An excess of >700kWh to pay during switch from Eon to Shell - what should I do?

Frostie24928

Hi!

I moved to my current house on the 12th March 2019 and the supplier was with Eon - electric reading on the 12th March 2019 was 5674 when I take the reading from the traditional box meter. There was a Smart Meter but I did not know I could take reading from the Smart Meter.

I switch to Shell on the 31st March 2019 and gave Eon the closing reading of 5792 according to the box meter. So I used a total of 118kWh from 12-31 March 2019.

After moving to Shell, Shell charged me for usage of 164kWh from 1-21 April 2019 according to their estimation. The following month, Shell is charging me according to Smart Meter reading that they obtained without me needing to provide to them the meter reading - it was 991kWh. This is a HUGE amount and I estimated that its an excess of 729kWh.

If the Smart Meter is relatively accurate, my usage shown was:

• March 2019: 195 kWh (118kWh used by me and the rest by previous owner)
• April 2019 : 214 kWh
• May 2019 : 163 kWh
• June 2019 : 169 kWh
• July 2019 : 153 kWh, and so on until this month
• 13 Dec 2019: 102 kWh

I suspected that there was a discrepancy of about 729 kWh between the box reading and the Smart Meter Reading when I was charged for usage of 991kWh for the period of 01-21 April 2019. So in May I looked at the box reading and it seemed that it was reset? However no one came to reset and I thought it cannot be reset remotely? However today when I checked the meter reading in the box, it is 8314 kWh and it is the same reading as shown on the Smart Meter.

Now, my current supplier Shell deducted the extra ~700kWh by readjusting the open reading and changed it from 5794 to 6660kWh and informed Eon the previous supplier. So Eon charged me an extra £158.31 for this difference and now trying to get me pay £158.31. I explained to them what happened and that they should adjust the open reading for the 12th March 2019 accordingly as I only used 118kWh with them (so adjust to 6542kWh), but they refused to do so since they use the box reading I provided for them.

NOW, what do I do with this difference of 729kWh that suddenly appeared? Who pay for this? I have been going back and forth between Eon and Shell and am sick of this. Do I just pay for it in order to save my time getting these two suppliers to make sense? Please help me!

Flt._Lt._Biggles

Frostie24928 wrote: »

Hi!

I moved to my current house on the 12th March 2019 and the supplier was with Eon - electric reading on the 12th March 2019 was 5674 when I take the reading from the traditional box meter. There was a Smart Meter but I did not know I could take reading from the Smart Meter.

I switch to Shell on the 31st March 2019 and gave Eon the closing reading of 5792 according to the box meter. So I used a total of 118kWh from 12-31 March 2019.

After moving to Shell, Shell charged me for usage of 164kWh from 1-21 April 2019 according to their estimation. The following month, Shell is charging me according to Smart Meter reading that they obtained without me needing to provide to them the meter reading - it was 991kWh. This is a HUGE amount and I estimated that its an excess of 729kWh.

If the Smart Meter is relatively accurate, my usage shown was:

• March 2019: 195 kWh (118kWh used by me and the rest by previous owner)
• April 2019 : 214 kWh
• May 2019 : 163 kWh
• June 2019 : 169 kWh
• July 2019 : 153 kWh, and so on until this month
• 13 Dec 2019: 102 kWh

I suspected that there was a discrepancy of about 729 kWh between the box reading and the Smart Meter Reading when I was charged for usage of 991kWh for the period of 01-21 April 2019. So in May I looked at the box reading and it seemed that it was reset? However no one came to reset and I thought it cannot be reset remotely? However today when I checked the meter reading in the box, it is 8314 kWh and it is the same reading as shown on the Smart Meter.

Now, my current supplier Shell deducted the extra ~700kWh by readjusting the open reading and changed it from 5794 to 6660kWh and informed Eon the previous supplier. So Eon charged me an extra £158.31 for this difference and now trying to get me pay £158.31. I explained to them what happened and that they should adjust the open reading for the 12th March 2019 accordingly as I only used 118kWh with them (so adjust to 6542kWh), but they refused to do so since they use the box reading I provided for them.

NOW, what do I do with this difference of 729kWh that suddenly appeared? Who pay for this? I have been going back and forth between Eon and Shell and am sick of this. Do I just pay for it in order to save my time getting these two suppliers to make sense? Please help me!

You can only pay for what you are billed.
If Shell do not want to bill you for it, that's up to them.

Doesn't the £158.31 from Eon cover the 729kWh of which you speak? If so, then you should be paying that, especially as they have billed you for it.

Gerry1

The portable device is the In Home Device (IHD). It's not your Smart Meter: it's only indicative and should not be trusted. Think of it as a glorified shiny toy.

The Smart Meter is the box on the wall and is the only device from which you should take readings. It's quite possible that it's gone dumb and can't send readings to Shell, who will then have to use estimates. You should send manual readings to Shell if their bill readings differ from what the Smart Meter shows you.

However, depending on who installed it, your Smart Meter may not have been able to send readings to E.On so similar issues may also apply there.

The changeover reading is provided by an independent third party and is used by both E.On and Shell to make sure that no energy is billed twice. It doesn't really matter if it's not quite the same as your changeover reading, what you lose on E.On's roundabouts will be offset by what you gain on Shell's swings. If Shell's pence/kWh rate is higher than E.On's you may even gain slightly.

The crucial question is did you register with E.On on 12 March and give E.On the opening reading of 5674kWh? If your opening reading shown on the E.On bill differed by more than 250kWh then you can challenge it because you may have paid for some usage by the previous occupant.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Frostie24928 wrote: »

Hi!

I moved to my current house on the 12th March 2019 and the supplier was with Eon - electric reading on the 12th March 2019 was 5674 when I take the reading from the traditional box meter. There was a Smart Meter but I did not know I could take reading from the Smart Meter.

I switch to Shell on the 31st March 2019 and gave Eon the closing reading of 5792 according to the box meter. So I used a total of 118kWh from 12-31 March 2019.

After moving to Shell, Shell charged me for usage of 164kWh from 1-21 April 2019 according to their estimation. The following month, Shell is charging me according to Smart Meter reading that they obtained without me needing to provide to them the meter reading - it was 991kWh. This is a HUGE amount and I estimated that its an excess of 729kWh.

If the Smart Meter is relatively accurate, my usage shown was:

• March 2019: 195 kWh (118kWh used by me and the rest by previous owner)
• April 2019 : 214 kWh
• May 2019 : 163 kWh
• June 2019 : 169 kWh
• July 2019 : 153 kWh, and so on until this month
• 13 Dec 2019: 102 kWh

I suspected that there was a discrepancy of about 729 kWh between the box reading and the Smart Meter Reading when I was charged for usage of 991kWh for the period of 01-21 April 2019. So in May I looked at the box reading and it seemed that it was reset? However no one came to reset and I thought it cannot be reset remotely? However today when I checked the meter reading in the box, it is 8314 kWh and it is the same reading as shown on the Smart Meter.

Now, my current supplier Shell deducted the extra ~700kWh by readjusting the open reading and changed it from 5794 to 6660kWh and informed Eon the previous supplier. So Eon charged me an extra £158.31 for this difference and now trying to get me pay £158.31. I explained to them what happened and that they should adjust the open reading for the 12th March 2019 accordingly as I only used 118kWh with them (so adjust to 6542kWh), but they refused to do so since they use the box reading I provided for them.

NOW, what do I do with this difference of 729kWh that suddenly appeared? Who pay for this? I have been going back and forth between Eon and Shell and am sick of this. Do I just pay for it in order to save my time getting these two suppliers to make sense? Please help me!

Hello Frostie24928 and welcome to the Forums.

Already some good advice on here - thanks all. The new supplier drives a switch and is responsible for sending their opening meter readings to the losing supplier. The losing supplier uses the same readings to close their account. As Gerry1 says, the readings go through a third party who checks they're in line with past readings held for the property. Sometimes a change is made and both suppliers need to use the amended readings to open/close their respective accounts. This makes sure the same energy is only charged once.

Please make sure our final readings match those used by Shell to open their account.

Opening/closing readings after a change of supplier can be challenged through an industry wide procedure known as an Agreed Reads Dispute (ARD). The two suppliers re-agree the opening/closing readings and re-submit them. The difference needs to be above set thresholds. For electricity this is 250 units. An agreed change usually means paying one supplier less and the other one more.

As Gerry1 asks, did you let us know when you took over responsibility for the house and give us meter readings for that day? If you did, our opening bill should start from this reading. If not, we'll have used an estimate. This will have been based on past usage at the property as this will have been the only information available to us. Should this be the case and you have an actual opening reading, we'll be happy to rebill to this.

Hope this is of interest Frostie24928.

Malc