Eon Next recharges

zoelouisexo

Last month I had alot of recharges on my account from Nov 2021-oct 23, this was the peroid I didn't have a smart meter. On my January 2025 bill I was charged approximately £90 for usage during the above time. After going through the bill, I could see I was charged estimated usage before I even had gas to the property. I submitted a complaint and the money ended up being returned to me plus £30 as they wrongly charged me.

This month I have had another lot of reverse charges going over the same peroid Nov 21 - Oct 23 and been charged £87. I spoke to Eon Next customer service who said even though I gave a meter reading on the date I moved into the property in nov 21 and a final meter reading was given by the engineer when the smart meter was fitted in Oct 2023. Plus meter readings every month in between those dates, there would have been energy missed. 

I explained to the customer service if I gave meter reading when I moved in and one was supplied by the engineer when I switched to a smart meter how could energy be missed? 
I also read on the ofgem website that I shouldn't be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago. 

"Ofgem's back billing rules state that energy suppliers can't charge customers for energy used more than 12 months ago, unless certain conditions are met. These rules apply to all payment methods. "

I didn't get any help from Eon next Custpmer service. So I've opened a complaint with them and awaiting a response. 

Has anyone else experienced this? 

QrizB

Yes, we've seen a few threads from people with exactly this problem. Also from Octopus customers. Since EON Next use Octopus's software, I do wonder if there's been a problem in the past and they've only just patched the hole.

zoelouisexo said:

I spoke to Eon Next customer service who said even though I gave a meter reading on the date I moved into the property in nov 21 and a final meter reading was given by the engineer when the smart meter was fitted in Oct 2023. Plus meter readings every month in between those dates, there would have been energy missed. 

You can check this quite easily, if you have your original bils and the new ones. Either you've been billed for every unit of energy between those dates, or you haven't.

zoelouisexo said:

I also read on the ofgem website that I shouldn't be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago. 
"Ofgem's back billing rules state that energy suppliers can't charge customers for energy used more than 12 months ago, unless certain conditions are met. These rules apply to all payment methods. "

There's a bit more to it than that. They are allow to allocate credit on your account to earlier periods, for example.

Scot_39

Theres been several threads on this on the EOn users forum.

I only read a couple of posts - some were trivial - like shifting 10s kWh due to a manually submitted meter reading say a few days after a cap change when rates were only changing 5-10% - but producing complex bills in the process.

A few were more significant - creating large credit / debit balance swings - but didn't have time to study.

Back billing only stops new units being added to bills.

It's not a simply they cannot bill you for anything over 12m ago.

If you have had bills but estimated - and that then begs the question why did you tolerate estimated billing if submitting regular readings - and they have now been "by model" redistributed based on final actual readings - unless they have shifted units across the 12m boundary - I am not sure it will help you - or if does by very much.

And the strict rules on credit are even less favorable - as iirc they do not have to refund.  But then from posts here - seems Ombudsman in some decisions has awarded refunds.

zoelouisexo

QrizB said:

Yes, we've seen a few threads from people with exactly this problem. Also from Octopus customers. Since EON Next use Octopus's software, I do wonder if there's been a problem in the past and they've only just patched the hole.

zoelouisexo said:

I spoke to Eon Next customer service who said even though I gave a meter reading on the date I moved into the property in nov 21 and a final meter reading was given by the engineer when the smart meter was fitted in Oct 2023. Plus meter readings every month in between those dates, there would have been energy missed. 

You can check this quite easily, if you have your original bils and the new ones. Either you've been billed for every unit of energy between those dates, or you haven't.

zoelouisexo said:

I also read on the ofgem website that I shouldn't be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago. 
"Ofgem's back billing rules state that energy suppliers can't charge customers for energy used more than 12 months ago, unless certain conditions are met. These rules apply to all payment methods. "

There's a bit more to it than that. They are allow to allocate credit on your account to earlier periods, for example.

I believe that all my previous online statements automatically change to what they have now charged me so I can't compare. All I know is I was in credit and im now in debt, I believe I have been charged £90 but doesn't state for when or what. 

zoelouisexo

Because I was not on a direct debit or a smart meter I would submit meter readings every month to generate my monthly bill. Sometimes they would send an estimated bill if i was a day late submitting my reading or I was possibly away. I would always then submit a meter reading, wait a day or 2 for an accurate bill to be generated then pay the new bill. On the new bill it would show what my reading was the previous month, the new meter reading i supplied this month, then how much usage I used. So I would be under the impression I never paid estimated bills, as i would always supply meter readings monthly and then pay the accurate bill. I did this every month from November 21 to October 23. Every bill paid in that peroid was bills generated after meter readings were submitted. Then my smart meter was fitted on oct 23 and I went on a direct debit and a tarrif. 

Last month they did the recharges for all my gas bills and wrongly charged me for usage that never existed as I didn't have gas or meter at the property at that time. Luckily I was on it as they kept fobbing me off, until I went through the bills myself and found the mistake.
This month they have done both my gas and electric but I can't see when I've been charged for and all my old bills have automatically been update with the recharges so I can't compare. 

MWT

zoelouisexo said:

This month they have done both my gas and electric but I can't see when I've been charged for and all my old bills have automatically been update with the recharges so I can't compare. 

No emails with the original bills?

zoelouisexo

MWT said:No emails with the original bills?

Unfortunately not, I may have a few but not as far back as 2021 as I had issues with my mailbox syncing and losing emails.