E-On Fixed Bill - Price Doubled?!

countingthepennies395

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice on my E-On fixed contract (gas and electricity).

I have been providing regular readings and have had E-On check my readings twice so far this year. However, when I recently called to change my bank details, I was told that my bill had doubled from £53 a month to over £100 a month. :eek:

We are very aware of energy saving and always switch off lights and sockets. We have our boiler turned off when we are not at home/using hot water. Our house is well-insulated. I'm not sure what more we can do to reduce the cost? I also don't know how a 100% increase in price can be explained.

Any advice? Should I just change provider? Maybe I'm being an absolute plonker.

As I'm writing this, I just got an e-mail from the MSE Energy Saving Club saying I'm paying too much.

Thanks in advance!

Sosumi

What was the duration ('length") of your fix and when does (did?) it expire?

victor2

E.On bills will also show your last 12 month's usage for each utility. Plug those into a comparison site to see what you could be paying.
You can also check online with E.On to see what amount they are suggesting. They do aim for a zero account balance by your annual review. Depending on what time of year that falls, it can be financially in your favour or against you, but not by a huge amount.

Sosumi

It is, moreover, not the regularity of your submitted meter readings that matters, it's the frequency (and accuracy) of them,

Meter readings submitted regularly every eight months, for example, would not help much.

countingthepennies395

Thanks for your replies. I'll have a look at a comparison site.

The contract is for one year, and comes to an end in November.

We have been giving meter readings once a month, at least.

victor2

adele_swinge wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I'll have a look at a comparison site.

The contract is for one year, and comes to an end in November.

We have been giving meter readings once a month, at least.

Be aware that any comparison site using the OFGEM mandated method of calculating "savings" will be grossly misleading. It assumes you do nothing in November and go onto the supplier's standard (most expensive) tariff, then uses that fictitious cost as a basis for the savings calculation.
Ignore "savings" and look at predicted cost for your annual usage in kWh with different suppliers & tariffs.

Sosumi

Submitting meter readings a least once a month is very diligent. :T

What you need to do is log into your account online, click on the toolbar tab "My account", and then have good look around, using the various links displayed in the margin on the left.

Start by submitting a new set of meter readings (today's) and when you do this it should display the true, up-to-date situation (balance) of your account. Print that out and then, on the same page, you'll see (at the top right hand side) an option button to request a new bill. Click on that. E.ON will then email you, usually within a day, a link to view your new, up-to-date bill and will debit that to your account. Your account balance will then tally exactly with the figure on the page you printed out.

Now go to "Billing and Payments". Click on "Download a copy of your bill" (it's on the right hand side of the page, halfway down). Print that out.

Staying on the "Billing and payments" page, now go to "See full payment history". It's at the bottom of the box (second from the left) headed "Last 3 payments". There, finally, you will get to see a list of all your previous bills and payments (Note: you may need to click on "See more" to get the lot). Print that out.

Beneath each bill shown on the page, you will have the option to "Go to bill". Print out every one.

You should now have a complete history of your financial dealings with E.ON and be able to marry it up with your own history of meter readings and your bank account. This will show you what you've actually been consuming, when. and what it cost.

Now go back to "My account" and select, from the list in the margin on the left of the page, "Find our best deal for you". (It's best to right-click to get that one up because it doesn't offer you a way back.) Ignore the three tariffs it offers you (unless you want a good laugh :rotfl:) and, instead, study carefully the bits displayed in white on a black background: "Assumptions about your quote" and "Your current tariff". These two tell you what E.ON thinks you will consume (of each fuel) in a year, how much it will cost on your present tariff and how much that works out at per month. Print that out.

You are now armed with all the information you need to take on E.ON's distinctly fanciful Direct Debit Tool. That weapon will enable you to adjust, yourself, your monthly Direct Debit to a realistic amount.

If you right-clicked to get to "Find our best deal for you" you can now just close it and you'll be back to "My account". If you didn't, you'll have to navigate back to it, instead.

You deserve a mug of coffee after all that. So make yourself one and psych yourself up to enter the fantasy land of E.ON's virtual "energy overview".

:coffee:

From "My account" right-click on the innocently labelled link "Direct Debit" (in the margin on the left). Then, brace yourself and click on "See your energy overview", dismiss the window headed "Recalculating" and displayed before you will then be a dream world of which Stephen Spielberg would be proud.

You only need to glance at the comparative height of the tower marked "Feb 17" to realise that it has problems.

But, do not be deterred: salvation is just one step away. Click on the button marked "Adjust your Direct Debit". Dismiss the next window that pops up and you'll find yourself confronted, in all its glory, with the strategic nuclear device (Atfternoon, GCHQ. :wave: ) for which you have been yearning.

Use the + and – buttons to set the Direct Debit to the figure that you, yourself, have calculated to be correct and confirm your decision.

You should get an email from E.ON's electronic Aladdin to say that it will obey.


Since we're now in mid-August it would probably be most economical to wait until seven weeks (49 days exactly) before your existing fix is sue to expire before you make any move to switch away from E.ON if that is what you decide to do. You will otherwise have to pay E.ON £60 in Early Exit Fees.

Hope this helps you – and anyone else in the same pickle.

Shame you didn't hop on to one of Energy Helpline's E.ON collective fixes, without penalty, last month, at pre Referendum tariffs, before BoJo ignited the afterburner on rising energy prices. But, what's gone is gone, for those who didn't.

Biggles

One of the disadvantages of the trend toward 12-month fixed price contracts is that, if the company decides you have been underpaying, they need to recover the underspend by the twelfth payment.

In your case, it was originally estimated that you would use £636-worth of energy over the year (£53 * 12). Eon are apparently now estimating that you will use £777 (£53 * 9 + £100 * 3), an additional £141. So you appear to be using 22% more energy, rather than double, but they only have another three months to collect the difference.

Your best bet will be to bite the bullet for the Sep and Oct DDs but look to compare and maybe switch after 12 Oct (to avoid the early exit charge, if there is one on this tariff).

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Good morning adele_swinge,

I'm not sure I can add much more to what the others have said really especially Sosumi so thank you very much for your detailed post

It's so good that you've been entering your meter readings and it sounds like you're on the ball with your energy saving.

Have we been billing to your meter reads? Has the account been falling in to a debit balance at each bill?

If the account has been building a debit, it means that the payments aren't quite enough to cover your usage and the reason the payments need to increase. As Sosumi says you can get the usage from your online account in kWh and £ spend, it's also shown on the MiData tab online.

If this is the case then the increase in payments will be to cover the usage and the balance, so when the balance is clear it can be re-calculated.

Let me know if you need me, always happy to help.

Helena:)

victor2

adele_swinge wrote: »

...
Any advice? Should I just change provider? Maybe I'm being an absolute plonker.
...

As you can see above, E.On are pretty active on here and generally provide very good customer services, even if their tariffs are not the most competitive.
Something to consider if you look at switching away - is paying a little extra worth it?
BTW, I'm an ex-eon customer - switched away for a better price!

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

victor2 wrote: »

As you can see above, E.On are pretty active on here and generally provide very good customer services, even if their tariffs are not the most competitive.
Something to consider if you look at switching away - is paying a little extra worth it?
BTW, I'm an ex-eon customer - switched away for a better price!

Morning victor2

Thank you

Malc and I do try our very best to help as much as we can and give clear information.

We're grateful to other posters also, like yourself, as you really help us.

Thanks again

Helena