E.ON Saver Fixed 1 Year v8

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

gsmlnx wrote: »

@picks
Your current tariff details can be found by
1. Login to your account at the the EON website
2. Click on the tariff shown under "Your Current Tariffs"
3. Click on "Show unit rates and exact discounts"

Spot on gsmlnx. Thanks for that.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

gsmlnx wrote: »

@picks
The "savings" will no doubt be based on the OFGEM method of calculating the next 12 months bill by using the months left on of the current fixed term plus the Standard Variable Rate for the remainder of the year. Then compared to the 12 months at the suggested tariff giving a saving as the Standard Variable Rate skews the results.
This is the way the regulator demands companies calculate savings which only really works reliably for those already on the Standard Variable Rate.

I know what you mean gsmlnx but I think picks is looking at something else. Not sure though.

You're talking about Personal Projections I believe. These are used to give customers an idea of how much their energy will cost over the next 12 months. These consider everything we know at the time such as when a tariff ends or, where applicable, an impending price increase. You're right, this calculation will be based on how long is left on the current tariff with the remainder at our Energy Plan prices as this is what customers automatically go on at the end of fixed tariffs if they do nothing as their current deal comes to an end. Personal Projections appear on bills, annual summaries and renewal notices.

The website quote picks has done works out the usage over a full 12 months based on the prices specific to the tariff in question, discounts, payment adjustments and past usage. Energy Plan doesn't come into this calculation.

Similarly, the advisor would've been looking at the costs of one tariff only. Differences here would be from the use of varying data. Although, you've made me think, tariff renewals/quotes/sales are looked after by ring fenced teams with special access. If picks was talking to a general advisor they may well have been using a Personal Projection. If they were, then a different figure would be very likely as you suggest.

Picks - what area of the business did you speak to? If it wasn't the ring fenced team above, might be useful to have a chat with them. Details are in the 'contact us' section of the website. Please ignore if this was the area you were speaking to.

As I say, I'm guessing a lot gsmlnx and could be barking up the wrong tree.

Malc

[Deleted User]

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Picks - what area of the business did you speak to? If it wasn't the ring fenced team above, might be useful to have a chat with them. Details are in the 'contact us' section of the website. Please ignore if this was the area you were speaking to.

I spoke to the "switching team". What I mean by that is I called the general E.ON number and, after going through to a "press button n for ..." choice, I presseed the key for "If you're considering switching to a new tariff" (or something like that). One practical problem I've found lately with calling E.ON is that I always get an all of our advisers are inundated with calls so please go to the website instead messages. These messages recently have continued for about at least 15 minutes before I ever get through to any form of a live person. Having spoken to a manager about this recently, they tell me that, because their call centre reps are now totally overwhelmed with customer enquiries, after a period of keeping callers waiting, the E.ON "smart" phone system often puts customers through to a totally different department in desperation of find any live person. For example, last week I dialled the unique number E.ON given for smart metering customers. After about 20 minutes my call got answered by a rep. It then took me several minutes to hear him say he knew absolutely nothing about smart metering. He proceeded to tell me he was in a totally unrelated department and I should put down the phone and re-dial the smart metering team direct. I then told him that was the exact number I had called so clearly I was an "overflow" caller and it took him a further 10 minutes to get me through to someone in the team I had been trying to speak to.

I think you have to understand Malc that, as a customer, if I'm kept hanging about for up to half an hour or so trying to get through to an appropriate live person, after waiting that long I'm pretty much worn out. I've got other things to do in my day and sometimes it gets difficult to continue a coherent conversation when I have other matters to attend to and too tired to take it all in. I believe E.ON is one of the largest (if not the largest) energy supplier in the world. Why do they find it impossible to have an adequate number of call centre staff to answer the phone in reasonable time?

Back to your question, and the bottom line is, today I specifically chose to speak to someone in the thinking of changing energy tariff team. However given the total phone chaos E.ON seems to be in these days, for all I know the system might have put me through to someone in the dining room making sandwiches. With pretty much any other company I deal with I would have happily followed your suggestion to call again to make sure I've fully understood my tariff switching options. My fear is that another 30+ minute call might put me through to, say, someone in the debt chasing department as being the only live person available at E.ON to answer a customer call.

If been a customer of E.ON (and it's predecessor Powergen) continuously since around 1990 and, until the beginning of this year, considered myself a fully satisfied customer. Now I'm wondering if there's any UK energy company more difficult to talk to by telephone.

prixon

Well, I dunno about the EON quote thing but I simply looked at the published tariff details and for me the v7 cost (in London) was 3.494/kWh + 21.903/d SC for gas and 13.377/kWh + 16.422/d SC for electric. The new v8 cost is 3.301/kWh + 21.903/d SC for gas and 12.611/kWh + 16.422/d SC for electric. So, as far as I can see that is definitely cheaper :-)

nicobrum

Just shows the differences over the country, I live in Birmingham. The standing charges are the same as for prixon but v7 was 3.038/kWh for gas and 13.388/kWh for electricity but v8 is 3.302/kWh for gas and 13.262/kWh for electricity. The slight reduction in electricity doesn't cover the increase in gas prices even on Eon's own website where I have a problem with comparing because for 9 months last year I didn't have a working boiler so its skewed towards electricity. I have been using the CEC comparison and my 2014/15 annual kWh figures which were the highest of the two years leading up to when the boiler died. Eon's site says it would be £2.76 per year more expensive moving to v8 from v7, CEC says based on the 2014/15 figures it would be £19 per year more expensive. So I shall be staying with v7.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Deleted_User wrote: »

I spoke to the "switching team". What I mean by that is I called the general E.ON number and, after going through to a "press button n for ..." choice, I presseed the key for "If you're considering switching to a new tariff" (or something like that). One practical problem I've found lately with calling E.ON is that I always get an all of our advisers are inundated with calls so please go to the website instead messages. These messages recently have continued for about at least 15 minutes before I ever get through to any form of a live person. Having spoken to a manager about this recently, they tell me that, because their call centre reps are now totally overwhelmed with customer enquiries, after a period of keeping callers waiting, the E.ON "smart" phone system often puts customers through to a totally different department in desperation of find any live person. For example, last week I dialled the unique number E.ON given for smart metering customers. After about 20 minutes my call got answered by a rep. It then took me several minutes to hear him say he knew absolutely nothing about smart metering. He proceeded to tell me he was in a totally unrelated department and I should put down the phone and re-dial the smart metering team direct. I then told him that was the exact number I had called so clearly I was an "overflow" caller and it took him a further 10 minutes to get me through to someone in the team I had been trying to speak to.

I think you have to understand Malc that, as a customer, if I'm kept hanging about for up to half an hour or so trying to get through to an appropriate live person, after waiting that long I'm pretty much worn out. I've got other things to do in my day and sometimes it gets difficult to continue a coherent conversation when I have other matters to attend to and too tired to take it all in. I believe E.ON is one of the largest (if not the largest) energy supplier in the world. Why do they find it impossible to have an adequate number of call centre staff to answer the phone in reasonable time?

Back to your question, and the bottom line is, today I specifically chose to speak to someone in the thinking of changing energy tariff team. However given the total phone chaos E.ON seems to be in these days, for all I know the system might have put me through to someone in the dining room making sandwiches. With pretty much any other company I deal with I would have happily followed your suggestion to call again to make sure I've fully understood my tariff switching options. My fear is that another 30+ minute call might put me through to, say, someone in the debt chasing department as being the only live person available at E.ON to answer a customer call.

If been a customer of E.ON (and it's predecessor Powergen) continuously since around 1990 and, until the beginning of this year, considered myself a fully satisfied customer. Now I'm wondering if there's any UK energy company more difficult to talk to by telephone.

Fully take these very valid points on board picks and sorry for the inconvenience we've caused. I've replied to a similar post from you on another thread. It's at the link below (post #932).

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72351602#Comment_72351602

As I say in this other post, no excuses. We need to do better.

Hope my replies on this thread have been useful and helped you find details of the tariffs you were looking for.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

prixon wrote: »

Well, I dunno about the EON quote thing but I simply looked at the published tariff details and for me the v7 cost (in London) was 3.494/kWh + 21.903/d SC for gas and 13.377/kWh + 16.422/d SC for electric. The new v8 cost is 3.301/kWh + 21.903/d SC for gas and 12.611/kWh + 16.422/d SC for electric. So, as far as I can see that is definitely cheaper :-)

You're right prixon. In your area, version 8 is cheaper than version 7 for both fuels. As you've done, it's good to look at the individual rates as, like all our fixed tariffs, these prices won't change for the duration of the contract. It's a little trickier when one rate goes up and the other goes down. In these cases, the usage in kWh will help comparisons. Even though this will be based on past usage, it'll give a good indication of the cheaper option.

If you've an online account, you can see the usage our website quotes are based on at the top of the quote screen. In turn, this data can be used when using the independent comparison sites.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

nicobrum wrote: »

Just shows the differences over the country, I live in Birmingham. The standing charges are the same as for prixon but v7 was 3.038/kWh for gas and 13.388/kWh for electricity but v8 is 3.302/kWh for gas and 13.262/kWh for electricity. The slight reduction in electricity doesn't cover the increase in gas prices even on Eon's own website where I have a problem with comparing because for 9 months last year I didn't have a working boiler so its skewed towards electricity. I have been using the CEC comparison and my 2014/15 annual kWh figures which were the highest of the two years leading up to when the boiler died. Eon's site says it would be £2.76 per year more expensive moving to v8 from v7, CEC says based on the 2014/15 figures it would be £19 per year more expensive. So I shall be staying with v7.

Hello nicobrum and welcome to the Forums.

Whilst our daily standing charges are the same all over the country (the only change is if paying with a Monthly Direct Debit); energy prices differ regionally.

As you say, in your area, the gas rate is lower than version 7 but the electricity price is higher. As above, this makes comparisons a little trickier. Here, inputting usage in kWh will help when comparing tariffs both through our website and when using the independent comparison sites.

I understand what you're saying about the usage being skewed due to a faulty boiler. Going forward, regular meter readings will help bring this back in line. Not immediately, I know, but the usage figures on the website are updated regularly to better reflect more recent past usage.

Malc

[Deleted User]

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hope my replies on this thread have been useful and helped you find details of the tariffs you were looking for.

Unfortunately I've been delayed taking an informed decision on possible tariff change because:
E.ON changed both my meters about a month ago. Unfortunately someone in the back office "forgot" to update my billing record with my new gas meter. Consequently subsequent bills sent to me showed only electricity being used by me and zero gas (the reading on my old meter hadn't moved. I'd hate to think what would have happened E.ON had installed it at another customer - presumably I'd have been charged for their gas usage!). It's taken me 4 phonecalls over the last month to get them to finally update my billing record with the new gas meter. My apparently using zero gas for a month got in the way of my attempt to compare tariffs.

Having finally sorted that, the comparison is complicated because the v8 electricity is dearer per unit than v6 but the gas is cheaper per unit. I don't recall this situation before when considering a tariff change.

nicobrum

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

I understand what you're saying about the usage being skewed due to a faulty boiler. Going forward, regular meter readings will help bring this back in line. Not immediately, I know, but the usage figures on the website are updated regularly to better reflect more recent past usage.

Malc

Thanks Malc, I suspect unfortunately the skewed usage will remain until after the beginning of January next year (albeit at a lower level as after the beginning of May the higher electricity usage from the middle of March 2016 will drop off) because of the increased electricity usage from last October until the beginning of January. That said, I've always found customer services helpful in situations like this so should hopefully be able to avoid an ongoing inflated DD until then.

The only issue I have had recently relates to the fact that as a result of adding meter readings on the 24 March, my account now states it is undertaking the annual review which is not actually due until the 8 May. Seems strange as the meter readings for the quarterly bill for then aren't needed until the 24 April. I'm sure I've seen at least one post about this previously on the forum. Not a major issue as CS advised that the DD could remain the same in the circumstances for the remaining two DD before that date. I was advised it would probably be best not to add any more meter readings until after the DD is taken at the beginning of May to avoid May's DD being possibly increased when not needed.