E.on withholding funds

solomondogs

Last week I changed energy suppliers to Octopus from E.on. I have a smart meter that E.on apparently could never read so I've given them the exact meter readings every month on the same day since I joined them, something I did last week for the final time. However, miraculously, on my last day E.on managed to read my smart meter and, as is usual for profit led companies, got it completely wrong in their favour.

My readings were:

Night - 1055

Day - 3854

E.on's readings were:

Night - 3854

Day - 1055

(in fact on their final bill they have night 3854 and day 3854 and based the bill on those figures)

They stayed like this for one day only and then reverted back to the correct readings. They then sent me my final bill based on their readings for that one day which meant, according to them, I'd used an extra 2800 units.

Up until this point I was £118 in credit which included the first of the government's energy payments, however with E.on's incorrect figures the bill they sent me showed I owed them £373.19 less my credit so the final bill was £254.56.

From my previous reading on the 1st October to my final reading on the 25th October I actually used in total 25 units of electricity, E.on maintain I've used 2800. My new supplier, Octopus, has confirmed that my readings are correct as they can actually read my meter and because I have solar panels they get data every half an hour.

So not only have E.on tried to charge me far more than I've used, they are also withholding my money, over half of which is the government's energy grant.

Eo.n are not answering the phone, responding to emails, to whatsapp messages and I even opened a twitter account and again no response, I cannot get through on phone lines either, they are refusing to communicate.

I have screenshots of all my meter readings leading up to this plus E.ons 24 hour reading they based my final bill on, I also have screenshots of the readings from my new supplier which, unsurprisingly match my manual ones.

Furthermore smart meters have a number of sections to record data, one is the export kW for feed in tariffs etc but there is also a setting that records import kW's, the total used since the meter was installed, they always start at '0'. On the 29th October mine read 4912 units which match the total of my meter readings that day, according to E.on I've used in total 7708 units so nearly 2800 more and apparently I used them all in a 24 hour period, which is clearly wildly incorrect.

I somehow doubt that E.on will correct their figures and repay my money, I fully expect them to employ debt recovery agents and for this to drag on for months if not years. I also doubt that I am the only person they are doing this too, perhaps MSE could highlight this behaviour so that others don't find themselves in this position. I foolishly thought that E.on would correctly accept my final readings and return my money. 

So the lesson here is if you're in credit with an energy company and are switching get that money before they keep it.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

solomondogs said:

Last week I changed energy suppliers to Octopus from E.on.

As part of the switching process, you will have provided opening meter readings to Octopus. These will go through an industry validation process and will then be provided to E.ON.

I somehow doubt that E.on will correct their figures and repay my money,

The same readings will be used by Octopus to open your new account and by E.ON to close your old one.

[Deleted User]

However, miraculously, on my last day E.on managed to read my smart meter and, as is usual for profit led companies, got it completely wrong in their favour.

E.oN should not be using your readings to close off your account. The validated opening/closing readings come via the new supplier’s data collector.

That said, there is a management issue with smart meter registers. As far as I can tell there is no agreed protocol for smart meter register use (each meter has 4 registers). My smart meter records my peak use on the R2 register and offpeak on R1. 

solomondogs

Yes my smart meter now has the same R1, R2 system as yours, week before last it was ‘day’/‘night’. Octopus, who I have moved too, has no problem connecting and reading the meter at all.

I did this morning after trying every avenue finally get though to E.on, it was an interesting conversation, for starters they simply didn’t believe they had the readings down incorrectly, They actually read them on the day I swapped suppliers and it said ‘smart’ on my online account, I took a screenshot. My final bill emailed the day later maintained that I’d used an extra 2800 units based on their smart reading. Eventually they conceded there had been a mistake and then blamed me for putting in the meter readings online as I was asked.

It seems like a bit of a mess but they have at least rectified the incorrect bill which is something, they took a bit of persuading though and even then only because I had a screenshot.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

surprised you have a final bill already, normally takes longer than a week to switch.

solomondogs

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

surprised you have a final bill already, normally takes longer than a week to switch.

Nowhere near as surprised as I was to find out they wanted to charge me for 2800 units I hadn’t used…😂