E.ON billed me wrong now I’m in debt

26catherine93

E.ON contacted us to say they have been incorrectly billing us for the last 18 months for electricity. We now owe them £1400. They have reduced the amount to £900 and want this paid out in full now or our monthly bills will go up to £300. 

I am due to go on maternity leave in a few months and both options are unaffordable. We are extremely stressed, and also for the winter to come with a new baby and this financial set back which will scare us into putting the heating on.

do I have any rights as we were providing correct metre readings but being billed wrong by the company?

[Deleted User]

Hi - welcome to the forum. 

By the sound of it, the supplier has invoked what is known as the BackBilling Code. Essentially, they will have written off charges 12 months from the date they billed you accurately. So, if the bill was raised today, all charges before the 13 Jun 22 would be written off. That is the good news.

The bad news is that the supplier can keep all monies paid during the write off period plus it can ask you to pay back any refunds. It follows that if £1000 of charges are written off, and you have paid £800, then the saving to you would only be £200.

As this is the supplier’s fault, they should give you time to pay. You need to inform them of your situation and agree a repayment plan. Sorry if this is not what you hoped to hear.

t0rt0ise

Have you checked that you really were being undercharged? In what way were they undercharging you?