E-ON not being helpful with resolving their mistake - help?

Hannimal

I have received a rather large energy bill from e-on of £8.5k. The mistake seems to be because when I had my smart meter installed the engineer who took the reading from the old meter had poor handwriting. Therefore, the final reading has a recorded figure starting with a 9 which probably should be a 4. I have of course no evidence that this is causing the problem other than common sense - figure starting with a 4 would be in line with my other usage (albeit still a bit expensive) whilst figure starting with a 9 makes the reading for that month over 200x larger than it is for any other month. It would also be impossible for me to use in excess of 50 000kwh of energy in a month as I live in a normal small house. 

I have spoken with eon and they have been unhelpful in resolving this. I am confused how the burden of proof on this has been put on my shoulders. I expected that as I contacted them they would have apologised profusely and sorted it out for me, but now I am very worried. I know that I have options such as ombudsman and citizens advice but I am having severe anxiety about this. I have had a panic attack and I have been teary all day. I am catastrophising over this as it is a life-changing amount of money for me and it just feels like a massive dark cloud. I know all the odds are in my favour but there is a huge 'what if' and it is having a huge effect on my mental health. I don't know if I can cope with weeks of this going on. I feel sick over this.

Is there any way I can speed up getting this resolved? I am feeling very desperate

Robin9

Did the meter installer leave a yellow sticker on the new meter -  what are those readings ?

Hannimal

There is a yellow tag by the meter. The readings there match the readings on my account. However, the 9 or 4 is very ambiguous and impossible to tell which one it is. It's recorded as 90 000 on my account but this would mean I'd have used in excess of 50 000 kwh in 3 weeks or so. I think it says 40 000 

[Deleted User]

When did you last have a statement based on an actual meter reading? The ‘problem’ is that suppliers always treat meter readings coming from a meter operator/installer as being validated on receipt so the computer just churns out a statement based on this reading. You now need to get CS to take a look at your account and a good starting position is from your last actual/customer reading. The best way to get things moving is to put your concerns in writing under the heading of COMPLAINT. Insist that all administrative action is put on hold until E.On has re-billed based on the correct reading.

FWiW, to see off any potential problems on switching, meter changes etc, I usually provide a customer reading about a week before the event and I take a photograph of the meter readings on the day of the switch or meter change. I have not had any issues but for the evidence is there should it ever be needed.

Robin9

I agree with @[Deleted User] - put the complaint in writing - don't bother with the phone

Was the reading of 3 weeks ago - your reading or an estimate?

Hannimal

This is based on a reading taken by the engineer who installed the new smart meter in December. The bill is based on an actual reading that has been manually recorded and in my understanding it has been then transcribed incorrectly onto the system. 

I will write to them but these things take forever to sort out and I am actually really desperate. I have cancelled all my weekend plans, I have had a panic attack, I can't stop crying and catastrophising. This is a life changing amount of money, not just some numbers on a paper. 

Robin9

It will all sort itself out.  People do make errors and the computer believes them. Once your complaint gets high enough up the tree it will be resolved. 

When writing simply stick to the facts and try to leave emotion out of it.   If you can photocopy the last bill before the meter change you have with actual readings on it

QrizB

Hannimal said:

This is based on a reading taken by the engineer who installed the new smart meter in December. The bill is based on an actual reading that has been manually recorded and in my understanding it has been then transcribed incorrectly onto the system. 

I will write to them but these things take forever to sort out and I am actually really desperate. I have cancelled all my weekend plans, I have had a panic attack, I can't stop crying and catastrophising. This is a life changing amount of money, not just some numbers on a paper. 

What Robin9 is asking is whether your previous E.On bills have been based on actual readings, rather than estimated ones? If actual, it should be relatively easy to show that you haven't racked up this huge bill.

This might take a while to sort out but it *will* get resolved.

Can you take a photo of the yellow tag and post it here?

There are some E.On customer reps with accounts on this forum; perhaps @E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena or one of her colleagues could help here?

Anyanka1

Whilst I know this will not be helpful, to expect E.on to be so is nothing short of delusion, in my experience.  The trouble is the same is true of every other supplier out there now.  It was not always so but try dealing with Avro!  Total communication void.

If you are with E.on rather than this new, probably pants version, E.on next, at least you are dealing with one of the historical Big 6 so you can hope there might be some degree of accountability.  Good luck, OP.

niktheguru

Please don't get yourself over worried and emotional about this. As you said there is no way you could have used 50k kwh in one month. Once someone sensible at EON looks at it is should get sorted out.

Before your smart meter was installed did you submit regular meter readings? Or were all your readings based on estimates. As has been said you need to provide the bill with the LAST ACCURATE meter reading (i.e. not estimate), look through your bills on your online account.
Make a written complaint, list the facts and that you are upset this hasn't been resolved, but no need to mention any other emotions as stated by others, as that just clouds the facts.
If you are feeling low, make sure you seek support, whether its family, friends etc, don't suffer on your own.

Things will work out. In future, its always best practice to check the meter readings before a engineer comes to change the meter (and ideally a picture) just incase something like this happens. Obviously its too late in your case, but incase others read this.

MWT

This really does all hang on the question of the previous actual reading...

As long as there is a recent one then this should be easy to resolve, if there aren't any other recent actual readings then it could get messy...

Although with a difference that large, 'recent' is a relative term and anything within the last 6-12 months would help....