Unreasonable demand for ££

Brie

Got my monthly bill from Eon on Saturday who after the last DD confirmed I'm in debt of about £320.  This is not a surprise and not a problem to me.  

Today I have had another email from Eon saying I need to pay £770 in the next 2 weeks to bring my account up to date.  This will leave the account in significant credit which I do not accept as being reasonable.  

I do not want to have a credit balance. Why should they have my money when it will earn me interest in my own bank account.  I do not care that this is the standard business model for utility companies.

I have been asking them and chasing to get them to change me to a publicised and preferable tariff but they do not respond to that.  Very annoying!!!

Keep_pedalling

Then switch to a company that offers a pay as you go option via direct debit. Several do.

Ayr_Rage

@Brie you should be able to select any tariff available yourself on the website or by calling, however what do you mean by "publicised and preferable" ?

If you aren't happy, vote with your feet and move elsewhere.

bluelad1927

It sounds like EoN don't like you being in debt as much as you don't like being in credit.Seems fair to me seeing as you are going into a period of heavier usage for the next few months. You could go on a variable DD and just pay for what you use but I suspect that's not going to suit over the winter months

Brie

Eon has publicised that people on a low income and in debt to them are eligible for 50% off the SFT and I've been asked to be put on that. But they have yet to respond.  I've no doubt they are swamped but even an automated email saying so would be something.

I realise as well that the email I have received is simply computer generated but it's the insistence in a large payment without suggestion of other alternations like the variable DD that annoys me.  I'm glad I can stand up to them but worry for those who would cave in and use their overdraft or a credit card to make a payment they cannot afford.

cannugec5

Have Eon contacted you to join the scheme? I understand there is more criteria than simply being in debt, and they are proactively contacting customers that they believe meet the criteria. 

Have you registered on their priority list? This being only one small part- but it helps to focus their attention . 

molerat

Long running thread in the energy forum and an MSE article.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/09/e-on-next-winter-support-scheme/

Do you qualify under the terms listed in that article ?

1. Meet ALL THREE of these:

A) Have been an existing E.on Next customer by 25 September 2023; and

Have a smart meter (or agree to have one installed); and

C) Pay for your energy by fixed monthly direct debit (unless you're on a prepayment meter).

AND

2. Meet AT LEAST ONE of these:

D) Have an annual household income of under £19,000 and be eligible for the Warm Home Discount or have been previously eligible for the so-called 'broader group' Warm Home Discount in England and Wales;

OR

E) Have an annual household income of under £19,000 and "an income and expenditure deficit" (in other words, have less money coming in than what you need for key living costs);

OR

F) Have an annual household income of under £31,000 and medical dependency needs. E.on Next's list of medical dependencies is as follows: a) nebuliser or apnoea monitor, b) heart-lung or lung ventilator, c) dialysis, feeding pump or automated medication, d) oxygen concentrator, e) MDE electric showering.

So if you meet ALL of the criteria in point 1 (A and B and C), plus ONE of the criteria in point 2 (D or E or F), you should be eligible.

The discount will be available across all payment methods (including direct debit, prepayment and payment on receipt of bills).

Have you used the web form to register ?

https://eonnext.typeform.com/wintersupport

Very unusual to receive an e-mail insisting you bring the account up to date, usually simply a fairly large hike in the DD.  If you are on a budget DD you should really have a fairly healthy credit balance at this time of year or you will most certainly fall seriously behind over winter.  If you go onto variable DD that whole amount will be taken with the first payment.  If you do want to go onto variable DD just phone them.

Brie

@molerat I fit the criteria and have registered but no response.   The email says that if I don't pay the £700+ in the next 2 weeks my DD will be increased by 50% to "help me manage my account".  I don't want help.  I just want a response from them.  Once I know what is happening I can decide what I will do - my plan is to go on to a variable DD once the budget allows - either with Eon or another company.  

cannugec5 they haven't contacted me to join the scheme despite having been on their priority list since joining them about 3 years back.  The problem is that they don't hold enough info on many of their customers to know who will actually qualify for the help being offered.  As a result I suspect they are overwhelmed - but that's why automatic responses would be a good idea.  Likewise on the demanding email I received it states "respond to this if you need to do something different" but there's nothing to show that my response has been received by them. 

Brie

update - apparently Eon Next are offering a discount to customer in arrears and with other eligibility.  And apparently I don't qualify only because I'm with Eon Next but through Sainsburys.  No other reason.  I questioned why I'd had to wait a month to find this out and have been offered £15 in compensation which I accepted.  They paid £10.  So I've re opened my complaint.  

Vectis

Brie said:

...I'm in debt of about £320. ...

...I do not want to have a credit balance. Why should they have my money when it will earn me interest in my own bank account...

Look at it the other way around, why should they let you run up a debt with them during the time of the year when you should really be in credit i.e. before the bigger energy bills start coming in during the winter?

It would seem that your DD is far too low generally for the amount of energy you're using. It doesn't seem at all unreasonable for them to want to rectify this. And, for your own benefit, if you're in debt by £320 now, what state are you going to be in come February or March.

Basically, you're not paying enough for the amount of energy you're using, and that, quite reasonably, needs rectifying.

Brie

@Vectis
People will think you are stating the obvious but you don't know how much I've been paying versus how much I'm using over the last few years.  The account is in a much better position than when my MiL decided heating needed to be on all day, every day, all year round.  Even on the hottest days in summer.  She was quite elderly so not too surprising. 

But Eon then made it difficult for me to make payments and wouldn't take an adequate DD when we were all getting the £66 a month paid into our accounts.   So I've very little sympathy for what they think about how I'm running my account.  Not helped by being told I would be compensated for them making an error and then not getting the amount promised to get me to close my complaint.  

The DD I'm paying currently is about 25% of our household income each month so I'm not really in a position to increase it.  I had planned on going to a variable DD, possibly with another supplier but I did have, until last month, an excellent tariff with Eon so wasn't about to leave early and lose that.  I'm going to continue to monitor what tariffs are available and make a move when I see something suitable.