Eon back billing

Steviec86

Hi all
I'm wondering if anyone can help me if been a customer of eon for about 5 years now and during that time I have been paying an estimated bill by direct debit every month on time. My partner recently had our 1st child, an got a little concerned with safety for everything so contacted eon to come out an check everything was ok because we had not had anyone come out to see the meter for years.
This is where the trouble started we was then informed by eon we had been under paying on our estimate the whole time an now owe nearly £4000 in backbilling. We have challenged this through their complaints departments saying we have had nobody out to read the meter which is situated inside the house to make sure the bill is correct, to which eon claim they have tried over 20 times to gain access, but never left a note or letter to say they have been (so doubt this is true) or arrange a time with us as we both work over 40 hours a week.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen or could give any help as eon are claiming we dont fall under the back billing code as we have denied them access apparently
Any help or guidance would be much appreciated
Cheers

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Steviec86 wrote: »

Hi all
I'm wondering if anyone can help me if been a customer of eon for about 5 years now and during that time I have been paying an estimated bill by direct debit every month on time. My partner recently had our 1st child, an got a little concerned with safety for everything so contacted eon to come out an check everything was ok because we had not had anyone come out to see the meter for years.
This is where the trouble started we was then informed by eon we had been under paying on our estimate the whole time an now owe nearly £4000 in backbilling. We have challenged this through their complaints departments saying we have had nobody out to read the meter which is situated inside the house to make sure the bill is correct, to which eon claim they have tried over 20 times to gain access, but never left a note or letter to say they have been (so doubt this is true) or arrange a time with us as we both work over 40 hours a week.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen or could give any help as eon are claiming we dont fall under the back billing code as we have denied them access apparently
Any help or guidance would be much appreciated
Cheers

Hello Steviec86 and welcome to the Forums.

That's certainly an enormous sum of money and I can understand why you're asking questions. You're doing the right thing in going down the complaints path. A Complaints Manager will investigate what's happened and offer a resolution. If this isn't acceptable, a separate part of the business will take a second look. They'll either uphold the original resolution or offer an alternative. Should this remain unacceptable, we'll explain how to go to the Energy Ombudsman for an independent assessment. The Ombudsman's decision is binding on us but not on you.

The Billing Code applies in certain circumstances where we've failed to bill accurately. Where we're at fault for a customer not receiving an accurate bill, we won't charge for any unbilled energy used more than 12 months from the point the problem was fixed.

Examples of when the Billing Code wouldn't apply include where we've tried to take meter readings and customers haven't replied to these requests or allowed us access to meters inside their property. From what you say, this appears to be the main reason we're not applying the Billing Code here.

The Complaint Manager will go through your account from the beginning and check all footprints left when we've attempted to contact you about the meter. They'll also check the electronic messages sent to us by the meter readers/operators following any failed visits.

You don't have to take our word. You can ask to see the data we hold for you by raising a Customer Rights request. There's no charge and the Complaint Manager will be able to advise further.

If it turns out there's still money owing, we'll be happy to look at an extended payment arrangement to spread the balance over a more manageable period.

Going forward, we're happy to accept readings from customers and provide several ways to do this including online through our website, phone app, Social Media or Live Chat services. They can also be sent by phone, text, letter or email. The more readings we have, the more accurate accounts are. This helps avoid large catch-ups.

Hope this gives you a few pointers Steviec86.

Malc