainly are some sanctamonious, spiteful and rude people on this board.

This has got absolutely nothing to do with ethics. I am in the process of switching to a new supplier. Their initial e-mail gives details of the tariff that I have signed up to and confirms my initial monthly payment. Any sensible person would wait for confirmation that the switch has gone through and then would check their Bank statement to ensure that the correct payment has been taken. Suppliers also provide online and written statements. Not knowing that the billing was incorrect isn't really a plausible excuse. The OP seems to appreciate that his error now has consequences.

Yes, a billing mistake has been made but the blame has to be shared. It is unreasonable to expect an energy company to write off £1200 - or even a sizeable part of it - for what was a simple billing error. Energy companies - as much as we love or hate them - are not charities. Bills written off result in higher bills for all of us - that, I am afraid, is how business works.