EOn Charges after closing account

Neil_Jones

Vegarelife said:

Wow - so much anger amongst people on here! I actually closed off the account in good faith and as they said I could do it on an estimated reading, I assumed they were happy that it may not be correct. Naive maybe, but not malicious. I’m just baffled as to why they would allow you to close an account on that basis without letting you know you’d be liable for any excess (especially as they don’t have a forwarding address for me)!

O now have the advice I asked for - rather more aggressively than I expected - but thanks I guess. I think I’ll ask elsewhere if I have a future request!

You get "anger" because the issue you've posted about is entirely self inflicted.  Cancelling your accounts because you've moving house doesn't automatically write off anything that has been outstanding when you gave it.  You may have been on a quarterly billing cycle, so the bill you thought was your "final" bill clearly wasn't.  And they don't need a forwarding address, if you move house you'll normally take yourself off the electoral register at 221B Baker Street and add yourself onto your new house at 17 Cherry Tree Lane or update your ddetails with the bank, and that goes into credit report.  Debts don't just vanish into thin air because you move house, and even then they would have had six years to enforce it anyway.

Of course if you'd read your meter properly in the first place it might not have been £116 owed.  But you'll never know now so...

Best thing I would suggest is to learn from it, and when (or if) you move house again, read your meters.

Reed_Richards

I don't know what provoked such a hostile response; I don't think you deserved it @Vegarelife   However you should be aware that a final bill is not final.  It's the energy companies exploiting a loophole in the regulations whereby if you ask for a bill they are obliged to respond quite promptly but they can change their mind and issue a revised bill for any time up to about a year afterwards.

matelodave

Despite all the annoyance at your failure to get a final reading and sort it out properly the situation is that you "closed" your account with an estimated reading and the bill has been recalculated using the new owners actual reading. 

It appears that the new owner moved in, opened an account and give an opening reading, consequently Eon have determined that the actutal final reading is different to the estimated reading to the tune of  of £116t. It's not unreasonable therefore for them to recalculate the bill based on this ACTUAL reading and to then expect you to pay it.

You cannot expect either Eon or the new owner to foot the bill because you didn't close your account properly with an actual final reading nor should you allow it to get to the situation where the new owner is now being chased by Eon or bailiffs for an amount that you owe. It behoves you to step in and sort it out rather than getting indignant.

The above tells it like it is without anger or rancour

This is a recurring theme on this forum where accounts are not opened and closed properly with actual or accurate readings and then people get upset when they get chased for outstanding monies and dont see why they should be liable.

Reed_Richards

What @matelodave and others say is based on reading more into what the OP told us than we know for certain to be true.  It could be that the demand for £116 is the difference between the estimated reading and the true final reading but we don't know that for sure.  If it is then Eon is being ridiculously obtuse sending this bill to "the occupier" without explanation.  If Eon agreed to a "final" bill based on estimated usage then they really should have mentioned that they would almost certainly revise the bill later.  And taken note of an address to send it to.     

niktheguru

What the OP needs to clarify, is they need to get the "opening reading" that the new owner has from the day she acquired the house. He then needs to submit this reading to Eon as the ACTUAL closing reading, and then pay whatever the difference is.
We don't know from the information given if the new owner registered with eon or not, or made the age old mistake of "switching with her existing supplier", as in that case the amount owing from eon, may be including charges from when she was inhabiting the property (e.g. standing charge and some usage)

Gerry1

Reed_Richards said:

If Eon agreed to a "final" bill based on estimated usage then they really should have mentioned that they would almost certainly revise the bill later.  And taken note of an address to send it to.     

WRONG.  E.On have mentioned that they may revise the bill later.  It's in their Ts &Cs.

3.5 Revised bills or statements

We may send you a revised bill or statement if we find out:

     – the meter readings we used weren’t accurate

5. Moving out

When you move, give us a final meter reading and your new address so we can send you a final bill or any credit we owe you.

The OP openly admits that they bucked the system by (i) failing to provide a final meter reading and (ii) failing to give a forwarding address.

If the new occupant had tried to switch to a new provider without first having registered with E.On, these breaches might well have triggered an automatic fraud check: it's a classic example of the parameters mimicking the case of a customer trying to avoid part of the correct payment by falsely claiming to have moved and having adopted a new identity.

E.On didn't have a forwarding address so they could only write to the old address.  However, it would have been illegal for the new occupant  to have opened a letter addressed to Mr/Ms Vegarelife, so they had to sent it to 'The Occupier' instead.

The OP's woes are entirely self-inflicted, but there is no hint of apology from the OP for the aggro caused to the new occupant who is now being threatened by bailiffs.

To add insult to injury, the OP is shamelessly wondering whether they can now renege on their responsibility to make the full payment for which they are clearly responsible.  It's therefore hardly surprising if the answers seem just a tad more critical than the OP had been expecting.

Reed_Richards

Gerry1 said:
WRONG.  E.On have mentioned that they may revise the bill later.  It's in their Ts &Cs.

3.5 Revised bills or statements

We may send you a revised bill or statement if we find out:

     – the meter readings we used weren’t accurate

5. Moving out

When you move, give us a final meter reading and your new address so we can send you a final bill or any credit we owe you.

The OP openly admits that they bucked the system by (i) failing to provide a final meter reading and (ii) failing to give a forwarding address.

If the new occupant had tried to switch to a new provider without first having registered with E.On, these breaches might well have triggered an automatic fraud check: it's a classic example of the parameters mimicking the case of a customer trying to avoid part of the correct payment by falsely claiming to have moved and having adopted a new identity.

E.On didn't have a forwarding address so they could only write to the old address.  However, it would have been illegal for the new occupant  to have opened a letter addressed to Mr/Ms Vegarelife, so they had to sent it to 'The Occupier' instead.

The OP's woes are entirely self-inflicted, but there is no hint of apology from the OP for the aggro caused to the new occupant who is now being threatened by bailiffs.

To add insult to injury, the OP is shamelessly wondering whether they can now renege on their responsibility to make the full payment for which they are clearly responsible.  It's therefore hardly surprising if the answers seem just a tad more critical than the OP had been expecting.

Gerry1 said:

Reed_Richards said:

If Eon agreed to a "final" bill based on estimated usage then they really should have mentioned that they would almost certainly revise the bill later.  And taken note of an address to send it to.     

WRONG.  E.On have mentioned that they may revise the bill later.  It's in their Ts &Cs.

3.5 Revised bills or statements

We may send you a revised bill or statement if we find out:

     – the meter readings we used weren’t accurate

5. Moving out

When you move, give us a final meter reading and your new address so we can send you a final bill or any credit we owe you.

The OP openly admits that they bucked the system by (i) failing to provide a final meter reading and (ii) failing to give a forwarding address.

If the new occupant had tried to switch to a new provider without first having registered with E.On, these breaches might well have triggered an automatic fraud check: it's a classic example of the parameters mimicking the case of a customer trying to avoid part of the correct payment by falsely claiming to have moved and having adopted a new identity.

E.On didn't have a forwarding address so they could only write to the old address.  However, it would have been illegal for the new occupant  to have opened a letter addressed to Mr/Ms Vegarelife, so they had to sent it to 'The Occupier' instead.

The OP's woes are entirely self-inflicted, but there is no hint of apology from the OP for the aggro caused to the new occupant who is now being threatened by bailiffs.

To add insult to injury, the OP is shamelessly wondering whether they can now renege on their responsibility to make the full payment for which they are clearly responsible.  It's therefore hardly surprising if the answers seem just a tad more critical than the OP had been expecting.

You've really taken against the OP, haven't you @Gerry1 ?  My thinking is: if they understood what was going on why post the question?  No need to answer that, you have already expressed your opinion.  But who on earth when preparing to move house sits down to pore over the fine details of their energy contract?  This may be down to some ill-trained customer service representative at Eon not having the wit to ask for a forwarding address.  And it Eon know that the new owner is not the one who owes them money, isn't threatening to send bailiffs a bit OTT?  Aren't the bailiffs supposed to collect from the person who owes the money?      

matelodave

I'm not sure that Gerry has "taken against" the OP, he is just pointing out that Eon like most energy companies have T&C's which give them the right to revise an incorrect bill. Whether you choose to read them or not, is down to you but by being a customer you are obligated to abide by them and they can come back and bite you if you dont know what they say.

It wouldn't surprise me if the letter from Eon isn't pretty aggressive and threatening dire consequences if this has gone on for a while, Energy companies are not generally known for being nice.

We dont know whether the new occupier had signed on with Eon or confused the issue even more my trying to sign on with another energy company but the fact remains that by faiing to give an actual final reading it has left the door open for havoc and confusion.
As I said above, this situation comes up time and time again and gets even more confused if its a rental property and the leaving tenant doesn't read the meter or close the account properly, landord doesn't open and close an account between tenants if there's a gap. and the new tenant  doesn't send in a reading and open an account with the existing supplier. 

If it's done correctly then there's usually no problem but it can become a real nighmare because someone has to pay for the energy used up to the point where an actual reading resets all the bills and gets them back in line.

An estimate is just an estimate (or a guess) and will always be subject to revision - it certainly makes a case for smart meters.
Estimates are then not neccessary as the exact reading on the exact date would be available and it would be difficult to argue who is responsible for the charges

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Vegarelife said:

I recently sold my house. Was with Eon, so I cancelled my electricity and gas with them (closed on an estimated final bill as I wasn’t near the property at the time to get a reading) and paid my final bill. The new owner took readings when they moved in and signed up with whoever they signed up with (don’t know who that is) but now they’re getting demanding letters addressed to ‘The Occupier’ saying £116 is owed and they might send the bailiffs around. She’s now chasing me to pay it. My question is, do I (or either of us) have to pay it if I was allowed to close my account on an estimated reading? I’m sure she’s not liable as she has proof of readings when they moved in, so why are they threatening her with bailiffs? Any advise welcome before I call Eon to try and sort it out! Thanks.

Morning Vegarelife and welcome to the forum.

Clearly I'm a bit late on this thread, as there has been a lot of advice already.

From you post I can see you have moved out and you paid an estimated final bill, the new occupier has moved in and provided an accurate meter read, but their name has not been on the account.

The new occupier needs to get in touch and give us all of their details from the date they moved in, even if they have decided to change supplier, we still need to open an account until the supply switches over.

That way they will only pay for the energy that they have used and if there is a difference in the reads you may get a revised final bill, as your account was estimated. We will close an account on estimated reads if you can't provide accurate ones, however, this does mean that when we do get accurate reads a new bill will be produced. As this is still energy that has been used.

I know you were going to get in touch, when you do you can ask if a revised bill has been produced on your account and if this is available to view online.

Thank you

Helena 

Gerry1

Reed_Richards said:

You've really taken against the OP, haven't you @Gerry1 ?

No, I just feel sorry for the new occupier.

Moving house is stressful and expensive even at the best of times, but during a pandemic it must be a nightmare, especially if you are furloughed or worried about job prospects.

Ideally when the big day comes and you open the door you'd find the vendor had left a bottle of wine, some flowers and a Welcome To Your New Home card.  Perhaps even a few handy tips: read the meters, call X for electricity, Y for gas, and don't worry if you hear A in the middle of the night it's only caused by B, Doctor C is very good, there's a good butcher at D, pub E has good beer and serves a delightful F, etc.  Only little things, but they can make all the difference.

We can only speculate, but perhaps the buyer will look back and instead only remember the undeserved hassle and worry of being hit with a bill that wasn't hers, having to fight off bailiffs, and all at at time when all her available funds had been swallowed up by the house purchase and move.

But all the OP is worried about is whether they can evade payment !

I think that sort of behaviour speaks for itself, but obviously we have different values and will have to agree to disagree.