EON Trying to bill me from 2020!

LisaAt

I have been with EON energy since they were N power. Prior to having a smart meter fitted I sent in meter readings and also allowed them access for meter readings. I tried to go on smart meter for a while but couldn't due to having an old type of fuse which they eventually changed in 2022 ( approx) All this while i have always made monthly payments by DD so sometimes in credit. In fact in 2023 while having some renovation work done on our house I carried on paying the monthly DD and ended up about £800 in credit and then asked for a refund which they paid out. I think I had a similar situation last year too and they reviewed my account and refunded me again. This year I was  £568.20 in credit so just after my monthly statement ( which they send each month since 2022) So I requested this was returned to me. Then they advised that they would refund me £421.66 as there were £146.54 of charges on my account. Obviously I was confused as I'd had the monthly statement the day before and I hadn't used that much energy in one day. Then I get a separate email with a statement showing charges and credits on my account from 2020, 2021 and 2022. I have been in email exchange with EON since then I as say they can't charge me for energy used more than 12 months ago as per Ofgem back billing rules. They have given me various excuses saying my readings weren't accurate at that time ( as they were estimated) and also because the charge is not putting me in debt then the back billing rules don't apply? As far as I am concerned EON have numerous opportunities prior to now to review this error. They reviewed my account regularly in the past 5 years when they put my direct debits up and down, and also when I have previously requested overpayments from them.  Also according to the Ofgem back billing rules You cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if:

• you have not been informed about any charges due via a statement of account before

They only issued the statement of charges in 2025 for 2020, 21 and 22.

Can someone else please shed light on if this has happened to you and the outcome?

Neil_Jones

LisaAt said:

I have been with EON energy since they were N power. Prior to having a smart meter fitted I sent in meter readings and also allowed them access for meter readings. I tried to go on smart meter for a while but couldn't due to having an old type of fuse which they eventually changed in 2022 ( approx) All this while i have always made monthly payments by DD so sometimes in credit.

 In fact in 2023 while having some renovation work done on our house I carried on paying the monthly DD and ended up about £800 in credit and then asked for a refund which they paid out. I think I had a similar situation last year too and they reviewed my account and refunded me again. This year I was  £568.20 in credit so just after my monthly statement ( which they send each month since 2022) So I requested this was returned to me.

Then they advised that they would refund me £421.66 as there were £146.54 of charges on my account. Obviously I was confused as I'd had the monthly statement the day before and I hadn't used that much energy in one day. Then I get a separate email with a statement showing charges and credits on my account from 2020, 2021 and 2022. 

I have been in email exchange with EON since then I as say they can't charge me for energy used more than 12 months ago as per Ofgem back billing rules. They have given me various excuses saying my readings weren't accurate at that time ( as they were estimated) and also because the charge is not putting me in debt then the back billing rules don't apply? 

As far as I am concerned EON have numerous opportunities prior to now to review this error. They reviewed my account regularly in the past 5 years when they put my direct debits up and down, and also when I have previously requested overpayments from them.  Also according to the Ofgem back billing rules You cannot be charged for energy used more than 12 months ago if:

• you have not been informed about any charges due via a statement of account before

They only issued the statement of charges in 2025 for 2020, 21 and 22.

Can someone else please shed light on if this has happened to you and the outcome?

Please use paragraphs this is impossible to read.  I've quoted it and chopped it up for benefit of others.

What I would say is:

1) Your direct debit is not your bill.

2) In a nutshell, back billing only applies if you have done everything right.  Have you been giving meter readings and have EON done anything with those readings, ie do they appear on your bills or have they just been totally ignored?  The key word in your post seems to be "estimated".

If you were as you say nearly £570 (or £800 at one point) in credit at one point that suggests your estimated readings bore no resemblance to your actual usage, or your direct debit is far too high.

Scot_39

Your focussing - and focussing based on a poor / selective interpretation - on the backbilling and the billed before statements.

For instance the "before" means at the time - not the revised bills now.  So unless your saying you were never billed in 2020,2021 and 2022 - that condition likley does not apply.

Any charges billed on such bills stand - and although you don't think so - can in reality be corrected at any time - even after 6 years (the court actionable limit in Eng).  

Backbilling only protects you against bill shock - against supplier errors drivings consumers into debt if you like - by their failure on accurate billing requirement.

And if the costs go up - offset against any credit on account AFAIK - hence EOn Nexts comments regarding wouldn't lead to debt on account.

What you maybe need to focus on instead is the actual license requirement to produce accurate bills based on actual readings - which like back billing - has a 12 month requirement.

Despite that license condition - we still see people reporting catch up bills after not months but years of estimated bills - who took no action to address their suppliers use of estimates.

And the suppliers really do expect their customers to check their bills for such anomalies.  

[I have had them throw it back in my mum's face in response to billing complaints on parents account - which I then took over under POA - after SG ignored readings for 2+ years - and my mum thought everything was fine as the balances wwere and she knew had phoned in and as on PSR - had regular professional meter reading visits - SG ignored 5 sets over 2.5 years on a 6m statement cycle - back before backbilling came in. ]

So for the period 2020 - 2022 - how many bills were based on estimates - and how many based on actual readings - and during that period - how many self and how many professsional meter reader visits - should nPower / EOn etc have had on account to produce accurate billing.

And how far were those estimates from your actuals.

Is the £146 extra units - or it some other form of charge corrections - like shifting units across cap changes - the rates for which were more than doubled across that period - which were ramping up sharply by late 2022 to EPG protection kicked in the Oct - assuming you were on a cap protected supply.