Proposed Quadrupling of DD payments!

GrumpyOldGit123

A WARNING for everyone.

E-on recently sent me a email telling me my DD was going to be nearly Quadrupled from £130 to £494 in March!, with my account £700+ in Credit.

When I challenged this E-on felt it ok to simply reply “Apologies about this Simon, i have just looked into this and updated your direct debit back to £130.00 each month.” and the matter is then closed!!

Having got nowhere with E-on customer service on X (Twitter) about an explanation of why this happens and the lack of human intervention to stop it. As per the Post Office Scandal, E-on just blame it on the ‘Customer Management’ Computer System!

I then wrote to Chris Norbury, E-on CEO on behalf of all vulnerable customers who might find this type of email stressful and possibly put them into financial difficulties when it’s not necessary.

I received a reply from the Escalated Complaints department of E-on basically blaming the industry wide Estimated Accurate Consumption calculation and that The system automatically processes the "EAC" and calculates what it thinks the correct Direct Debit would be per month. This is obviously not very accurate and there is no human intervention to pick up on obvious erroneous calculations!

The reason for posting this is that I am concerned (just like the Horizon system and the post office Sub postmasters) that vulnerable people will believe there energy companies Computer System and the calculation which will cause them stress and maybe Financial Hardship!

I have CC Ofgem into my correspondence with E-on. I now intend to take this up with the Energy Ombudsman as it’s not right that these computer systems can calculate EAC so inaccurately for Consumers and there is no human intervention to stop these emails being sent.

My advice is if you don’t think the DD change is correct is to challenge your energy company or ask a friend to check or ask the CAB.

NorfolkCanary

GrumpyOldGit123 said:

A WARNING for everyone.

E-on recently sent me a email telling me my DD was going to be nearly Quadrupled from £130 to £494 in March!, with my account £700+ in Credit.

When I challenged this E-on felt it ok to simply reply “Apologies about this Simon, i have just looked into this and updated your direct debit back to £130.00 each month.” and the matter is then closed!!

Having got nowhere with E-on customer service on X (Twitter) about an explanation of why this happens and the lack of human intervention to stop it. As per the Post Office Scandal, E-on just blame it on the ‘Customer Management’ Computer System!

I then wrote to Chris Norbury, E-on CEO on behalf of all vulnerable customers who might find this type of email stressful and possibly put them into financial difficulties when it’s not necessary.

I received a reply from the Escalated Complaints department of E-on basically blaming the industry wide Estimated Accurate Consumption calculation and that The system automatically processes the "EAC" and calculates what it thinks the correct Direct Debit would be per month. This is obviously not very accurate and there is no human intervention to pick up on obvious erroneous calculations!

The reason for posting this is that I am concerned (just like the Horizon system and the post office Sub postmasters) that vulnerable people will believe there energy companies Computer System and the calculation which will cause them stress and maybe Financial Hardship!

I have CC Ofgem into my correspondence with E-on. I now intend to take this up with the Energy Ombudsman as it’s not right that these computer systems can calculate EAC so inaccurately for Consumers and there is no human intervention to stop these emails being sent.

My advice is if you don’t think the DD change is correct is to challenge your energy company or ask a friend to check or ask the CAB.

Sky pixie alive, this is nothing like the Horizon scandal....for instance have you lost your job/house/partner due to this? Did you receive a criminal record? If the answer to those is no.........

In simple terms, is £1,560 in total yearly payments covering your usage? If so great, let EON know with evidence based calculation.
If not what do you calculate it to be?
Do you provide regular meter readings, either manual or smart? If smart are they used in billing?
When was the last bill produced on an accurate set of reading(s)?
If this possibly catching up with a previous 3/6/12 month under payment & therefore debt on account and raising the DD to compensate moving forwards?

Ofgem doesn't take private individual complaints. Also, you'll need to follow EON complaints procedure and wait 8 (6?) weeks and/or receive a deadlock letter before moving forward with a complaint with the ombudsman.

"My advice is if you don’t think the DD change is correct is to challenge your energy company or ask a friend to check or ask the CAB."
My advice is if you don't think the DD change is correct, is to seek assistance to calculate what it should be, from either friends, relatives, or CAB.

Gerry1

My advice is if you don't think the DD charge is correct, is to seek assistance to calculate what it should be, from either friends, relatives, or Citizens Advice.

Grumpy_chap

GrumpyOldGit123 said:

A WARNING for everyone.

E-on recently sent me a email telling me my DD was going to be nearly Quadrupled from £130 to £494 in March!, with my account £700+ in Credit.

When I challenged this E-on felt it ok to simply reply “Apologies about this Simon, i have just looked into this and updated your direct debit back to £130.00 each month.” and the matter is then closed!!

Having got nowhere with E-on customer service on X (Twitter) about an explanation of why this happens and the lack of human intervention to stop it. As per the Post Office Scandal, E-on just blame it on the ‘Customer Management’ Computer System!

I then wrote to Chris Norbury, E-on CEO on behalf of all vulnerable customers who might find this type of email stressful and possibly put them into financial difficulties when it’s not necessary.

I received a reply from the Escalated Complaints department of E-on basically blaming the industry wide Estimated Accurate Consumption calculation and that The system automatically processes the "EAC" and calculates what it thinks the correct Direct Debit would be per month. This is obviously not very accurate and there is no human intervention to pick up on obvious erroneous calculations!

The reason for posting this is that I am concerned (just like the Horizon system and the post office Sub postmasters) that vulnerable people will believe there energy companies Computer System and the calculation which will cause them stress and maybe Financial Hardship!

I have CC Ofgem into my correspondence with E-on. I now intend to take this up with the Energy Ombudsman as it’s not right that these computer systems can calculate EAC so inaccurately for Consumers and there is no human intervention to stop these emails being sent.

My advice is if you don’t think the DD change is correct is to challenge your energy company or ask a friend to check or ask the CAB.

Are you on a smart meter or, if not, have you been providing regular meter readings to the supplier?
If the bill is based on "Estimated Readings", virtually everything about credit balances and the calculation of monthly payment could be incorrect.
The first step is to verify that the credit balance and future DD level is being assessed based on ACTUAL and not ESTIMATED readings.

RS2OOO

To be fair I've had no such issues with EON, in fact they keep reducing my DD and I keep increasing it again because I know my usage is going up.

Green_hopeful

I have found Eon Next customer services really helpful. We had an issue with an estimated gas reading over Christmas. I sent in a reading after Christmas and they recalculated the bill but the DD was still higher than was needed. I emailed and suggested an appropriate DD and they immediately agreed the suggested DD and changed it.