E-on Next difficulties

matildasmum

Hi everyone,

I am currently having a nightmare with E-on Next and have done really since Igloo went into receivership.

I believed I was in credit with Igloo and I continued to pay my direct debits during the transfer process, yet once they finally connected my smart meter a few months later, I was nearly £1000 in debit. So my direct debit payments went up to over £500 a month. 

We suffered this, to get back into credit. Now in credit we could finally reduce our direct debit in April 2022.

Then the estimated yearly totals of usage came through when the new prices went up.. Putting my DD back up to £597 a month, when my actual usage was around £200 monthly.

I calculated my yearly usage and spoke to other friends with a similar size house and size families on the same tariff. None of them were in the ball park of the same estimate as me. 

We cut back drastically on everything no heating, no lighting unless absolutely vital etc. I kept a weekly tally of my smart meter totals.

(I was actually thinking that I was going mad 😞)

During this time, I have had lots of phone calls and emails with E-on Next trying to sort out and establish exactly what was going on in terms of usage and my direct debit (which I was told would be £597, then £300, then £133) All in the space of a few weeks. 

It’s really hard to budget if you don’t know exactly what your direct debit is going to be. And by this stage we really couldn’t afford to go back to over £500 a month. So worrying. 

I considered cancelling my direct debit and just paying what I owed each month, but then read a lot of stuff on social media about how this wasn’t a good idea.

Also the monthly statements stop online at August for me! So to try and ascertain my usage per month and just pay what I owe them has become more impossible to work out 🙄 

Next, on the 16th of November, I was sent a statement which showed lots of credits to my account, meaning that I was nearly £2000 in credit now. And told that my direct debit would now be £67. These figures actually tallied with the figures that I had worked out manually.

So I was satisfied that it had finally been resolved. When I queried why this had happened. I was told that they had overestimated my usage.

But how can that happen? If you have a smart meter that’s talking directly to the company? 

I then requested a refund of £1500, leaving a little bit in credit, because I believe that these figures did actually tally up with my manual own figures.

I was told that this credit would take up to 10 working days.

I then received an email on the 1st of December, telling me that my request had been denied, because once my account had been properly, looked at there was some missing payments, and I was in fact only £200 in credit. 

So I complained again and asked for a full statement so I could see exactly what was happening with my account for September, October and November.

The statement they sent me today seems detailed, but I don’t understand. No one will explain to me what has happened to my account. 

How can there be missing payments or credits given back when the smart meter talks directly to the billing system?

How can my usage with the same amount of people in the house, and the same kind of house, be so vastly different from people on the same package? 

Why do they no longer give you a monthly bill so that you can work out your exact usage?

How can they tell you 4 different direct debit amounts in the space of a few weeks?

How can they agree to refund me £1500 on the 18th of November, and then tell me that I don’t have the funds in my account on the 1st of December?

I am lost. Please help! 

[Deleted User]

matildasmum said:

How can there be missing payments or credits given back when the smart meter talks directly to the billing system?

Have there actually been readings provided by the smart meter that you see on your statements or online account?  Marked as 'smart' or 'actual'?

matildasmum said:

How can my usage with the same amount of people in the house, and the same kind of house, be so vastly different from people on the same package? 

Number of people or type of house is a very weak indicator of how much energy you use.  Lifestyle and appliances are a much stronger link.

matildasmum said:

Why do they no longer give you a monthly bill so that you can work out your exact usage?

They give you a statement whenever there is a meter reading (mostly). If you are not getting a statement, it suggests that they are not getting meter readings.

matildasmum said:

How can they tell you 4 different direct debit amounts in the space of a few weeks?

If the numbers they are using get updated, the direct debit amount gets updated.  If you keep pushing them to check things, the chance of something getting updated is increased.

matildasmum said:

How can they agree to refund me £1500 on the 18th of November, and then tell me that I don’t have the funds in my account on the 1st of December?

I am lost. Please help! 

Probably because the apparent credit on 18 November did not include a whole lot of usage, perhaps because they didn't actually have any meter readings (there is a recurring theme here).  When they got a meter reading, your usage was then paid for out of your credit which used most of it up.

matildasmum

Thank you. They have smart meter readings which go regularly. 

[Deleted User]

Do they actually have the readings?  Are they on your account statement?