Eon energy hugely over charging and appalling customer service

Jim2019

Anybody else have a problem with Eon energy when they changed the electric or gas meter and then received a hugely inflated bill? Eon just didn't want to know and completely dismissive of my requests to look into the billing. The trouble is it took me 40 hours to prepare my case against them and all I have received as compensation for my 40 hours of work is £125 Should I take Eon to court and sue them for more compensation?

I have been a customer of Eon energy for about 20 years and recently they had cause to change the gas & electric meters for the latest smart meter model. I did not check the meter reading of the old gas meter when it was taken out and nor was, I offered a reminder by the engineers to take a note of the reading because the old meter was now being taken away. I was both shocked and frightened to later receive a bill for £2,819.73 for a 9-week period which is on average over 5 times as much as my average usage.

I have challenged this with the energy ombudsman who has since ruled in my favor and instructed Eon to refund me £2,202.72. They have also instructed Eon to pay me £125.00 as a gesture of goodwill and issue an apology but this payment is not as compensation for what they have done wrong.

 

I spent a lot of time preparing my evidence for the Ombudsman complaint and it was quite literally a week’s work and so I did ask the ombudsman in my complaint to be compensated with £750 but they have only made an award of £125 as this is deemed to be a token gesture of goodwill rather than compensation. I feel that Eon is getting off far to lightly as their response to the Ombudsman regarding my complaint was “Account has been billed correctly, since the meter has been exchanged, it’s been based on removal readings.”  Well, that didn’t take them long to compile that evidence, did it? Whereas I spent 40 hours to defend myself. At £125 they are getting off far to cheap and they should be made an example of because other customers who are not like me and are perhaps vulnerable will not be able to fight back like I have, and put together all of the evidence that is needed to ensure a win with the ombudsman. All the talk is about the cost-of-living crisis and energy being the really big one, so just imagine someone older, vulnerable, living on their own, diminished faculties and they would just accept what Eon would bill them.

 

Apparently, the energy regulator Ofgem is different to the ombudsman complaint scheme and I will be reporting Eon to them about Eon practice and can they be investigated and fined properly to deter them from doing the same thing to other customers. My request to you is perhaps you could pick up this complaint to Ofgem and also to have my “gesture of good will payment of £125 increased to the £750 that I requested from the ombudsman. I have lots more documents that I produced for my defense complaint but they would need to go on some other emails if you decide to take the case.

 

I really do feel that Eon needs to be challenged on a public platform to highlight to the public that they can win against such practice, will you please be the consumer champion.

Belenus

Why did it take you 40 hours to prepare your case?

I doubt if Ofgem or anyone else will accept that as a reasonable amount of time to spend on this.

£125 sounds reasonable to me as a gesture of goodwill or as compensation.

£750 sounds ridiculously over the top to me.

Robin9

Take the £125 ; change suppliers and move on with life.

MWT

You don't say what the mistake was, but presumably it was an incorrect removal reading on the old meter?

That mistake has been corrected, and a gesture of £125 paid for the error, which is more than is usually offered for this sort of mistake, so you've done well there.

40 hours to justify the fact that the meter reading was wrong is way over the top though, I'd struggle to spend as much as an hour or so collating the previous comparable consumption readings and showing that it was an impossible reading that had been used...

I understand it is annoying, but you wasted a lot of time somehow and you are not going to get 'compensated' for that via the Ombudsman, nor are you likely to be able to get this addressed in court as your complaint about the incorrect invoice has already been settled.

The supplier did not force you to spend 40 hours on this and they have no liability to you for that time...

Has the refund and the £125 been paid to you now?

TheElectricCow

How did you arrive at your £750 figure being the amount of compensation you deserve? If you intend to legally challenge Eon you'll most likely need to prove why that is a reasonable amount to be awarded for your troubles. 

As far as I can see from your post, the original issue seems to now be resolved (which is the point of the Ombudsman service) and have been offered a notable goodwill gesture. Can you demonstrate how Eon's mistake has caused you to lose £750 in some way? What is the 40 hours of work for, is that something you think you can show was necessary for the case and do you believe that argument would hold up if scrutinised in court?

dealyboy

Hi @Jim2019 ... I am so sorry you had to go through this, I know how you feel and it is an injustice, I've had one or two myself,  but you know what I'm going to say ... life is ****** ... eventually I've learned to let things go, even though it leaves a bitter taste.

BTW You have come to the right place for the best advice and ... Welcome.

[Deleted User]

Jim2019 said:

Anybody else have a problem with Eon energy when they changed the electric or gas meter and then received a hugely inflated bill? Eon just didn't want to know and completely dismissive of my requests to look into the billing. The trouble is it took me 40 hours to prepare my case against them and all I have received as compensation for my 40 hours of work is £125 Should I take Eon to court and sue them for more compensation?

I have been a customer of Eon energy for about 20 years and recently they had cause to change the gas & electric meters for the latest smart meter model. I did not check the meter reading of the old gas meter when it was taken out and nor was, I offered a reminder by the engineers to take a note of the reading because the old meter was now being taken away. I was both shocked and frightened to later receive a bill for £2,819.73 for a 9-week period which is on average over 5 times as much as my average usage.

I have challenged this with the energy ombudsman who has since ruled in my favor and instructed Eon to refund me £2,202.72. They have also instructed Eon to pay me £125.00 as a gesture of goodwill and issue an apology but this payment is not as compensation for what they have done wrong.

 

I spent a lot of time preparing my evidence for the Ombudsman complaint and it was quite literally a week’s work and so I did ask the ombudsman in my complaint to be compensated with £750 but they have only made an award of £125 as this is deemed to be a token gesture of goodwill rather than compensation. I feel that Eon is getting off far to lightly as their response to the Ombudsman regarding my complaint was “Account has been billed correctly, since the meter has been exchanged, it’s been based on removal readings.”  Well, that didn’t take them long to compile that evidence, did it? Whereas I spent 40 hours to defend myself. At £125 they are getting off far to cheap and they should be made an example of because other customers who are not like me and are perhaps vulnerable will not be able to fight back like I have, and put together all of the evidence that is needed to ensure a win with the ombudsman. All the talk is about the cost-of-living crisis and energy being the really big one, so just imagine someone older, vulnerable, living on their own, diminished faculties and they would just accept what Eon would bill them.

 

Apparently, the energy regulator Ofgem is different to the ombudsman complaint scheme and I will be reporting Eon to them about Eon practice and can they be investigated and fined properly to deter them from doing the same thing to other customers. My request to you is perhaps you could pick up this complaint to Ofgem and also to have my “gesture of good will payment of £125 increased to the £750 that I requested from the ombudsman. I have lots more documents that I produced for my defense complaint but they would need to go on some other emails if you decide to take the case.

 

I really do feel that Eon needs to be challenged on a public platform to highlight to the public that they can win against such practice, will you please be the consumer champion.

Ofgem does not investigate consumer complaints and it does not award compensation. You agreed to take your complaint to Energy Ombudsman Services - a private arbitration company approved by Ofgem to adjudicate on consumer complaints. You do not have to accept EOS’ Final Decision and you could take the supplier to Court. The supplier is however allowed to use the EOS Decision as part of its defence against any claim that you might make.  By EOS norms, £125 is a generous goodwill gesture.

You can report the supplier to Ofgem for breach of a Standard Licence Condition. Ofgem will acknowledge receipt of your report which it will pass on to its Investigation Division. I have no idea what criteria Ofgem uses - it might just be the weight of similar reports - but Ofgem could then decide to initiate a formal investigation.

Mstty

£50 is normal compensation, £75 abnormal, £100 exceptional and £125 potentially the maximum.

I also question why it took 40 hours to add up kWh and multiple it by even four to five different rates at a time.

Perhaps you can add some detail on this 40 hours and where the issue stemmed from.