Eon Direct Debit Manager - Question to Eon Rep

[Deleted User]

Can the Eon rep please explain why I cannot alter my direct debit on-line but have to wait until after the 23th February (1 yr anniversary date) which is still some 7 weeks away?

It seems a bit ridiculous to lock out functionality for such a long time. My account is in credit and the DD has remained at the initial figure even though I have changed to a cheaper Eon tariff during the year which was £60 cheaper pa than the initial Eon tariff?

jrio

I'm not the Eon Rep but I can tell you why they do it, which you probably knew: They want to hang on to your money. They want to owe you money and not the other way round

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

gsmlnx wrote: »

Can the Eon rep please explain why I cannot alter my direct debit on-line but have to wait until after the 23th February (1 yr anniversary date) which is still some 7 weeks away?

It seems a bit ridiculous to lock out functionality for such a long time. My account is in credit and the DD has remained at the initial figure even though I have changed to a cheaper Eon tariff during the year which was £60 cheaper pa than the initial Eon tariff?

Hi gsmlnx

When there are two payments or less left until the annual review, we lock the Direct Debit Manager down. This is to stop too many changes before the review as we've found this can have an impact on the amount set for the next 12 months. The aim is to keep payments as smooth as possible throughout the year and changes in the two months before the review often cause disruptions further down the line.

This is a general rule to help us keep customers on track for as near as possible to a zero balance by the annual review and to try to keep anomalies to a minimum. Fully appreciate individual circumstances may be different and this block can be overridden by talking to one of our advisors. If you let them have up to date meter readings they'll bill up to date and refund any credit balance at this point. Alternatively, if you wait until the annual review, any credit over a fiver will automatically be refunded. Provided, that is, we've had accurate meter readings within the last 6 months.

Hope this explains gsmlnx.

Malc

[Deleted User]

Thank you Malc for replying. So 2 payment or less means nearly 3 months during which it is locked so 24.999% of a year. Wow that is shocking but not of your making I know.

I will phone as I'm in credit by 2 months DD's as it stands.

[Deleted User]

@Eon Rep

Well I did phone in and really had to twist the person's arm to get my account DD and credit balance sorted out.

1. When she said I could have my credit back, she said the DD would go up by 21% !
2. When I explained that I had swapped to a cheaper tariff and my DD was still set for the higher level, it made no impacted.
3, When I gave her my yearly usage to date, with the actual costs, no impact.
4. When I asked given I had calculated the cost based on my real yearly usage, the current tariff and I was in credit, why was I going to have to increase an already too high DD ?
5. The answer was to go to quarter billing and pay that bill when I get it. Also she said that my electric usage would increase.
6. I pointed out that the peak demand is nearly over and would decrease now for the next 8 months. Also that last month I added to the credit balance even though December is the biggest use month due to the long break and every one at home.
7. My reply was no, for all the reason in 4 and 6 which I outlined again plus I didn't want to go to quarter payment.
8. My offer was set the DD to match my real usage (rounded up to the pound) and get my credit refunded. Also I was only going to calculate on the basis hat I would not move to your standard tariff when the fix ends in September but would move to the best deal in the market.
9.Reluctantly accepted by the operator.

If I had not been up to arguing, and didn't have all the facts to hand, you can see I wouldn't have got the correct result. Indeed it would have been worse for me with 21% more money leaving my bank and just building up as credit in your company's coffers.

Sorry Malc, but this has cheesed me off. Not a great start to the day and you can see why most people will not argue with energy companies when they have to tell them how to calculate costs correctly

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi gsmlnx

I'm sorry you had a struggle when you phoned but glad it was sorted.

The advice given is an example of the type of anomaly I mentioned in my previous post. Payment arrangements are designed to run over a full 12 month period. The aim is to achieve as near as possible to a zero balance by the time of the annual review. Taking a refund part way through leads to a re-calculation of the monthly payments to try to achieve the zero balance. As you only had a couple of months to run, the new amount would look to cover expected usage up to this point but would be based on the annual total divided by 12 and then spread over 2 months.

Payment arrangements aim to spread the costs as evenly as possible over the 12 months. This results in credit building up over the summer ready for higher winter bills. Taking the credit early leads to a re-calculation as above. Come the annual review, the payments would be looked at again and a new amount proposed more in line with what you were expecting.

Sorry again it was a bit of a struggle but advisors do need to make customers aware of the possible consequences of various actions. You're right, a lot of people aren't as clued up as you and there are many examples where customers take refunds early and then complain when their accounts run into arrears. Wherever possible, advisors also need to offer alternatives and, I suspect, this is what the suggestion to go to quarterly billing was about.

At the end of the day, provided accounts are billed up to the latest meter readings, customers are definitely entitled to the credit back. This is regardless of how many months are left before the annual review and I'm pleased this was done.

Hope this explains.

Malc

[Deleted User]

@malc

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I know that taking credit back in say the summer can generally be bad, as that is just building up for the winter months when fuel use increases.

E.on just supply my electricity (gas for water and heating is elsewhere) and in December my credit balance increased due to the badly calculated DD and the fact that when I switched to the Collective tariff in September, E.on did not decrease my DD when the computer knew that I had moved onto a tariff which was 17% cheaper.

The little issue that I was in credit on Jan 1st and that I had had 10.25 months electricity paid for with E.on only taking 9 DD payments did , to me, highlight that the DD was too high.

Anyway it has been sorted now.