EON-NEXT SAYS BACK BILLING DOES NOT APPLY - HELP

dealbroker

I have just received my first bill from Eon-Next, having moved to them on 1st March 2025. They took over my Npower account from 1st January 2021 and billed me up to 27th March 2021, after which I moved to EDF. I returned to Eon-Next as a customer on 1st March 2025.

I was expecting a bill for my March usage, with my March 2025 direct debit payment deducted. What I received was a charge for electricity for the period 2nd September 2020 — 20th November 2020. During this period my supplier was Npower. Eon-Next took over NPower's accounts when Npower withdrew from the market. Regular meter readings were supplied and the final payment cleared any debt. They also want to increase my direct debit.

I complained to Eon-Next, pointing out that under Ofgem's back billing rules, a supplier cannot bill for energy used more than 12 months ago. They have come back to me with the following reply:

“Our back billing team have reviewed this and below is their note:

BACK-BILLING ASSESSMENT - DOES NOT APPLY

Rebill - BB doesn't apply. When an account has been rebilled and charges are over 12 months it doesn't automatically mean the charges will be written off, this is a rebill, the account has not been unbilled, if we've billed them correctly previously and the charges are now the same as they were or we'd overbilled and the charges are now less backbilling doesn't apply as there are no previously unforeseen charges.

Although re-billed from 2021, the electricity charges over 12 months have reduced:

Original: £358.67
Revised: £327.23

Therefore BB not applicable.”

Are they correct that back billing does not apply? Looking the Ofgem's website, it says 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. If they have rebilled this, surely it means the original bill was inaccurate?

Has anybody come across this rebilling argument before?

Thanks in advance for any help.

QrizB

EON Next are claiming that they did bill you for the 2020 usage but you didn't pay (or didn't pay enough), so this isn't back billing.

Do you have all your old NPower and EON Next bills from 2020-2021? What do those bills show?

Scot_39

Looks like they may be chasing a 5 year old debt here.  If tge Dd revision is for that and not your first months use and Apr cap rate  increase.

One you seem adamant does not exist.

Do you have bills or old bank records that show how much you paid back then  ?


They are also saying you were billed for c£31 more than should have - but key is you were already billed.  £358 vs £327 - for the period.  But no mention of how much you paid against I by DD of otherwise - do you know?


So no backbilling doesn't apply- its essentially a bill increase protection.  Suppliers cannot increase an old bill from 12months plus ago.  It stems from an overall license condition to within reasonable limits produce accurate bills at least every 12 months.

It doesn't write off the original bill.  Worse you can even AFAIK in some circumstances lose excess credit.  So even if you can prove you paid the £358 - you may never see the £31 rebated.

The argument is now surely why that money wasn't either  billed as they now claim so part of your final payment - when you stated you correctly cleared the at tge time demanded sum.

EOn took over nPower in 2019, but they didn't start to move accounts until Jul 2020 according to a quick google  - and that was to new EOn Next systems - their new domestic supply division - on a different computer billing system. 

The possible modes of mistake on their part here are many.

The recent BGas internal exercise saw multiple complaints here from those where it went wrong - credit balances not transfered, DD payments taken from bank but not moved to new personal account credits etc.

Others caught up in the SoLR also saw large debt demands that weren't real.

The best defence good detailed records.

There could well have been similar issues with you leaving to EDF during tge original takeover of old npower billing - and any errors in the migration to EOn Next account systems again c2020 before leaving impacting tge final bill.

I was with EOn itself and my DD amount reverted to the old one - after I'd increased it for a month at EOn - but my readings and credit moved smoothly - so clearly not everything always happens 100% smoothly as it were.  

It's been so long now many won't have kept records - but if you have them check for final bills / balances at each stage of leaving npower to  EOn Next and EOn Next to EDF.

It is even in simplest scenarios not unheard of for final bills to be wrong by significant margin - and reissued months later.

If not got own records and they are now effectively demanding the revised £327 - or part thereof - ask them to produce more detailed billing and payments history on their account records to prove you owe it.
But again without bank records it may be difficult to challange any claimed errors on the payment side for payments you did make (if not credited for them).

dealbroker

QrizB said:

EON Next are claiming that they did bill you for the 2020 usage but you didn't pay (or didn't pay enough), so this isn't back billing.

Do you have all your old NPower and EON Next bills from 2020-2021? What do those bills show?

Thanks.  Will do a deeper dive into the figures and ask them to explain.

dealbroker

Scot_39 said:

Looks like they may be chasing a 5 year old debt here.  If tge Dd revision is for that and not your first months use and Apr cap rate  increase.

One you seem adamant does not exist.

Do you have bills or old bank records that show how much you paid back then  ?


They are also saying you were billed for c£31 more than should have - but key is you were already billed.  £358 vs £327 - for the period.  But no mention of how much you paid against I by DD of otherwise - do you know?


So no backbilling doesn't apply- its essentially a bill increase protection.  Suppliers cannot increase an old bill from 12months plus ago.  It stems from an overall license condition to within reasonable limits produce accurate bills at least every 12 months.

It doesn't write off the original bill.  Worse you can even AFAIK in some circumstances lose excess credit.  So even if you can prove you paid the £358 - you may never see the £31 rebated.

The argument is now surely why that money wasn't either  billed as they now claim so part of your final payment - when you stated you correctly cleared the at tge time demanded sum.

EOn took over nPower in 2019, but they didn't start to move accounts until Jul 2020 according to a quick google  - and that was to new EOn Next systems - their new domestic supply division - on a different computer billing system. 

The possible modes of mistake on their part here are many.

The recent BGas internal exercise saw multiple complaints here from those where it went wrong - credit balances not transfered, DD payments taken from bank but not moved to new personal account credits etc.

Others caught up in the SoLR also saw large debt demands that weren't real.

The best defence good detailed records.

There could well have been similar issues with you leaving to EDF during tge original takeover of old npower billing - and any errors in the migration to EOn Next account systems again c2020 before leaving impacting tge final bill.

I was with EOn itself and my DD amount reverted to the old one - after I'd increased it for a month at EOn - but my readings and credit moved smoothly - so clearly not everything always happens 100% smoothly as it were.  

It's been so long now many won't have kept records - but if you have them check for final bills / balances at each stage of leaving npower to  EOn Next and EOn Next to EDF.

It is even in simplest scenarios not unheard of for final bills to be wrong by significant margin - and reissued months later.

If not got own records and they are now effectively demanding the revised £327 - or part thereof - ask them to produce more detailed billing and payments history on their account records to prove you owe it.
But again without bank records it may be difficult to challange any claimed errors on the payment side for payments you did make (if not credited for them).

Thank you for your reply and the many helpful points you have made. It is appreciated. I have access to comprehensive financial records and all bills, so will do a deeper dive into them and ask Eon-Next to prove I owe the balance demanded.