Eon email saying I am in debt

OrbitHeadache

So got the email today from EoN telling me that prices will be going down but they will keep my DD price at £172pm because of the below

"We've checked your DD and it doesn't need to change - although prices have come down, because you have a debt on your account, you still need to pay the same amount to get your account back on track. We review your DD regularly, and if it needs to change, we'll let you know"

There is no debt on my account I am currently £150 in credit and have been in credit or 0 balance or about £5-10 in debt over the last few months.

Am I missing something obvious here?

Cannot lower my DD amounts online as well 

CSI_Yorkshire

When was your last bill?

With a £172pm direct debit, the £150 credit you think you have could easily have vanished if it was more than three or four weeks ago.  Could all be a timing thing.

I assume your bills are with actual or smart meter readings too, not estimates?

OrbitHeadache

Yes meter reading are smart not estimated 

artyboy

OrbitHeadache said:

So got the email today from EoN telling me that prices will be going down but they will keep my DD price at £172pm because of the below

"We've checked your DD and it doesn't need to change - although prices have come down, because you have a debt on your account, you still need to pay the same amount to get your account back on track. We review your DD regularly, and if it needs to change, we'll let you know"

There is no debt on my account I am currently £150 in credit and have been in credit or 0 balance or about £5-10 in debt over the last few months.

Am I missing something obvious here?

Cannot lower my DD amounts online as well 

Yes, you're missing the fact that EON can be staggeringly incompetent - although they are in good company with many other energy suppliers.

In my own case, they were badgering me a few months ago to make a payment to bring my debit balance down, despite this being totally in line with seasonal variations that goes with a fixed DD. I ignored them and guess what - I'm already nearly back in credit, with plenty of summer still to come.

I actually wondered if this was behind them reporting on my credit file that I had an Arrangement to Pay with them, but back to my original point, I concluded it was just more incompetence...

scobie

To be fair to Eon, to be either at 0 balance or even a little in credit in the middle of summer - well it makes sense to keep payments at the same level to get you over the winter months. 

[Deleted User]

Did the supplier actually use the word ‘debt’ or was it ‘debit’? I ask because Ofgem has said in the past that a debit balance does not become a debt until both of the following actions have been taken:

One, the supplier notifies the consumer that this is a debit balance on the account in writing and it seeks repayment:

and,  Two, the debt remains outstanding (ie; unpaid) for more than 28 days.

This was nothing more than a DD review to take into account an existing debit balance.

jimjames

OrbitHeadache said:

There is no debt on my account I am currently £150 in credit and have been in credit or 0 balance or about £5-10 in debt over the last few months.

Alternative is to pay for your usage by DD each month but that means high bills in winter and low in summer which will be a problem for some people.