EON increasing my monthly DD from £51 to £131

jonbey

No idea why - electric use has not changed.


My account balance is £195.74, but I have been paying £51 for a year since I moved into the house, so at most I would guess I was about £16.30 short each month.


How can they increase my DD to £131? And where is the money going to come from?


Any advice on what to do?


UPDATE - email just come in:


We need to increase your fixed monthly Direct Debit
We've reviewed your Direct Debit and you're no longer paying the right amount to cover the electricity you're using. To make sure you keep on track we need to increase it from £51.00 to £131.00. Your new payment amount is effective from 28 September 2018. As long as you don't change how much electricity you use and your prices and any discounts you receive stay the same, you'll continue paying this until we review your payments again at your annual review. Your payment plan Your annual review date
February 2019






How much we think you'll use up to your annual review
£458.56
If the estimated readings on your last statement are different to your own, please give us your readings.




How much you'll pay up to your annual review
£654.30
This includes your current balance of £195.74. If you have a credit balance, this could be less than how much we think you'll use.




Your expected balance at your annual review
£0.00
If your statement dates change, your annual review will be moved to be in line with your new statement date.




According to this, i will be reviewed in February, 5 payment months from now. They want to cover the shortfall of £195 plus £458 (their guess) (458+195/5 = 39) by taking £131 a month ...



So that answers that.



Now I need to find out if £90 is right for my electric use, seems very high.

macman

When did you last submit meter reads? Was your last bill based on actual or estimated readings?
At this time of year your account should be in credit, before going into winter when you may well use up to 80% of your annual total. If it's an all-electric property, then £51 is unfeasibly low-the average would be twice that. So it could just be a catch up bill.
What is your annual kWh usage, and do you have E7 or single rate metering?

Cardew

The Eon explanation is very clear. They estimate by the review date in Feb you will use £458 and clear debt of £195 - total £653 in 5 months.


If you have difficulty paying £131 a month, Eon might allow you to pay back the debt element over a longer period. However the main problem is the £51 you have been paying in is/was inadequate.


Bear in mind until you clear your debt Eon will probably prevent you switching to another company.

jonbey

Thanks.

It's not all electric, have gas heating and hot water.

I have been sending them readings, although they did mention an estimated reading on this bill.

Maybe I was just paying too little - but I have sent them several readings since I moved in August 2017, so a bit dumb of them to just keep billing me the same each month when it was not covering our usage!

I'll send a reading tonight and hope that changes something. Otherwise, my usage is about £90 a month. Is that about normal these day for a 3 bedroom house?

Raxiel

£90 isn't unreasonable after last winter. We've been paying about £70 with usage below the national average. That's split about £30/£40 for electricity and gas.

Robin9

You say you have been providing Eon with meter reads but has Eon been using them. Have a look at your bill and see if the readings have A (Actual), c (Customer) or E (estimated) .

Also check you have been reading correctly - I read mine today and nearly fell into the trap of forgetting there is a decimal point .

Cardew

Raxiel wrote: »

£90 isn't unreasonable after last winter. We've been paying about £70 with usage below the national average. That's split about £30/£40 for electricity and gas.

see above post#4 by OP

It's not all electric, have gas heating and hot water.

Raxiel

Cardew wrote: »

see above post#4 by OP

I saw that, I was assuming the £90 is actually dual fuel, which while on the high side isn't crazy, but I included the split in case I was wrong. If this was just for the electricity with a separate gas tariff elsewhere then yes, something would be wrong because that's astronomical.

macman

Which is why I requested that the OP post their annual kWh usage (on each fuel). £££'s on DD's tell us nothing.

Cardew

Raxiel wrote: »

I saw that, I was assuming the £90 is actually dual fuel, which while on the high side isn't crazy, but I included the split in case I was wrong. If this was just for the electricity with a separate gas tariff elsewhere then yes, something would be wrong because that's astronomical.

I think it is just for electricity. - quotes from the OP:

No idea why - electric use has not changed.


Now I need to find out if £90 is right for my electric use, seems very high.

From Eon email:

We need to increase your fixed monthly Direct Debit
We've reviewed your Direct Debit and you're no longer paying the right amount to cover the electricity you're using.





As long as you don't change how much electricity you use

DisneyB

I had a similar issue with them a few years back and after calling up due to not being able to afford the new amount they wanted to charge, they allowed me to keep my direct debit at a lower amount and pay off the debt separately