EON billing issue - fixed tariff

Stephen2165

Hi in November we moved into our current address and set up a fixed tariff with EON. 
We were offered the following.. 109 per month. 
112 per month. 
114 per month. 
1 bedroom flat previous owner was paying 109 per month.. We know because it is our daughter in law. 
We said ok 112 per month is ok bearing in mind my wife is on uc due to severe health issues.. Ie waiting for heart surgery and she is full of arthritis. Im her full time carer. 
Now we are getting phone calls every other evening threatening us with disconnection.. Bailiffs.. Various letters.. Nobody wants to help.. Ive called numerous times only to be told pay up.. 
My argument is we are on a fixed tariff offered by Eon.. What have we done wrong it was their idea.. Yes its high at the moment but in the summer it will dramatically drop.. 
We are feeling bullied and this is causing great distress. 
We dont have a smart meter for 2 reasons.. 
We have no Internet in the property and we are supposed to be on a fixed tariff.. Can you please help 

Stephen2165

Bullying from EON

MorningcoffeeIV

They're not robbers. That's just silly..  They're telling you that you're not paying enough, given your usage. A fixed tariff is not all you can eat.

How far behind are you, given you say you only moved in in November? For disconnection to be threatened, there will be more to the story. Was your daughter in law also heavily in arrears? Has the name on the account been properly changed?

How do your reading tie up with the bills - are they correct?

MeteredOut

Please post your tariff details and your usage in kWh since you moved in (or bills obfuscated to remove your personal details).

Either you've used a *lot* more in 3-4 months than EON initially estimated (either based on the details you provided, or default assumptions if you did not provide any) or somehow your opening reading is wrong. You did submit an opening reading after moving in, yes?

Please remember a fixed tariff is a fixed price per kWh of energy used, not a fixed monthly cost for all-you-can-eat energy. The direct debit you pay each month is used to pay off your actual usage (kWh * unit charge + days * standing charge). If your DD is too low over a period of time, you'll build up a debit amount and your DD will increase to settle your outstanding balance.

You don't need internet for a smart meter.

Previous occupant (single person, perhaps out at work during the day?) paying £109/month does not mean a couple will cost £112/month, especially if you are both at home for a lot of the day.

Are you on the Priority Services Register with EON? If not, look into that:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/getting-extra-help-priority-services-register

eskbanker

Stephen2165 said:

Hi in November we moved into our current address and set up a fixed tariff with EON. 

[...]

My argument is we are on a fixed tariff offered by Eon.. 

[...]

We have no Internet in the property and we are supposed to be on a fixed tariff.

'Fixed tariff' generally means fixing the cost per unit, not fixing the cost per month, so even though you arranged to make payments of £112 per month, if that's not enough to cover the actual usage then you owe them the extra.

Pollycat

More suited to the Energy board.

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this to the energy board. 

Stephen2165

We are on the priority register with water.. 
We need a fixed price every month or it wont work.. Im a class one lorry driver and being on uc really psses me off but my wife didn't ask to have a stroke and cancer and now needs heart surgery did she.. I can hear many of you thinking another lazy benifit tsser.. I can promise you id rather be on 50k a year than dealing with this crap

MorningcoffeeIV

You won't get a fixed price all you can eat deal.  So if you need to hit a budget figure, you're going to have to keep your usage below the price you're willing to pay. It sounds like that will require a lot of cutting back.

That means you're going to need to audit your usage in the smallest of detail to see how you can get down to the price you need. 

You're also going to want a smart meter to help you do that, so that's something to crack on with now as it will take some time. 

Robin9

@Stephen2165   There's something odd going on here -  even if you were using £200 a month Eon wouldn't be chasing the debt after less than 3 months. Lets make sure that Eon have the correct info first.

Have you the very first bill you got from Eon.    Does that show the reading you gave when you moved in?  Can you give us that reading please.  Have you given them meter readings every month since.

On the last bill you have -  what is the letter against the meter reading -  A C E  or our read/your read. What is that reading ?

It's quite possible the £112 isn't enough - are you perhaps at home more than your daughter in law was?

PS You don't need the internet to get a Smart meter.

Gerry1

High time that dozy Ofgem acted to end this inevitable confusion.  Fixed DDs should be renamed Equal DDs.

They should also standardise on monthly billing to prevent apparently comfortable credit balances suddenly becoming big debits in Month 6, and also require all suppliers to offer Variable DDs (Whole Bill payment).