Issues with Eon Next- what can we do?

spiritless

We moved into a newbuild in June, they signed us up with Eon Next.  Since then, we've had them incorrectly set up a ddm , causing us to run up a bit of a bill. We sorted that out and now our ddm is going out but we've still got issues!
Firstly, we've been submitting readings but didn't realise they haven't been generating bills on that account - so we're in credit (and they keep sending money back to us). with us both working at home and 2 teens, I can assure you, we won't be in credit! We're now expecting a bill of around £1300 I think. Will we have a time limit to pay that back over do you think?
Secondly, we've got a smart meter but it won't work - it was fitted by eon when the house was built. Eon have said that they need to work on a fix but that isn't a priority. They've also said our gas meter isn't smart. However all of our neighbours (around 100 houses) seem to all have working gas and electricity smart meters. I can't get eon to come out and the developers won't engage with it. What can we do? We've got £800 outstanding on our gas account, although those bills are being generated so I've upped the ddm to hopefully catch up with the useage.

Both of these figures feel scarily high - considering we didn't put the heating on until the last cold spell-  I feel like although we thought we were being really careful, we clearly weren't! 

Every time I call eon next, I'm on hold for an hour and then someone cuts me off. It's so frustrating. Next time I call I'd like to know what would be reasonable to ask for. Any advice appreciated.

Mstty

OK so it's a new build. June til October usage shouldn't have been too much but the last couple of months will have been heavy.

Being a new build you will have had a near zero start reading (hopefully you have your start readings anyway)

So what are your readings as of today?

How much have you paid to EON next since June (take off any refunds).

It should be easy to calculate if you provide the info about exactly what you owe.

Lastly regardless of whether eon next messed up your monthly DD there is no reason why you wouldn't calculate your usage and cost and put that money aside until that issue was settled.

brewerdave

If the meters "weren't" working when you completed on the house sale, how did the builders pay for the energy used by themselves whilst finishing the house ? As an example ,when my daughter moved into a new build some 18 months ago , the builders had left the central heating on 24/7 to help dry out ,so the gas meter was reading well over 100, and the leccy wasn't zero either.
Did you have agreed readings at completion ? Or have the builders stuffed you with their usage?

ariarnia

i agree with mstty. if you know your readings when you joined eon and you can take a manual reading now then we can work out for you how much youve used so what your dd should be or what any credit/debt might be.

and we can show how we worked it out so you can do it yourself when you need to (even after you get bills its worth doing the sum yourself maybe once a year so you have your annual figure for comparisons or switching. some of us keep google docs with monthly readings because we like to have the info for year on year comparisons and budgeting).

dave's question is also good. smart meters need to be commissioned when first installed. if that doesn't work then they still measure use but dont send the numbers to the supplier so have to be read manually like old 'dumb' meters. that might be fixed when theres a software update (which is happening nationally. no way to jump the cue.). when it does happen you can see 13 months of when readings were taken by the electric meter (less i think for the gas meter). but if its longer ago than that you might need to argue with the builders about your move in readings maybe?

FreeBear

ariarnia said: dave's question is also good. smart meters need to be commissioned when first installed. if that doesn't work then they still measure use but dont send the numbers to the supplier so have to be read manually like old 'dumb' meters. that might be fixed when theres a software update (which is happening nationally.

If the meters haven't been commissioned and enrolled with the network, then I doubt very much that they would receive software updates.

Gerry1

spiritless said:

We moved into a newbuild in June...

That may well be the problem: plot numbers and street addresses often get mixed up.  Start by doing the Meter Sanity Test.