Problems Being Switched From NPower to E.On Next

martynjhogg

Has anyone had problems after being switched from NPower to E.On Next? E.On Next have taken over NPower so we were automatically switched earlier this year. We got hit with a bill for £1800 which my partner paid unfortunately. When I looked into the account I realised they had made a complete mess of our switch...

• They used wildly inaccurate estimated meter readings (suggesting we had used 10 times the average domestic electricity usage)
• They had estimates that went backwards too.
• They had applied estimates to unused meters from an old 3 phase supply that have not been connected for over 8 years.
• They applied daily standing charges for the unused meters.
• They cancelled our direct debit.
• They blamed me for not providing meter readings to NPower.
• After I sent them photos of the meters on the dates I did send readings to NPower they still advised me to read my responsibilities on providing meter readings.
• They denied that the 2 meter readers that visited the property were anything to do with them and advised me not to let strangers into my house.
• They then acknowledged that one of the meter readers that visited the property was on behalf of them.
• They have never really been able to explain how our account went from being £0.00 to -£3600 in the space of 3 months or some other debits of up to £1000.
• After speaking to about 5 "Energy Specialists" via phone, email and Facebook Messenger who all tinkered with the account the account is now un-auditable.
• Every "Energy Specialist" made changes to the account. Either credits, adding manual meter readings, removing or quarantining meter readings.
• No one answered the questions I asked in my emails but I got replies saying not to worry its been sorted and vague explanations about how much electricity we had used.
• On several occasions when I spoke to E.On on the phone the "Energy Specialist" could not see records for our main meter, only the 2 meters that have never been connected.
• My account meter reading history online still has readings for the disconnected meters listed under the main meter reading history and impossible estimate readings that are lower than earlier actual readings.
• We of course got switched to a more expensive tariff (That was probably something we could have been on top of better)

I do not believe E.On Next had all the data required to switch us from NPower. I suspect they have ported our data from NPower into their system and use estimated readings that favour them.

I think they have potentially done this to many people as a way of raising cash - estimates can be used to affect what you owe. In our case they used a reading that they claimed was an actual reading of 39000.0 for Jan 2021 but I have a photo of my meter from Jan 2020 that shows it at 39856.

Why, if an account goes from being £0.00 to 3 times the estimated annual energy bill in debt in the space of 3 months does it not get flagged?

I cannot trust what they are telling me and it is impossible to check what I owe or am owed by looking at the account details online. I have asked them repeatedly to recalculate the account without estimated readings but they will not reply to that request.

I've got a degree in engineering and am reasonably savvy with web portals for managing all kinds of accounts but understanding the bills and account on the E.On Next website is impossible. I imagine there are a lot of people who are not tech savvy who will have no idea whether their bills are right or wrong.

I believe they are breaking the law by not providing me account details in a clear and intelligible format.

I now provide meter readings every month religiously. 

I have logged a complaint with the ombudsman.

If you have been switched or about to get switched due to your energy provider going bust please keep on top of your meter readings and take a photo every time you do a reading. Watch out for estimates being used as they can seriously mess up your bill!

Stay away from E.On Next. They do have some helpful, friendly customer service people (and some argumentative ones!) but I do not think they have the ability or systems in place to solve problems like this.

QrizB

Send a complaint - headed "COMPLAINT" so there's not ambiguity - to E.On Next. Ideally send it by post and get a free Certificate of Posting as proof.

If they don't resolve your issue within 8 weeks, take it to the Energy Ombudsman.

https://www.eonnext.com/unhappy

If we’ve not quite managed it
We’re super confident that we can get you smiling again, but on the rare occasion where we can’t find a solution that works for everyone, and our final offer of resolution isn’t working for you, then we’ll send you a deadlock letter. This allows you to contact the Energy Ombudsman. We’ll also send you a deadlock letter if it’s taken us more than eight weeks to resolve your complaint.
If you want to get in touch with the Energy Ombudsman, you can call them on 0330 440 1624 or by email through their website. You can also write to them at: Ombudsman Service: Energy PO Box 966 Warrington WA4 9DF.
They’re a free and independent service, and will fully review the complaint, your concerns, and what we did to try and fix it. If the Ombudsman believes that we haven’t done our job, then they’ll tell us what we need to do. This could include an explanation or an apology, as well as actions we may need to take including compensation. We’re legally required to do what they ask, but you are not.

FreeBear

Send Eon a Subject Access Request demanding copies of all information relating to the account including phone recordings, CRM data entries, internal/external emails, and bills. Also insist that they include any historical data inherited from NPower.

If you are unsatisfied with the data supplied, and after having given Eon the opportunity to rectify any omissions, you can file a complaint with the ICO.

[Deleted User]

martynjhogg said

or systems in place to solve problems like this.

As E.oN Next uses a technology platform that was developed by Kraken Technologies (owned by the Octopus Energy Group) which is also used by Octopus Energy and Good Energy in the UK, and by other energy suppliers in the USA; New Zealand; Germany and Japan, I suspect that E.oN Next might disagree with you. That said, the principle of GIGO applies to all technology.

martynjhogg

[Deleted User] said:

martynjhogg said

or systems in place to solve problems like this.

As E.oN Next uses a technology platform that was developed by Kraken Technologies (owned by the Octopus Energy Group) which is also used by Octopus Energy and Good Energy in the UK, and by other energy suppliers in the USA; New Zealand; Germany and Japan, I suspect that E.oN Next might disagree with you. That said, the principle of GIGO applies to all technology.

That's really interesting because I could tell they were having real problems with their systems... I repeatedly had to wait while the person I was speaking to tried to get the account info up for our main meter. They could get access to the 2 unused meters but had to request another department gave them access to the main meter. This is GI Nothing Out

They also seem to be able to add manual readings, quarantine readings, hide some readings and leave quarantined readings showing, which creates an account meter reading history that is totally impossible to audit from the customer side and evidently very difficult to follow on the Supplier side. 

When you have an estimated reading that is less than the previous reading and both readings are less than an actual reading from months prior, you have to question why the system should even allow this to happen. I'd have thought the most basic of parsing checks (is B < A?) would catch problems like this. Meters do not run backwards. An energy provider system that allows a meter to run backwards is not fit for purpose IMO.

It's quite simple to avoid Garbage In. Rather than allowing Garbage In from NPower and letting the customer pay for it, they could apply some very simple checks and intervene before taking thousands of pounds from the customer.

How many other customers have been overcharged but cannot check?

[Deleted User]

Sadly, many electricity meters do run backwards when solar PV solar is fitted. Some installers used to say that it was one of the benefits of PV solar! All that I can say is that after 4 years of being billed by Kraken, the system is first rate but then I don’t know how E.oN Next is using the system. That said, your problem seems to bark back to your NPower days.

martynjhogg

QrizB said:

Send a complaint - headed "COMPLAINT" so there's not ambiguity - to E.On Next. Ideally send it by post and get a free Certificate of Posting as proof.

If they don't resolve your issue within 8 weeks, take it to the Energy Ombudsman.

I have gone to the Energy Ombudsman. I had a formal complaint logged by one of the telephone call centre "Energy Specialists" but it wasn't clear what she was writing and I never got a copy of what she had raised as a complaint. I had 2 emails of questions acknowledged by E.On but never answered and nothing ever answered satisfactorily.

It has been more than 8 weeks since we first queried our account and this is the date from which I am claiming to be forwardslash unhappy.

If the Energy Ombudsman says I have to wait 8 weeks from an email headed "Complaint" then I will start again but E.On cannot answer my complaint and I think the Ombudsman should be able to see that from just looking at the account meter readings.

martynjhogg

Meter History...


The meter reading I provided to NPower in Oct 2020 was 43299
The meter reading I provided to NPower in Jan 2020 was 39856
The meter readings of 1901 and 720 are totally different meters
The estimate for 01/04/2021 is less than the estimate for 29/01/21

How am I supposed to trust my bills?




It's made worse by the gas being mixed in with Electricity.

Can you see why I want the account recalculating with no estimates? 

martynjhogg

Someone else at E.On Next has been fiddling with the account - presumably because of me raising it with the Ombudsman. In the space of 2 days there have been over 30 credits and debits applied to the account and we have gone from being almost £1k in debt to exactly the £1.8k in credit that we paid by credit card to back down to £900 in credit.

I have no idea what's going on. Oh and they have also billed us for £50. 

jbuchanangb

I have entered your numbers into a copy of my trusty spreadsheet, and determined that there are 874 days from 16 Apr 2019 to 27 August 2021, and that you used 11627 units of electricity. Were the daily standing charge and unit rate for electricity the same for the whole period? If so let me know and I'll put them in the spreadsheet and it will calculate the charges for that period. If the rates changed, let me know the various rates and the date of change. You will have records of what you have paid. As you say the situation is made more complex by having a dual fuel tariff. 

martynjhogg

Everything before 20/04/21 is wrong though. I have Jan 2020 at 39856 and Oct 2020 at 43299

I think we got switched to a higher tariff around Apr 2021 but I need to figure out how to get the previous and current tariffs and when we were switched. 

I will try and get hold of all this info early next week and we can compare spreadsheets.

It really shouldn't be this hard!