Backdated bill

jbuchanangb

£800 is a very large amount of arrears, but there has been £400 from the government to help with energy bills (applied as a credit to the electricity bill), and as a 90 year old the lady will have received £500 combined Winter Fuel Payment and Cost of Living Payment just before Christmas. Even so she could ask for 2 years to repay, bearing in mind that this has to be over and above paying for current consumption.

macman

£50 is a reasonable level of compo, as she has suffered no financial loss. Quite the opposite, as she's had in effect an interest-free loan.
I doubt the Ombudsman would increase on that, but if you want to challenge it, she'll need to go through the supplier's formal complaints procedure first, and wait 8 weeks.
If they have been failing to take the DD since last October, or longer, then you need to check that she has been credited the EBSS fpayment for the last 3 months, and ongoing until March.
If she didn't notice the DD not going out for that many months, then perhaps, with her agreement, you could offer to check her monthly statements and bills in future?
As suggested above, the catch-up DD payments should be spread over at least a year.

Johnjones76565667

Thanks-she’s on a dual fuel direct debit and so has still been paying what they asked for all this time. Her monthly direct debit never changed as they were only billing her for electricity and not gas. 

It has scared her and even though we’ve tried to reassure her, she’s very old school so she think bailiffs are going to come knocking for her-not the right headspace for an elderly woman on her own! 

I think we’re definitely going to have to try to persuade her to let us keep an eye on things. Even though I still see this as eons error!

pochase

If she continued to pay the direct debit and it was based on an correct estimate
she was just not billed, but would have paid for the gas already.

So a huge part of the £800 should eb as credit in her account.

Johnjones76565667

No-they’ve sent her bills through and there’s only electricity on there. 

They literally weren’t billing her at all for gas!!! 🤯

pochase

So the direct debit was suddenly less than before? 

That was the question @macman asked, if she did not realise that her direct debit was suddenly much lower

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername

If a supplier does not issue a bill for 12 months, then the Back-Billing rules come into play. As the customer has been issued a bill within the 12 months i do not feel like the Ombudsman will do anything. Apart from maybe a £30 goodwill payment if you get lucky. if the supplier has already offered £50 i would snap it up right away!

macman

The answers are a bit confusing, but I think what has happened is that they had it set up as 2 separate DD's, and failed to take the gas DD?
Yes, it is EON's error, but they are allowed to correct billing errors up to 6 years later. If the error had been in your mum's favour, would you not have expected them to credit her the £800?

Alnat1

I assumed that the DD didn't change when prices went up, As only the electric was then being billed it was sufficient to cover ongoing electricity costs.

Once the gas readings were corrected and the updated bill issued, it was realised the customer had not been paying enough to cover both fuels.

As previously mentioned, the lady should have had a lot of extra money from the government this year which totals much more than the £800 outstanding. 

Johnjones76565667

The direct debit in the past had always been to cover both the gas and electricity so just one direct debit. 

The direct debit still continued to come out of the bank at the normal rate and didn’t increase. 

Then they realised that she hadn’t been billed for gas and this is where she has been plunged into debt.
Yes as a pensioner on benefits she has received extra government support recently to cover an increase in bills but also an increase in the cost of living.
I think ultimately she is just scared of being in debt and that they will push her to pay it all at once and have bailiffs knocking on her door. She’s 90 and lives alone so you can imagine how scary this is for her.
I appreciate all of your comments and help here. They are now trying to increase her monthly payments to £220 which she definitely cannot do so I think if we can get them to agree to a longer term payment plan then that is the best resolution we’re going to get. Did someone say that they have to work with you if you can’t afford to pay way they’re asking? Is that still the case even if the account is in significant arrears like this one?
Thank you