Back Billing Problem with Eon for Electricity

Indecisionismymiddlename

Hi 

This is v. long.  i apologise so here's a summary.  if you want more detail please ask as an awful lot of it is available.

we live in the sticks on a farm.  Smart meters don't work.  Kept being replaced by Eon.  in 2022 Eon engineer replaced 4th meter but wrote reading down wrong when changing meter.  only in march this year have Eon added the meter reading for 2022.

they are insisting that their number is correct even though added over 17 months after usage.

the back bill was for £600 odd.  They added £195 of back billing credit a month later.  They say they only have to pay back billing for the amount it puts us into the red by even though they purposely increased our direct debit because of this and took the first payment after the bill and before the back billing credit.  

They didn't tell us about the back billing before putting it on the bill.

I wrote to complain and this is their reply

We hope this email finds you in good health.

Thank you for the information, I checked your account and what happens is that you had a meter for a very short period, unfortunately the charges between 21st Oct 2022 - 8th Dec 2022 has not been added at the time, recently the review your account and apply the charges. As the charges is past 12 months you have the right to apply for backbilling, how backbilling works, the charge will be removed only if the amount added has placed the customer into debt. In your case the account was in debt -£192.95, so because this is the amount that was applied as backbilling protection placing your account back to zero.

We don't store photos of the tags in our system, the information comes to our system by info provided on the meter exchange configuration. Looks like a human error he forgot to right the number 8 on your tag, as we have a reading from you on 21/08/22 - 582.0 and the remove reading 2228 falls in line with your annual consumption.

I have removed the estimation on the 25/03/24 for you, and it is necessary an estimation on the 1st April due price change, so your calculation will not be accurate.

I placed the direct debit back to £170, this change was done due outstanding balance that had in your account before, customer with direct debit will have payment adequacy apply to them account to make sure the customer is not paying to much or to less for they bills, we only need to inform you about the change as per email sent on 28/03/24.

In order to get your smart meter working you can call to our department Firstsource on 0345 862 3405 to book an appointment

I apologise that only now we apply these charges on your bill, we will not be able to compensate your for the time expend on your calculation, as all this calculation are express on your bill and if you would like you could contact us for explanation, but we are happy to offer £30 as an apology from us.

I know their English is a bit hard to understand but do you think that this is a fair response from them?  My instincts is that this isn't right.

So clever people of MSE what do i do now??

BarelySentientAI

They're basically right, but it's poorly explained.

Arguing might get you a little bit more "goodwill" payment.

chris_the_bee

Indecisionismymiddlename said:

Hi 

This is v. long.  i apologise so here's a summary.  if you want more detail please ask as an awful lot of it is available.

we live in the sticks on a farm.  Smart meters don't work.  Kept being replaced by Eon.  in 2022 Eon engineer replaced 4th meter but wrote reading down wrong when changing meter.  only in march this year have Eon added the meter reading for 2022.

they are insisting that their number is correct even though added over 17 months after usage.

the back bill was for £600 odd.  They added £195 of back billing credit a month later.  They say they only have to pay back billing for the amount it puts us into the red by even though they purposely increased our direct debit because of this and took the first payment after the bill and before the back billing credit.  

They didn't tell us about the back billing before putting it on the bill.

I wrote to complain and this is their reply

We hope this email finds you in good health.

Thank you for the information, I checked your account and what happens is that you had a meter for a very short period, unfortunately the charges between 21st Oct 2022 - 8th Dec 2022 has not been added at the time, recently the review your account and apply the charges. As the charges is past 12 months you have the right to apply for backbilling, how backbilling works, the charge will be removed only if the amount added has placed the customer into debt. In your case the account was in debt -£192.95, so because this is the amount that was applied as backbilling protection placing your account back to zero.

We don't store photos of the tags in our system, the information comes to our system by info provided on the meter exchange configuration. Looks like a human error he forgot to right the number 8 on your tag, as we have a reading from you on 21/08/22 - 582.0 and the remove reading 2228 falls in line with your annual consumption.

I have removed the estimation on the 25/03/24 for you, and it is necessary an estimation on the 1st April due price change, so your calculation will not be accurate.

I placed the direct debit back to £170, this change was done due outstanding balance that had in your account before, customer with direct debit will have payment adequacy apply to them account to make sure the customer is not paying to much or to less for they bills, we only need to inform you about the change as per email sent on 28/03/24.

In order to get your smart meter working you can call to our department Firstsource on 0345 862 3405 to book an appointment

I apologise that only now we apply these charges on your bill, we will not be able to compensate your for the time expend on your calculation, as all this calculation are express on your bill and if you would like you could contact us for explanation, but we are happy to offer £30 as an apology from us.

I know their English is a bit hard to understand but do you think that this is a fair response from them?  My instincts is that this isn't right.

So clever people of MSE what do i do now??

May be worth a check with Ofgem.
Their rule is :

Our back billing rules

These rules set out when a supplier can charge you for any shortfalls in payment for energy you’ve used.

You cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if:

• you have not had an accurate bill for it before, even though you asked for one
• you have not been informed about any charges due via a statement of account before
• your Direct Debit amount was previously set too low to cover any charges due

BarelySentientAI

chris_the_bee said

May be worth a check with Ofgem.
Their rule is :

Our back billing rules

These rules set out when a supplier can charge you for any shortfalls in payment for energy you’ve used.

You cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if:

• you have not had an accurate bill for it before, even though you asked for one
• you have not been informed about any charges due via a statement of account before
• your Direct Debit amount was previously set too low to cover any charges due

It's that last line that explains what they have done here - badly described as "we can't put you into the red".  Previously made direct debit payments are allowed to be used.

Mobtr

They are correct. Backbilling only applies if the extra charges from more than 12 months prior puts the account into debit. As you were in credit, the rules do not apply. 

Not really fair but it is to prevent ‘bill shock’ and the customer getting a high bill due to the billing error if the energy company. 

Therefore, if you don’t pay your bills you would have had a  reduction , as you do & pay by direct debit, you get nothing