EON bill - CRAZY amount

LNB1993

Hi All
I was wondering if anybody has experienced anything similar. PLEASE help if you have...

We moved in to our property February 4th 2020, prior to moving I made sure that I contacted bulb to switch over from my old address to this current new address. Bulb managed to complete the switch over on the 23rd of February meaning that we were with EON for a period of 20 days (Officially had our keys from 3rd Feb) the bill that I have received for those 20 days is £214.31 (CRAZY). If i'm honest I was shocked when the bill came through as it was of such a high amount, we live in a 2 bedroom flat and there is only myself and my partner. We now pay £65 a month with bulb for the exact same property supplying the exact same readings as EON had taken from previous tenants. I have called EON to try and establish exactly why the amount of usage is so high compared to what we now pay with bulb. They have unfortunately been really unhelpful and have given us no other alternative than to pay the amount in full or face debt collection. I have had to pay £135 off of the £214 to save having debt collectors at my door. 
One thing I have done is raised this with bulb for them to dispute with EON which they have said they will process on our behalf. The meter readings themselves do not seem too dissimilar to those that we submit with bulb so not entirely sure why the monetary difference between the two companies is way off. 

I'm not sure if there is anything else I can do in the mean time or who I could contact if thing's do not get disputed, I'm sure everybody can agree that a bill this high for a total of 20 days seems way above the average bill of a property of our size.

Would appreciate any help or advice anybody has.

Thanks

Talldave

Can you provide the meter reading(s) from 4th Feb and 20th Feb?  [You did photograph all meters on moving in day, I hope].

stewie_griffin

To add to what has already been said, do the readings on your e.on bill match the ones you took when you moved in and then switched over to Bulb? If they do then there's not really much you can dispute.

Also the amount you're currently paying to Bulb is irrelevant. What is relevant is how much you're using and how much that is costing you.

Gerry1

Sounds like you've made many or all the classic mistakes !

• Ending up on an expensive deemed tariff because you didn't register with E.On immediately

• Failing to give an opening meter reading, perhaps paying for the previous occupiers' usage

• Failing to understand that previous occupant's usage may be significantly different to yours
• Failing to understand that your previous property's energy efficiently characteristics may be significantly different to those of your new property
  

• Failing to understand how Fixed Direct Debits work

• Thinking in terms of FDD ££ amounts rather than kWh

• Failing to switch to a cheap supplier

That won't be answer that you're hoping for, but these points will need to be addressed if any apply.

Robin9

Please give us the readings from all your Eon and Bulb  bills. Note particularly the letters A (actual), E (estimated), C (consumer)

matelodave

This how it should be done

Read the meter(s) at your old place when you cease to be a tenant/owner (*not necessarily the day your move out) and inform your supplier to formally close the account (take photo's if possible). Then read the meter(s) on the day that you become responsible for the new place (*again not necessarily the day you move in) - take photo's if possible and immediately set up an account with the existing supplier at the new address (you automatically become their customer on a deemed contract when you move in and don't want to end up pay the previous tenant's outstanding arrears).
Once you've done that you are free to start the process of swapping suppliers. Doing anything else will just cause problems for you in the future.

*Note: if there's an overlap when you are still paying for both premises then you are still responsible for the energy and water rates until your tenancy contract ends or starts so make sure your readings are those on the first or last day of your contract.

Get into the habit of sending in readings once a month, checking bills once a month (even if you've got a smart meter) and make sure that the readings and bills are accurate - then most important, download a copy (PDF will do) and save them. The most important bills to save are the ones from your old supplier especially the final one together with proof that you've paid it and the first bill from your new place with your confirmed opening read.

IMO it's worthwhile saving copies of all your bills and readings for several years (just look at the grief that some people experience if a company decided to chase for outstanding bills and you haven't got your own records)

BTW if you check once a month then you find problems a lot quicker than when you only do it once a quarter, six month or never. It's then a lot easier to unravel and sort out