Another Example of Spurious Eon Final Bill

ColinD1

Trying to work out what to do with erroneous bill as a resolution before it is due looks unlikely. So much for smart meters.
Ofcom have a complaints procedure (which logs problems even if it does nothing about them on an individual basis).
Ofgem doesn't. Citizen Advice not working on weekend or Bank Holiday.
Whole process seems unresponsive for what we should, at this stage,take to be a simple mistake rather than a large company seeking to persecute a consumer. Mistakes happen, but the company needs to be responsive to them not say they can't/won't do anything about them. I see Eon have been fined for poor service in the past.
If Eon had referred my accurate reading to the ARD process would I know?

[Deleted User]

I cannot answer your question but I would add one further comment which may be clouding the issue. All suppliers have to be registered with the DCC. However, reading smart meter data requires sophisticated secure DCC- approved software known as an Adaptor that connects to the DCC hub and pulls data from the meter. 

Some suppliers have developed their own Adaptor software others, like Octopus, use a third party such as TMA/CGI. The supplier’s billing system also has to be capable of accepting/using the data that it receives. I have no idea whether Green has the tools to access smart meter data but I do know from press reports that some suppliers are still struggling: Ofgem chooses to use the term ‘operational issues’. 

ColinD1

I can see the Smart readings on the Green App.
I did wait for Smet2 in the hope of flexibility. Had problems with the electric meter not being seen after it was fitted even though the gas readings worked. Previous supplier to Eon managed to reset it. 
However, it appeared to work while I was with Eon.
Isn't technology great!

Reed_Richards

ColinD1 said:

I can see the Smart readings on the Green App.

So presumably you do know if Green used the same opening reading as Eon used for their final bill.  You've never said one way or the other and it makes a difference as to what you should be doing.  

ColinD1

As I said I have not had a bill. I can only see the readings I made and from the Smart meters. From what has been said the actual readings appear to account for little with Eon.
The discrepancy looks like 1000 so is probably a transcription error. I am just a customer who has taken the advice from Martin Lewis and used the associated switching service and caught in the cross fire from the energy companies.
If it was 10 or 100 it could be considered to be in the noise. But Eon did not appear to care and were more interested in getting money they were not owed rather than getting it right. If a mistake has been made the sooner it is corrected the less trouble it will cause long term.

Reed_Richards

According the the pictures of the app here https://green.energy/news/app-launch you can tell what your usage has been.  You should therefore be able to work out what your opening reading was, even if that is not stated explicitly.  You gave a reading to Green.  Green gave it to an adjudicator to determine the credibility of the reading and adjust it if necessary.  The adjudicator gave the potentially adjusted reading back to Green who passed it on to Eon.  A transcription error could have occurred anywhere along this route and it you want it fixed sooner rather than later it might help to identify at what stage the error was made.  

ColinD1

Don't believe everything you read in a press release. The functionality may depend on them having past history or it may be disrupted by an anomalous reading. If you take the  reading being used by Eon,Green would be owing me money as I have used negative electricity. Perhaps Green have used defensive programming?
I have raised the problem with both sides, at the moment Green have been more responsive and Eon putting the blame on Green and demanding their pound of flesh and not putting the erroneous bill on hold.
I came to the forum looking for advice on a way forward. Knowing about the ARD process helps, but I as the customer do not know what has happened. What I do know is that Eon are asking for payment for electricity I have not used. You could say it's less than £150 extra and it should/may sort itself out later in the year, but if they have no process to sort it out for someone else it could be £1000 or more and the person may be out in serious financial problems.
Mistakes happen, they should be corrected lessons learnt and avoided in  the future.

Reed_Richards

ColinD1 said:

...Mistakes happen, they should be corrected lessons learnt and avoided in  the future.

@ColinD1, I'm beginning to wonder if you aren't more interested in having a moan than actually getting your problem sorted.  You have persistently failed to say what starting reading Green are using.  If you really don't know and Green really are responsive then you can ask them.  If it happens to be the same reading that Eon are using then, even though it is wrong, Eon are completely blameless.    

[Deleted User]

ColinD1 said:

Don't believe everything you read in a press release. The functionality may depend on them having past history or it may be disrupted by an anomalous reading. If you take the  reading being used by Eon,Green would be owing me money as I have used negative electricity. Perhaps Green have used defensive programming?
I have raised the problem with both sides, at the moment Green have been more responsive and Eon putting the blame on Green and demanding their pound of flesh and not putting the erroneous bill on hold.
I came to the forum looking for advice on a way forward. Knowing about the ARD process helps, but I as the customer do not know what has happened. What I do know is that Eon are asking for payment for electricity I have not used. You could say it's less than £150 extra and it should/may sort itself out later in the year, but if they have no process to sort it out for someone else it could be £1000 or more and the person may be out in serious financial problems.
Mistakes happen, they should be corrected lessons learnt and avoided in  the future.

It doesn’t exactly work like that. PROVIDED both suppliers use the same reading to open and close their accounts then any overpayment to the old supplier will leave you in a situation where you will only pay the daily standing charge until the actual meter index passes the validated opening meter reading. No credit will be applied to your account.

To put this into context, I raised a similar dispute a few years ago - albeit, both suppliers were using the same industry reading. My gaining supplier, Ovo, asked me not to raise an ARD as it is a time consuming process on non smart meters. I overpayed my old supplier £70 for electricity it had not supplied. The actual difference in unit cost was £2.34. Ovo refunded the £2.34 and paid me a £20 goodwill gesture. Clearly, Ovo concluded that a cost of c.£100 to them was less than the cost of an ARD with one of the then Big 6.

Despite what you might read on this forum, these types of problem are not that common. The ‘system’ works as it should for most consumers and it will improve when smart metering is fully rolled out and working.

brewerdave

Dolor said:

ColinD1 said:

Don't believe everything you read in a press release. The functionality may depend on them having past history or it may be disrupted by an anomalous reading. If you take the  reading being used by Eon,Green would be owing me money as I have used negative electricity. Perhaps Green have used defensive programming?
I have raised the problem with both sides, at the moment Green have been more responsive and Eon putting the blame on Green and demanding their pound of flesh and not putting the erroneous bill on hold.
I came to the forum looking for advice on a way forward. Knowing about the ARD process helps, but I as the customer do not know what has happened. What I do know is that Eon are asking for payment for electricity I have not used. You could say it's less than £150 extra and it should/may sort itself out later in the year, but if they have no process to sort it out for someone else it could be £1000 or more and the person may be out in serious financial problems.
Mistakes happen, they should be corrected lessons learnt and avoided in  the future.

It doesn’t exactly work like that. PROVIDED both suppliers use the same reading to open and close their accounts then any overpayment to the old supplier will leave you in a situation where you will only pay the daily standing charge until the actual meter index passes the validated opening meter reading. No credit will be applied to your account.


Despite what you might read on this forum, these types of problem are not that common. The ‘system’ works as it should for most consumers and it will improve when smart metering is fully rolled out and working.

Well I must be unlucky then ! Happened to me three times on switches over the past 3-4 years! Then the biggest issue I've experienced ,is that front line CS staff do not understand the "rules" . More than once ,I've had "250kwh difference is allowed" quoted back to me even when it means I'm being charged twice for units.
On one occasion ,when switching from First Utility to One Select, it never got sorted at all because of the demise of O.S - but F.U made such a mess of trying to sort it out that I ended up by ~£25 as a result of them changing my start reading with them as the SOLR from Usio !!
Furthermore, if the changeover reading is way above the actual ,then you quickly run into the "COMPUTER SAYS NO" situation when you come to enter the next month's readings - had that issue as well - good job I'm retired so I have the time to grind the b********ds down !