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

stator

Hengus wrote: »

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.

Get off your high horse. According to your "standards" most people aren't "sensible people". Why do you enjoy belittling people so much? Does it make you feel good to come on these forums and point out to everyone how you wouldn't have made their mistakes?

System

@stator - By all means attack me for my choice of words. No one is belittling anybody. The simple fact of the matter - whether you choose to accept it or not - is that the OP entered into a legal contract for the supply of energy at an agreed tariff rate. The Company has delivered on its side of the contract but failed to bill him as it should. Both parties will now attempt to re-dress this situation in a grown up way. There will no question of write off or back billing codes.

Quote A sole trader wouldn't make such a stupid mistake, they actually pay attention to their dealings. Unquote. Sadly, not always. I have just had a DD payment taken twice by a small local company that looks after my heating. I rang them up and they apologised. That's life.

EnglishMohican

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

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.

Nothing like making up a story to suit yourself. Nowhere is a DD halving mentioned except by you. Indeed, the OP says the reduction in the dd was not huge, probably because extra heating was needed for the new born. I suppose he should have assessed the extra heat used, allowed for the weather conditions and the thermal conductivity of his walls and built that into his calculations.

And nowhere has the OP sugggested he will not pay for the goods he received. He is wondering if he can find some way of reducing the impact of a large, unexpected bill.

I do not know about the clever but sanctamonious - yes I can agree with you about that.

EnglishMohican

Hengus wrote: »

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.

If I give the correct meter readings to an energy company, they tell me how much money they want and I pay them that money I think I have completed my part of the contract. I should not need to check that the gas I receive has the calorific value they say it has or that their meter is measuring the right amount or that their calculation of the amount to pay is correct.

Nobody is asking EON to write off £1200 and the £600 has been admitted to be tongue in cheek - but do not let the facts spoil your view of life.

So far, EON have behaved unreasonably by billing for what for normal people is a huge sum of money at one go when it is totally their fault that the error occurred. If they had done their sums properly, the OP would have paid the money as he went along. He would also have had the opportunity to reduce his usage to fit his means if that was necessary. EON have robbed him of that opportunity.

We should be able to expect competence from the likes of EON and when they do make a mistake, they should show considerable understanding of the problems their mistake has caused - a good deal more understanding than some people on here show.

Now - where is my calorific value measuring kit?

System

EnglishMohican wrote: »

We should be able to expect competence from the likes of EON and when they do make a mistake, they should show considerable understanding of the problems their mistake has caused - a good deal more understanding than some people on here show.

I hold no brief for E.oN but their posts on this site seem to me, at least, to be more helpful than most. They are offering to give the OP time to pay and no doubt he will get something for his trouble. I am not entirely sure what more they could reasonably do. The fact that you and others chose to blame the energy company - which is tantamount to saying that the customer is entirely without any blame - is, in my view, just plain wrong. I will leave it there.

IainRW

Just to clarify, from my own point of view, I never expected EON to write off the entire bill. That total also includes the usual quarterly gas component which I'm obviously happy to pay, and 13 months of outstanding electricty which I'm not so happy about.

There's also an amassed DD credit in my account which will cover the gas component as well as a bit of the electricty, another reason I never noticed particularly as the original DD was only marginally lower than the previous provider, it has however has subsequent lowerings by EON due to the amassed credit, which of course hasn't helped this final bill!

My original post was to ask for advice from anyone who has experience with these things as to what I'm likely to expect from EON and what I'm legally obliged to do. I have to admit, I've never had an issue with a large company NOT billing me enough before!

Thanks to those who replied with advice, like I say, I'll be sure and let you know what EON do say when they come back to me.

Cheers.

Iain.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Morning guys,

I'm sorry I haven't been back on, whilst you've been discussing.

Thank you IainRW for the extra info and please do update, but also let me know if I can help you.

Helena

IainRW

Hi Helena, not sure if you're still watching this thread but I'm hoping you may indeed be able to help.

I received a letter from EON saying they were increasing my DD by over £100 per month as a I had a large outstanding bill. I called them, tried to explain the situation that our account is currently under review because of their billing error and the girl just told me I had a bill due and asked for the meter readings!

After a bit more explaining (and a lot of on hold) I finally managed to get the message across. I was told there would be no increase in DD and it was a mistake, we wouldn't get anything else until the review was complete.

I've now just received my next bill from EON! It still has the £800 outstanding (the £1200 minus the amassed DD) and I'm now getting really worried that they're either going to try and take the whole lot from my account or just increase the DD like the previous letter said.

I'm planning on calling them back again tomorrow but was wondering if you could advise in advance the best department to ask for or best approach to try and ensure they are actually investigating this and I won't be billed unexpectedly?

Thanks in advance.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Morning IainRW,

I'm still here

The best thing to do is to make sure a complaint is raised, you'll then have one person dealing with the account and a point of contact.

They'll be the ones to investigate the account and come to a resolution about how much the Direct Debit will be.

Have your up to date meter readings handy and have a look online to make sure you're on the best tariff, this is to make sure everything can be right up to date.

Let me know.

Helena

IainRW

Just got a call back from EON. Their offer is this:


- Not bill me for anything prior to Jan 14, which I'm pretty sure they can't anyway
- £15 compensation


That's it.


I told the guy that didn't even come close to making up for the time I've spent on this so far, he told me pretty abruptly that was all they could offer and if I wasn't happy with what he was saying take it to the ombudsman!


That has to be the second worst case of customer service I've ever come across!