E-ON have just billed my quarterly payment a month earlier than usual, just in time for Christmas!

Shaky_Jake

I pay my energy bill (Gas & Electricity combined) quarterly by debit card, and the last bill was received at the very end of October and paid in full in early November as usual. Usually I would receive the following bill in early January and pay it by the end of that month, and this has always seemed a suitable enough arrangement for both parties. 

Today (12th December) I've received another 'please pay now' bill out of the blue. Our agreement is that I pay on a quarterly schedule and for whatever reason they've pre-empted that. This year has been particularly tough for me financially as it has for so many others, and I really can't afford to pay this right now, budgeting to pay this bill by the end of January as I have every year for the last decade. I've never been in real debt to E-On and they've never had to chase me for payments beyond the occasional first reminder (I've never had a final demand or anything like that), even though I'm on a low income to begin with and basically live from paycheque to paycheque. 

Can they just change the payment schedule like this unannounced (and apparently with no good reason) and where do I stand here?
I'm intending to challenge this on Monday anyway, and tell them it's outside the usual schedule without explanation or notice, and it's simply not possible for me to pay it until January as usual, so if it isn't just a mistake we'll have to agree a payment plan (and then I'll swiftly look for a new supplier if they're not very accomodating about it).

There's little else I can do apart from that I suppose, unless you folks know otherwise...

Robin9

Whatever the outcome here - look again at what you are paying and how you pay for it.  In paying quarterly you are missing out on discounts for paying by DD. Personally I prefer monthly bills and not quarterly. 

A bit confused by the "our agreement" bit  - tariffs have monthly, quarterly, six monthly set ups established by the supplier - you don't have individual agreements.

stewie_griffin

Agree 100% with Robin, you're going to be paying way over the odds. Even setting up a quarterly DD would probably save you a significant amount.

Incidentally E.ON changed my bill dates around September time, however I pay by DD so it wasn't a big issue. They did however send me an email to let me know in advance.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Shaky_Jake said:

I pay my energy bill (Gas & Electricity combined) quarterly by debit card, and the last bill was received at the very end of October and paid in full in early November as usual. Usually I would receive the following bill in early January and pay it by the end of that month, and this has always seemed a suitable enough arrangement for both parties. 

Today (12th December) I've received another 'please pay now' bill out of the blue.....

Hey Shakey_Jake, hope you're well.

Without seeing the account it would be difficult for me to let you know exactly why this has happened. The only thing I can think of is that the October bill was 2 weeks late, and then this one is 2 weeks early. Still wouldn't quite meet the quarterly schedule though if that were the case.

Sometimes an ad-hoc bill could be produced, for example if you request a refund we always need to produce a bill on the same date so we have an up to date balance. The fact you mention this is pretty out the blue leads me to believe you haven't spoken to us recently before this. 

In any case we're always happy to help. I know it's been a difficult year for all so all you'll need to do is let us know when you think you might be able to pay and we can put a hold on the system to stop it carrying out any debt collection activity. 

As others have mentioned it will always be worth checking things like your tariff and the suitability of your payment method. You can check this directly with us or have a look around elsewhere on comparison sites to find the best deal for you.

Thanks, Matt