Price Trippled w/`Eon please help (bill included)

m344

Hello all

I've recently moved house and just received my bill for heating and hot water, which is £105 (pic attached). I am supplied by Eon -compulsory as I live in a new build. Can anyone look at the bill and tell me if it seems normal. I think it is exceedingly high for a single person and will outline some reasons below which are. making me second guess it.

1. I've moved into a like for like new build. Previously with Switch2 I was topping up £20-£35 max as recent as April (lived their forever and never paid more than this, even with the crisis).
2. This apartment has been plagued with issues so have had no heating or washing machine up until last week and this week Wednesday (so what could have raised the bill this high!)
3. Standing charges look higher than the cap, does the cap count for heating & hot water too (I'm struggling to understand this)
4. The last occupant left the property seriously in arrears (you don't think they could be trying to recover losses?)
5. They told me community heat 4 was my best option, could that be the problem?

Gerry1

The start reading is suspiciously low: you seem to have been using almost 20kWh per day but this suddenly dropped to just over five after the Customer reading.

Did you check the start reading yourself?

What makes you think you can't switch away from E.On?  Is this a District or Building Heating system or just a normal electricity supply?

m344

So the 16487 was indeed the meter reading at move in, it was in my inventory report.

I can't switch from Eon as they have some kind of contract with the building (standard for a new build). A normal heating and hot water supply from what I understand. Nothing is communal 

m344

Actually that may not be true as this page mentions a district heating network

Robin9

Do you get an additional bill for your elrctric?

EDIT  - just read your other thread - its BG  (who are unable to send you a bill)

TheElectricCow

Community heat will be a district heating tariff, meaning that your heat/hot water comes from some kind of system providing that heating/hot water to multiple homes. There typically aren’t any restrictions on switching suppliers for new builds, but in the case of district heating due to the physical heat network  in place you’ll often find you only have one choice of supplier.

Unfortunately this puts you in a bit of a tough spot - these systems have far less regulation than typical energy supplies and can essentially charge residents whatever it costs to manage and maintain the system. Community heat 4 is most likely the only option you have available.

From your bill we can see the reason for the high cost is due to the standing charge of £1.39 per day. Over May this has cost you about £40, while your actual energy use was just £20 worth. This is allowed for district heating and as a resident there’s usually not many options you have to avoid it.

Gerry1

As above, with District Heating it's like the Wild West, there's very little regulation so effectively they've got you over a barrel.

With luck you're renting in which case the best option would be to consider moving.

Ideally find a property with gas central heating.  Next best is probably modern High Heat Retention Night Storage Heaters (e.g. Dimplex Quantum) then the old style 'box of bricks' NSHs.

Whatever you do, avoid anywhere with day rate electric heating (panel heaters  convectors etc) because it will bankrupt you.  Oil and heatpumps probably won't be applicable for apartments.

Gerry1

https://heattrust.org/for-customers-on-heat-trust-registered-sites

Gerry1

Have you registered with your electricity supplier and given them an opening meter reading that you took yourself?  You don't want to end up paying for use by the previous tenant or during a void period.

Note that you can switch your electricity supplier despite being stuck with District Heating.

m344

Robin9 said:

Do you get an additional bill for your elrctric?

EDIT  - just read your other thread - its BG  (who are unable to send you a bill)

Yes. I’ve signed up with Octopus -so far so good. Eon only supply heating and hot water here. 

BG did not send me a bill the entire time at my previous property. 

m344

TheElectricCow said:

Community heat will be a district heating tariff, meaning that your heat/hot water comes from some kind of system providing that heating/hot water to multiple homes. There typically aren’t any restrictions on switching suppliers for new builds, but in the case of district heating due to the physical heat network  in place you’ll often find you only have one choice of supplier.

Unfortunately this puts you in a bit of a tough spot - these systems have far less regulation than typical energy supplies and can essentially charge residents whatever it costs to manage and maintain the system. Community heat 4 is most likely the only option you have available.

From your bill we can see the reason for the high cost is due to the standing charge of £1.39 per day. Over May this has cost you about £40, while your actual energy use was just £20 worth. This is allowed for district heating and as a resident there’s usually not many options you have to avoid it.

They’ve said they are 4 different community best tariffs but that 4 would save me money. So switched me from 3 to 4 when I called them