Eon didn't notify me. What can I do?

rmanphillips

Hi All. First time poster here.

I have an issue with Eon that I hope some of you can advise on before I go off yelling at them over the phone.
I have been getting bills from eon that have been very high. I have been assuming it is a fault with the meter. Unfortunately my finances are not so good at the moment and could not afford to pay the bill in full.
Eon keep sending people round to hand deliver letters demanding payment. So I phone the guy who delivers the letter. Its always one of 2 guys, Shaun or Andy. They must have delivered 6 or 7 letters now. Each one costing me an extra £65 for the pleasure.
I ask to set up a payment plan to pay off the debt in installments. They always agree, but each time the amount they're willing to accept is getting higher and higher.
When this first started, they told me I was using £20 per week. So I set up an agreement to pay £30 a week. Then they stopped taking the money, When they send Andy around again with another letter, I phoned him again and this time he said we were using £40 a week, So i set up another agreement.
This keeps going on and on. They are now saying I am using over £100 per week on electricity! How is this possible! I turn everything off by the plug when its not in use.

I havent set up a payment plan this time because simply put, I cannot afford it. I sat down with my son the other night and went through our past few bills to see what the usage levels are. We also checked the meter on a Saturday when everyone is home. Were using 1kw per hour.

My son pointed out that they're charging me 20.5p per kw, day and night. It looks like Im not on a contract with them and theyre charging me more.
As far as I knew, I was on a contract with them paying something like 11p per kw. I wasnt informed by them that my contract had been withdrawn or expired, otherwise I would have sorted it then and there.

I now have an electricity bill of £2800 and I cannot afford that or the payment plan.
I have demanded a new meter numerous times in the past, and they never come even though they say Im booked in.
I cant swap to another provider because Im in debt with eon.
All I can think to do is phone up and give them a yelling at. And ask why I was not informed on my contract ending.
I dont even know when it ended. The whole amount could have been accumulated from 20p/kw for all I know. I have paid a lot to them via the payment plan, well over £2000 in the past 2 years. I may even be in credit had my contract not been ended.

Would they be able to backdate my bills to when my contract ended, and set it at my old rate if I complained. And what do I do about this £100 per week usage. Its ridiculous. I dont know what to do.

I hope someone can advise

Thanks

footyguy

rmanphillips wrote: »

Hi All. First time poster here.

I have an issue with Eon that I hope some of you can advise on before I go off yelling at them over the phone.
I have been getting bills from eon that have been very high. I have been assuming it is a fault with the meter. Unfortunately my finances are not so good at the moment and could not afford to pay the bill in full.
Eon keep sending people round to hand deliver letters demanding payment. So I phone the guy who delivers the letter. Its always one of 2 guys, Shaun or Andy. They must have delivered 6 or 7 letters now. Each one costing me an extra £65 for the pleasure.
I ask to set up a payment plan to pay off the debt in installments. They always agree, but each time the amount they're willing to accept is getting higher and higher.
When this first started, they told me I was using £20 per week. So I set up an agreement to pay £30 a week. Then they stopped taking the money, When they send Andy around again with another letter, I phoned him again and this time he said we were using £40 a week, So i set up another agreement.
This keeps going on and on. They are now saying I am using over £100 per week on electricity! How is this possible! I turn everything off by the plug when its not in use.

I havent set up a payment plan this time because simply put, I cannot afford it. I sat down with my son the other night and went through our past few bills to see what the usage levels are. We also checked the meter on a Saturday when everyone is home. Were using 1kw per hour.

My son pointed out that they're charging me 20.5p per kw, day and night. It looks like Im not on a contract with them and theyre charging me more.
As far as I knew, I was on a contract with them paying something like 11p per kw. I wasnt informed by them that my contract had been withdrawn or expired, otherwise I would have sorted it then and there.

I now have an electricity bill of £2800 and I cannot afford that or the payment plan.
I have demanded a new meter numerous times in the past, and they never come even though they say Im booked in.
I cant swap to another provider because Im in debt with eon.
All I can think to do is phone up and give them a yelling at. And ask why I was not informed on my contract ending.
I dont even know when it ended. The whole amount could have been accumulated from 20p/kw for all I know. I have paid a lot to them via the payment plan, well over £2000 in the past 2 years. I may even be in credit had my contract not been ended.

Would they be able to backdate my bills to when my contract ended, and set it at my old rate if I complained. And what do I do about this £100 per week usage. Its ridiculous. I dont know what to do.

I hope someone can advise

Thanks

What is the actual problem?

e.g. do you dispute the bill? If so, why?
or is it you simply claim you cannot afford the bill?

Edit: How does the thread title refer to your problem?
What is it you are alleging Eon haven't informed you of? They've sent you a bill.

rmanphillips

Hi. The problem is Eon didnt inform me when they either withdrew my contract, or my contract expired. They then put me on a non contract tariff that is charging double what I was paying. I didnt realize this and dont know how long I've been on this non contract tariff.
Im just seeing if theres anyone that can advise on what I can do. Should they have informed me? Would they be able to backdate to when my contract tariff was removed and just charge me what I would have been paying if I were still on the contract tariff.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

@rmanphillips

Go to the Citizens Advice Bureau, you need specialist help for this issue and your future money management.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

rmanphillips wrote: »

Hi All. First time poster here.

I have an issue with Eon that I hope some of you can advise on before I go off yelling at them over the phone.
I have been getting bills from eon that have been very high. I have been assuming it is a fault with the meter. Unfortunately my finances are not so good at the moment and could not afford to pay the bill in full.
Eon keep sending people round to hand deliver letters demanding payment. So I phone the guy who delivers the letter. Its always one of 2 guys, Shaun or Andy. They must have delivered 6 or 7 letters now. Each one costing me an extra £65 for the pleasure.
I ask to set up a payment plan to pay off the debt in installments. They always agree, but each time the amount they're willing to accept is getting higher and higher.
When this first started, they told me I was using £20 per week. So I set up an agreement to pay £30 a week. Then they stopped taking the money, When they send Andy around again with another letter, I phoned him again and this time he said we were using £40 a week, So i set up another agreement.
This keeps going on and on. They are now saying I am using over £100 per week on electricity! How is this possible! I turn everything off by the plug when its not in use.

I havent set up a payment plan this time because simply put, I cannot afford it. I sat down with my son the other night and went through our past few bills to see what the usage levels are. We also checked the meter on a Saturday when everyone is home. Were using 1kw per hour.

My son pointed out that they're charging me 20.5p per kw, day and night. It looks like Im not on a contract with them and theyre charging me more.
As far as I knew, I was on a contract with them paying something like 11p per kw. I wasnt informed by them that my contract had been withdrawn or expired, otherwise I would have sorted it then and there.

I now have an electricity bill of £2800 and I cannot afford that or the payment plan.
I have demanded a new meter numerous times in the past, and they never come even though they say Im booked in.
I cant swap to another provider because Im in debt with eon.
All I can think to do is phone up and give them a yelling at. And ask why I was not informed on my contract ending.
I dont even know when it ended. The whole amount could have been accumulated from 20p/kw for all I know. I have paid a lot to them via the payment plan, well over £2000 in the past 2 years. I may even be in credit had my contract not been ended.

Would they be able to backdate my bills to when my contract ended, and set it at my old rate if I complained. And what do I do about this £100 per week usage. Its ridiculous. I dont know what to do.

I hope someone can advise

Thanks

Good morning rmanphillips and welcome to the forums.

Please may I just ask as you refer to contracts and rates, is this a business? Or a normal domestic account?

I do suspect it's for a domestic residence but just wanted to check.

It may be that you have previously been on a heavily discounted tariff and now you're on our standard tariff so this would make a difference to your unit prices.

If you have an online account it would have been advised on there that your tariff was coming to an end and what to do to pick a new one (you can pick a new tariff even now, it's on the website)

If you don't have an online account you should have received the information on or with your bill.

The tariff you're on and the prices you pay are also on every bill.

The reason the payment amount keeps going up is because the debt keeps increasing and the payments need to cover the ongoing usage and the balance.

Is the £100 per week usage or does this include paying off the balance over a number of months also?

I'd also suggest taking some regular readings, this helps you keep track of where the energy is used and making sure everything is kept up to date. Is the account currently billed to accurate reads?

It may be an idea to consider a pre-payment meter, it does sound like the debt collection process is getting quite far along as you're having hand delivered letters, so it may be best to arrange the meters as this way you'll be able to top up for your usage and the debt can be applied to the meter and you can pay this off at lower weekly amount and make this much more manageable for you.

It would be better to try and get something in place sooner to try and bring this to a resolution.

We do have a department that arrange the credit to pre-payment exchange for you and I'm happy to help get you in contact with them.

Thank you

Helena

[Deleted User]

OP here is my advice to you. You will be shortly getting a prepayment meter installed . Please do not object to it or make it difficult for Eon to install it because all the extra costs will simply be added to the large debt you have incurred anyway. The amount you are in arrears suggests that Eon will be setting the meter to recoup your debt at the maximum weekly amount of £16. 50 a week. Possibly you can haggle that down to at the most £10 a week.
Smart meters do make sense and here is a prime example.

Autumnella

Firstly, no you should not call up and shout at them!!... And am I right in assuming by what you say that you have never actually called EON up to sort this out but instead waited for them to come to you at a charge each time?

Secondly, you need to look into why your consumption is so high. It's very unlikely that your meter is faulty and if you really think this you should have queried this and still made payments towards usage which you will have used. Do you have an immersion heater? If so, don't leave this switched on constantly, and look into the most economical method of using your electric heating, check the manual to make sure you're using this correctly (assuming you don't have a gas supply as this has not been mentioned). Call up your supplier and ask for an energy efficiency pack or look online. It's most likely your heating which is the reason your usage is so high, unless you have a pond pump, aquarium or any other non-standard electrical items?

You will have been notified your tariff was coming to an end, as EON advisor has said, probably on your bills. Call up now and switch to a cheaper tariff.

You say they stopped taking your agreed weekly payment amount. Was there a direct debit set up? Could this have been cancelled by your bank if you didn't have enough funds to pay one week?

As what Sacsquacco has said, you may be better off on a prepayment meter if you struggle to budget. However, you need to look into reducing your consumption as a priority or you will end up sitting without power a lot if one is installed.

undaunted

You say that you believe that your meter may be faulty. Do you have good reason to believe this - EG that you do not believe that you use 1kw per hour / are being charged at that rate for more hours than you are actually consuming it?


If so you are entitled to have the meter tested. Your bill would have to be re adjusted if it were indeed found to be faulty. You may however equally be charged if it is found accurate.


You may therefore like to think about what you are using and for how long it is on before making this decision - do you for example have immersion heaters, electric fires, under floor or other electric heating on constantly?


If you think that you actually do use 1kw per hour 16 hours per day for example and your unit rate is 20.5p then you would be using £98 per month plus need to pay an amount of the debt - £100 p/w may however not be a realistic rate for you to pay despite the level of debt.


Are you on any benefits? If so then I would suggest Fuel Direct (which will always provide you with a supply) might be a better means of payment for you than a prepayment meter (when you will find yourself without power if you have no money) & payments would be deducted at a far lower rate than is currently the case - about £3.70 p/w plus your future consumption. For information see https://www.gov.uk/bills-benefits


As suggested above however, given your apparent desperation I too would suggest that you may benefit from a visit to the local CAB, or contacting some other suitable debt adviser such as http://www.stepchange.org/ (who you may also get initial advice from on here). They will be able to advise on your entire financial position and perhaps negotiate other realistic (eg to repay the £2800 over the same period it has accrued in?) payment options, suggest means of help - eg help with preparing an application to a help fund such as https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/help-and-support/energy-fund


Good luck