Eon - taking advantage - what should I do?

skubala

I have been in contact with Eon since 21/11/2021 regarding my meter readings. This started through my old email address. The conclusion of those emails was that I do have a smart meter reading that an old provider put in likely with the old house owner. With further investigation I realised I have two meter readers in the cellar (one for gas and one for electric). My email from 23/11/2021 was then ignored and I did not hear anymore from Eon. 

I then continued this query using my new email address 26th January 2022. I took pictures of the two meter readings and sent them via email. The electric reader is working however the gas reader display is broken so I cannot provide a reading. This was confirmed by Eon customer services who said over the phone 01/03/2022 (39minute call) that they had actually never received a gas meter reading since I switched to Eon. 

Payments:

Started at £35 a month

June 2021 - £65 a month

January 2022 - £123 a month

On the 01/03/2022 phone call I was told the following:

1) I had not ever provided a gas meter reading

2) The payment changes in June 2021 were because Eon 'estimated from previous readings'

3) The payment changes in January 2022 were because 'it was winter months and you estimated that the usage would go up'

4) Eon were unable to fix the meter reader because they are switching to Eon Next and not allowed to send anyone out

5) I had to call back in a few months when Eon were likely to be on Eon Next. Till this point Eon will keep charging the larger amount till they get an accurate reading

6) That because Eon have been unable to get an accurate reading they believe that I would owe a large amount of money. They started to charge more so that by the time they do get an accurate reading, I do not have one large bill but rather it be spread out over numerous months.

Here is my thoughts to those things:

1) I provided a reading when I switched in order to get the £35 a month. 

2) 'Estimated from previous readings' -  inaccurate information as the reader is broken and Eon have not been able to get readings.

3) 'Winter months' are October - February. I would question not only why the payments did not go up in October 2021 but why in October 2020 - February 2021 the payments did not change.

4) If this has been an issue since I switched to Eon then they had plenty of time to send someone out to get an accurate reading. Also, if it was a question of them not getting payments till they had sent someone, we all know there would be an Eon representative here within 24 hours. 

5) Eon are continuing to charge a larger amount despite the fact that the winter months are now over but they are unable to get an accurate reading through no fault of my own but ONLY down to Eon themselves.

6) Eon are being presumptuous about my spending/way of living and taking advantage of my position - knowing that I am not in the position to switch provider due to the upcoming changes in April and charging an amount I cannot afford.

At this stage, I believe that they are taking advantage of my rights as a customer but I do not know what to do!! Can anyone help with this so I am not completely clueless?

Robin9

Lets see if we can do this in bits

1) What you refer to as Meter Readers are Smart meters.

2) The DD of £35 was never going to be enough  - standing charges alone of 40/50 p per day would take up half of that.

3) Have you Electric meter readings from your bills - they should all have the letter A (for actual) or our read against them. What was the unit rate you were paying please ?

stewie_griffin

Does your gas meter have a button you can press to 'wake' it up?

Robin9

When did you move in?

Did you give Eon any meter readings when you moved in ?

Can you find your first bill from Eon and let us know what the meter readings were - include any letters A, C , E or words like our read , meter read, your read ?

Can you read the elelectric today and try Stevie's button suggestion as above (that's what mine needs to wake it up)