EON suddenly increasing direct debits

HammersmithJack

I have oil heating so have used EON for electricity only for 5 years, updated my tariff annually and in general paid a DD about £50-60 pm during this time which has always cleared by annual needs. After being pursued by them I installed a smart meter about 3 months ago about the same time as I updated my tariff which seemed no more expensive so even after the winter I now have a surplus of £40 and there have been no changes in domestic pattern. Today they told me they are increasing my DD to £80 even as we move into the spring. I find this puzzling and wonder whether any other forum members are experiencing anything similar? Could it be smart meter related or just a scheme to squeeze customers for credit at these distracting times as I find it hard to believe my bill should have increased by 30%+

Biscuit_Tin

HammersmithJack said:

I have oil heating so have used EON for electricity only for 5 years, updated my tariff annually and in general paid a DD about £50-60 pm during this time which has always cleared by annual needs. After being pursued by them I installed a smart meter about 3 months ago about the same time as I updated my tariff which seemed no more expensive so even after the winter I now have a surplus of £40 and there have been no changes in domestic pattern. Today they told me they are increasing my DD to £80 even as we move into the spring. I find this puzzling and wonder whether any other forum members are experiencing anything similar? Could it be smart meter related or just a scheme to squeeze customers for credit at these distracting times as I find it hard to believe my bill should have increased by 30%+

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

Robin9

Nothing to do with Smart Meters.
What do you calculate is your  projected annual consumption in kWh 

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

HammersmithJack said:

I have oil heating so have used EON for electricity only for 5 years, updated my tariff annually and in general paid a DD about £50-60 pm during this time which has always cleared by annual needs. After being pursued by them I installed a smart meter about 3 months ago about the same time as I updated my tariff which seemed no more expensive so even after the winter I now have a surplus of £40 and there have been no changes in domestic pattern. Today they told me they are increasing my DD to £80 even as we move into the spring. I find this puzzling and wonder whether any other forum members are experiencing anything similar? Could it be smart meter related or just a scheme to squeeze customers for credit at these distracting times as I find it hard to believe my bill should have increased by 30%+

Hello HammersmithJack and welcome to the Forums.

Monthly Direct Debits are estimates of future usage. They're based on current prices and what's been used previously. A change to either usually triggers a request to amend the monthly payments as we aim to achieve as close as possible to a zero balance by the annual review.

You mention changing tariff. Are the unit prices per kWh and daily standing charges higher than before? If they are, this will have had an impact. Also, before the smart meter was fitted, were some previous bills based on estimated meter readings? If yes, it could be previous bills were under-estimated and this has now caught up following an accurate bill.

When working out what we think a customer needs to pay, we look at the Average Daily Consumption (ADC) for a property over the previous 12 months. The more readings we have, the greater the accuracy of the ADC.  As Robin9 says, the smart meter itself won't have led to the increase. What your new meter will do is make sure we receive regular readings (monthly unless you tell us otherwise) so the billing is accurate and estimates of future usage are more on target.

Has your usage changed at all over the past 12 months? You can see a 12 month breakdown of how much you've used through the online 'MiData' tool. Again, the accuracy depends on the number of actual readings logged.

Totally understand, circumstances change and we've an online tool - the Direct Debit Manager - to give you more control over the arrangement. This includes being able to change the monthly payments to better reflect different circumstances. Payments can be changed by up to 20 per cent up or down provided the account is billed to the latest reading; by up to 5 per cent up or down without a reading.

Also understand, the Coronavirus crisis has changed the playing field altogether and some customers will struggle depending on their personal circumstances. If the Direct Debit Manager option above isn't enough, we'll be happy to talk to anyone who needs help.

Can I ask, unless urgent, to wait until we're on the other side of the pandemic please. At the moment, we're concentrating on emergencies and supporting our vulnerable customers. If it doesn't fall into these categories, we would be grateful if contact could be delayed as our own resources are dwindling daily. If it is urgent, please use the Live Chat or Social Media channels (twitter/Facebook) so we can keep the phone lines free for emergencies. At the moment, Live Chatters and twitter/Facebook advisors are available from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 6pm Saturdays.

Hope this is of interest HammersmithJack and many thanks for your understanding. Stay safe.

Malc

matelodave

Somehow it does seem to beyond the wit or intelligence of some energy suppliers to understand that most people use more energy in the winter and less in the summer and if the consumption has been reasonably accurately estimated and worked out on an EAC*/12 basis and then it should balance out at the end of 12 months.

One would have hoped that if you'd been with the same supplier for several years then they would have data to support an accurate estimate rather than a totally random guess.

I used to be with Scottish Power and they tried bouncing the DD up and down every three months until I put a stop to it.

I give my supplier my own estimate (based on 10 years worth of monthly readings) and monitor my consumption to ensure that it's tracking my estimate so I know if I'm on target to balance. Even if I end up a £100 or more in debit at the end of March I know that I'll be using lots less energy than my DD during the next six months so the debit fades away to zero (or usually £20-£30 credit as I do actually over estimate my EAC by 200kwh)

*EAC = Estimated Annual Consumption