E-on are overcharging me!!!

Coreylawd

So basically my girlfriend lived in a private let from Remax agency and was automatically connected to E-on for energy. she was paying between £30-£40 a month for electricity, it was a very small studio flat with the living room and bedroom is the same room and the kitchen attached to the side. there were only technically 2 rooms, the bathroom, and the main room. we got a house together on the 25th of June. I just recently received a letter saying we are due £591!!!! this is impossible!!! the only appliances used were the TV, computer and the washing machine....the oven barely used any at all... this is absolutely ridiculous and honestly can't be afforded! by the end of each month, we have about £100 to spend after bills have been paid, there is no way we can afford repayments. what caused this? can we get a breakdown of the costs? she phoned E-on and they said they would call back but didn't. Even the E-on representative on the phone call was adding up how much we were due and he reached £160.....but then stuttered and reclaimed that we need payment plans to pay up the £590. my girlfriend gets anxious on phonecalls and didn't want to push him for more information.... I've heard a lot about E-on overcharging people and them getting it sorted out. so hopefully we can get this sorted, as we honestly cannot afford it. and bailiffs coming to take mine and her stuff would break my heart.

Robin9

This is a meter reading issue

When you moved in did you ring Eon and give them meter readings or did you rely on an Agency (if so a mistake - never rely on others to do this or to take meter readings)

Unless you made any effort to swop you will be on their Standard (ie expensive) Tariff.

Look at your bill - what does it say for June 25th ? Are the meter readings E for ESTIMATED or A for ACTUAL. ? What does it read now ?

Double check the serial numbers on the bill and the meter.

On face value I think you are paying for your previous occupier.

Get into the habit of reading your meters, keeping your own records and reading (and understanding) your bills.

Smodlet

OP, do you have a smart meter? If so, check with Eon whether they actually receive readings from it as they don't always work. If you do and they can "see" it, just tell them you are happy to prove the date you moved in and should be billed only from that date (for which they should have a reading)

As Robin9 has said, the first thing you do when you move out/in is take a picture of each and every meter. Never, ever rely on anyone else to look after your money or your interests; they almost certainly won't.

Do you have a gas supply? A water meter? Find out today unless you want this problem to increase exponentially.

If you do not have a smart meter, start reading the electric one every day at the same time of day for a week and take pics/make a note of it. After that, read it every week at the same time until a month has elapsed.

Work out how much you have used and how much it costs (we can help with that if required) then take this information to Eon and ask them to work out how much you should have used since the date you moved in and to bill you accordingly.

If they refuse, raise a complaint and make sure you get a reference number. If it is not resolved within eight weeks, take it to the Ombudsman and hope he finds in your favour. This is the only way you might be able to support your case if you are, in fact, being billed for the previous tenant's usage.

Let us hope it does not come to this and a smart meter will sort it all out for you. Please let us know how you get on as your experience could help others in the same situation. Good luck and apologies for the long post.

dogshome

From the post I gather that your GF had this small flat on her own, then she moved out when the two of you moved into a house ?



Is this demand from Eon by way of a 'Final Bill' for the small flat, or is it just an Email/Letter asking for money - If it's either of the latter, ask for a proper bill.


You don't say how long your GF was in the flat, and though £30/£40 a month seems reasonable for a small flat, you make no mention of heating which I guess was all electric, which is expensive and could build up debt over time - So how long was she in the flat?

[Deleted User]

A flat with Eco 7 , even if its small with only one person , can easily use much more than £30 to £40 a month bearing in mind that the daily standing charges will come to around £9 a month alone. Eon usually apply high rates of around 30 p a day.
If the heating is used then you would be underpaying.
Don t forget the very high costs of using an electric shower at 9000 watts an hour in your usage. Electric showers are the highest usage cost appliance, much more than kettles ovens and irons.

Robin9

Smodlet wrote: »

OP, do you have a smart meter? ....................
.

Even if OP does it won't be operating in Smart mode unless it was installed at the request of OP.

I suspect that OP hasn't read his meters; I hope his girlfriend did when she vacated her flat - I suspect that she is in for a shock as £40 is underpaying.

Quite a few questions for the OP to respond to !

Smodlet

Robin9 wrote: »

Even if OP does it won't be operating in Smart mode unless it was installed at the request of OP.

I suspect that OP hasn't read his meters; I hope his girlfriend did when she vacated her flat - I suspect that she is in for a shock as £40 is underpaying.

Quite a few questions for the OP to respond to !

I was grasping at straws... Perhaps, not unlike the OP.

Robin9

Smodlet wrote: »

I was grasping at straws... Perhaps, not unlike the OP.

I think we're all struggling here. The word "due" when he means "owe" doesn't help.

Coreylawd

ok, so i apologize for my use of the word 'Due' never thought once about it. in Scotland that's the word that we use "I'm due the council £50" so apologies for that lol.and we have a collection of the bills that were paid. makes little sense. she only lived there for around 6 months. she didn't know until a couple days ago that it's best to take your own meter readings. Someone from E-on came out in December and took a reading for her, then she paid a much higher bill before they went back to being smaller. we no longer have access to that property, so do you think the agency could have given them a wrong reading? i do however have statements of the bills that got paid and the bills that were owed. this is every bill she has ever had from E-on
October - £0 (just moved in)
November - £21:92
December - £111.68 (from the official E-on meter reading)
January - (Paid decembers bill)
Februrary - £21.80 (this is when it randomly got smaller)
March - £35.65
April - £0 (No Direct Debit on bank statement or Email from E-on)
May - £12.68
June - £591.08 (We moved out)

Gerry1

The OP needs to give far more information but to make it relevant. Is the problem with the old flat (didn't tell E.On she was moving out and didn't give a final reading?) or with the new house (deemed tariff and they didn't give an opening reading)?

Either way, they need to calm down, submit meter readings and get a copy of the relevant energy statements... then shop around for a competitive tariff.

Coreylawd

now what we want to know is how is that possible? including the amount we already paid, in total thats £794.81 in 7 months of living there (moved in late october) how does that add up? everyone i've mentioned it to is totally shocked, my grandad straight up said "dont pay it" obviously he's old school. couple of my friends have been freaking out because they know how serious it can get if you ignore it or dont pay. we want to pay it, we obviously need to...but i want to make sure that it's correct, it honestly doesn't sound correct. she works in retail, at the time was only working a couple hours a day but she also had college, and was there alot. sometimes coming back from the library late at night. this was all before we lived together so she was there alone most of the time unless i came to visit. like i said, the man on the phone who was calculating our cost even made a mistake. twice he failed to add it up apparantly and then immediately changed the subject back over to £591.... as i mentioned above aswell, we only have £100 spare when we are paid because the rest goes to bills, £100 a month is already hard enough to live on. i cannot afford a £50+ a month repayment.