Eon have been estimating usage on Smart meter causes huge debt

ssbjham

My 93 year old Mother has just been informed from Eon that they have been estimating her usage as they weren't getting readings off smart meters so she's now £1000 indebt so they want to increase her direct debit from £158 to £398 a month. She was never informed that they were estimating it, so can she refuse to pay that large amount?

MWT

ssbjham said:

My 93 year old Mother has just been informed from Eon that they have been estimating her usage as they weren't getting readings off smart meters so she's now £1000 indebt so they want to increase her direct debit from £158 to £398 a month. She was never informed that they were estimating it, so can she refuse to pay that large amount?

She will have been informed via her bills that they were using estimates, so that reason alone does not justify not paying.

When did she last have an accurate meter reading shown on her bill?

There are some rules that may help reading a large catch-up bill but it does depend on just how long it was since she last had an accurate bill...

ssbjham

The first thing we knew about it was on an email 2 days ago via email when they sent her statement. In December and she was £400 in credit  but now suddenly she is in debt .

MWT

ssbjham said:

The first thing we knew about it was on an email 2 days ago via email when they sent her statement. In December and she was £400 in credit  but now suddenly she is in debt .

Understood, but that doesn't change my original question though, in order to see what options she may have you will need to go back through her bills to see when the last actual meter reading was recorded on the bill.

Odds are there will be a recent actual meter reading which has triggered the accurate calculation of her bill, when matter is when the previous one was recorded.

If it was more than a year ago then she may have a route to reduce the amount she has to pay, so it is worth the time to check the bills and find when that was...

pochase

Is your mother on a fixed rate or SVT? A big chunk of the increase for the direct debit order might also be just the CAP increase.

Flight3287462

Someone really needs to be on the case just now and keep accurate figures.  When and how did they manage to get an accurate reading?

If it was me and your mother has the money I would just make a payment and clear the debt and then send monthly readings to them if possible going forward.

MWT

Flight3287462 said:

If it was me and your mother has the money I would just make a payment and clear the debt and then send monthly readings to them if possible going forward.

It is worth at least checking the bills to see when the meter was last read or a customer reading given as if the lady in question is on their priority services register they should be assisting her with taking meter readings and not just letting everything build up...