EON refuses my meter readings. They told me that my meter readings were too low. What can I do?

Gerry1

stepheye said:

Indeed, so why did EON not do so when I phoned three different call centre operatives? I can only assume that they have been asked not to.

It's probably not a conspiracy. just a mess up because The Computer Says No.  As you seem to have discovered, if the readings have been transposed the system won't allow the 'correct' readings to be entered because one will seem desperately high and the other one will make the meter seem to be going backwards.  The call centre operators won't have the authority to override the system and will genuinely believe that you are misinformed, they're not trying to scam you.  If this automatic check isn't in place then some very silly statements can be generated !

Have you asked E.On to carry out an internal review of your case, in accordance with their complaints procedure?

stepheye

UPDATE:
Firstly thanks to Gerry1 for the EON freephone telephone number: 0800 051 2193
Secondly, I managed to speak to more knowledgeable EON call centre operator. She told me I have what is known as Economy 7 transposed readings. I need to take photos of the meter readings at least two hours apart and send to myquery@eonenergy.com, with my EON Account number in the email subject line. I will do this later today.
Thirdly, I have arranged for an EON meter reader to visit my home on the 1oth December to confirm my readings and the transposed recordings of my readings which I had given EON.

I am now in the process of trying to work out how much i think I should have been paying if my readings had not been transposed by EON. I suspect that I would have been charged more, as the day rate is the higher cost rate, but EON have attached this to the lower electricity 'used' figure (i.e. the one which actually measures use between 12.30am and 7.30am).

However, given that an EON meter reader physically read my meter in February 2020, and the figures for that meter reading were also transposed on the following EON bill, I think I have an argument that I have been misled and the error is not totally mine if I appear to owe more now.

I am confused looking at the meter readings however if one unit of electricity equals 1kw hour. I appear to be using a lot more than I would have thought: 566 Day units, and 407 Night units over a 35 day period between 20th October 2020 and 25th November 2020. I have a two bedroom house, a partner, and a 17 year old. My partner and I work all day at home on computers now, but our 17 year old goes to college each day from 7am until 4pm, he tends to use a tall fan each night as his room gets stuffy, but other than that I am a bit mystified by our electricity use, especially at night. We did have the central heating on for short periods during those 35 days, but generally just an hour a day (I have a wood burner where I work in the living room so try to use that rather than heating the whole house) . I have applied for tax relief because I would normally be working away from home, but this amounts to six pounds a week, which given the cost of the electricity bills, doesn't help that much. Any thoughts on this would be very helpful! Thankyou.

Talldave

You're using almost 28kWh per day, which is excessive for a house with gas central heating (2-3 times more than reasonable).  Your average is more than 1kW all the time, so it's like you have a 1 bar electric fire on all the time.  Your consumption split doesn't make sense either way around really, because one figure is for 7 hours, the other for 17 hours, and you'd naturally expect a low background night time electricity consumption in a house with gas central heating.

It's time to do some detective work. Get an energy monitor and start turning things off.  But have you got an immersion heater switched on permanently , or a kitchen with 1kW of halogen lighting??  My money's on the immersion heater!

Gerry1

stepheye said:

I am confused looking at the meter readings however if one unit of electricity equals 1kw hour. I appear to be using a lot more than I would have thought: 566 Day units, and 407 Night units over a 35 day period between 20th October 2020 and 25th November 2020.

Yes, one unit on the electricity meter equals 1kWh.  Different for gas because gas meters measure volume, so it has to be number crunched to get kWh.

As you have gas, make sure you're not unwittingly using an immersion heater or any other form of electric room heating.  Make sure you are on E.On's cheapest tariff for your present usage: IIRC you can switch between E.On tariffs without any exit fees.

Update

Seem to be linked to Talldave by telepathy !  Your electricity meter probably has a red LED marked '800 Imp/kWh' or similar.  That means that after 800 flashes (impulses) you've burned 1kWh costing 15p or whatever you're paying.  Having a look at that will give you an idea of how much you are using at any moment, the faster it flashes the more it's costing you.  Start turning things off and you should be able to find the culprits.  If you turn everything off at the consumer unit then it should never flash once.

stepheye

Gerry1 said:

stepheye said:

I am confused looking at the meter readings however if one unit of electricity equals 1kw hour. I appear to be using a lot more than I would have thought: 566 Day units, and 407 Night units over a 35 day period between 20th October 2020 and 25th November 2020.

Yes, one unit on the electricity meter equals 1kWh.  Different for gas because gas meters measure volume, so it has to be number crunched to get kWh.

As you have gas, make sure you're not unwittingly using an immersion heater or any other form of electric room heating.  Make sure you are on E.On's cheapest tariff for your present usage: IIRC you can switch between E.On tariffs without any exit fees.

Update

Seem to be linked to Talldave by telepathy !  Your electricity meter probably has a red LED marked '800 Imp/kWh' or similar.  That means that after 800 flashes (impulses) you've burned 1kWh costing 15p or whatever you're paying.  Having a look at that will give you an idea of how much you are using at any moment, the faster it flashes the more it's costing you.  Start turning things off and you should be able to find the culprits.  If you turn everything off at the consumer unit then it should never flash once.

Thankyou both, good thinking. I will start the detective work later today (have to use my computer during the day! Very strange, the only other thing I can think of is the electric shower (three people each day between 6 and 8am, and occasionally a fourth or fifth time during the day if my partner goes for a long bike ride, and the 17 year old does his home gym workout), and also having three mobile phones and an IPAD on charge during the night hours. I am quite vigilant about turning of flights etc., and I have imposed strict limits on time allowed in the shower though...as they were each in there for about 5-10mins initially this year.... Could this be part of the cause of the higher than expected cost?

Thankyou.

Gerry1

It's madness to use an electric shower (costing £1.50 per hour if it's 10kW and you're paying 15p/kWh) when you could be using hot water heated by gas at around 2.5p/kWh or less.  Rip it out !

Would you fill up at a petrol station charging £6 per litre?

stepheye

Gerry1 said:

It's madness to use an electric shower (costing £1.50 per hour if it's 10kW and you're paying 15p/kWh) when you could be using hot water heated by gas at around 2.5p/kWh or less.  Rip it out !

Would you fill up at a petrol station charging £6 per litre?

Thanks for the advice. I had no idea....So say three showers of 5 mins each would cost £1.89 per hour if it's 10kW and I'm paying 18.89p/kWh...So potentially costing between £2 and £4 a day plus additions such as kettle boiling.... So if I look at it like this, 35 days could cost between £20 and £140 on showers alone? Eek!

Showers feel luxurious, and are a necessity, but at this cost too expensive for indulging in....However, this still doesn't explain the night-time electricity cost... 

Gerry1

Gas hot water is just as luxurious as electric hot water.

Have you checked that the immersion heaters are both switched off?

Your night electricity usage is exactly the national average.

Your 18.89p/kWh is ridiculously expensive.

stepheye

Gerry1 said:

Gas hot water is just as luxurious as electric hot water.

Have you checked that the immersion heaters are both switched off?

Your night electricity usage is exactly the national average.

Your 18.89p/kWh is ridiculously expensive.

Thanks Gerry1, it's the EON Fix online 35 plan, sold to me as being cheaper than the one I was on for two years previously...my naivety/lack of understanding about billing I suspect, but EON weren't exactly being helpful either were they to offer this deal? I think I incur a £30 penalty if I leave early, my fear is that they won't let me leave...this is why I am trying to make sure I don't owe them any money that I don't know about....hence the meter reader coming on the 10th December and alerting EON to their incorrect transposed readings....Before anyone comments that I should have known better, my partner with a PhD in Energy Policy doesn't fully understand how these companies calculate their charges either.....To be fair, he wasn't looking at the aspect of domestic charging, but I really don't think these companies are fair to customers.

I will know how to read a bill, plus meter, in future thanks to this Forum, in fact it would be great for the Forum to provide you tube style short videos on how to understand energy bills, as the explanations on the webpages of these companies are not very good. Perhaps I'm a bit lazy/impatient in my approach to my bills, but I trusted these companies to be accurate and correct, I shouldn't have. I should have taken more responsibility of my bills.

Gerry1

stepheye said:

Gerry1 said:

Gas hot water is just as luxurious as electric hot water.

Have you checked that the immersion heaters are both switched off?

Your night electricity usage is exactly the national average.

Your 18.89p/kWh is ridiculously expensive.

I think I incur a £30 penalty if I leave early, my fear is that they won't let me leave...this is why I am trying to make sure I don't owe them any money that I don't know about....hence the meter reader coming on the 10th December and alerting EON to their incorrect transposed readings....

As previously stated, my understanding is that you can switch tariffs within E.On without paying an exit fee, so finding the cheapest E.On tariff is what you should be investigating as soon as the meter reading issue has been settled.  If you can switch to their variable tariff (they don't have exit fees) then that would be your escape route.

Get the meter reader to stick a label on the meter showing which rates correspond to day and night.

Pay E.On off, do a full market comparison based on your corrected meter readings and then switch, checking whether separate suppliers would be cheaper.