Eon renewal - 60% increase and no justification!

PThomas_2

We have a 3 bedroom detached home in a rural location, heating is oil. There is a solar array on the roof with a FIT generation tariff. We have 2 plug in hybrids, each of which are charged at least once a day.
We cannot attach battery to current solar due to FIT, we are investigating additional solar and battery, but that doesn't help today. Below calculations ignore the solar FIT generation income.

Currently on E-on Next drive v5:
Day rate: 24.36p/kWh
Night rate: 6.5p/kWh
Export: 16p/kWh
Standing charge: 68.12p/day

12 month usage:
Day: 5,403 kWh
Night: 2,916 kWh
Export: 2,580 kWh

This equates to:
Day rate: £1,316
Night rate: £195
Export: -£425
Standing charge: £248
TOTAL for 2025 was £1,334


If we sign up to the latest equivalent tariff, which is Next drive v12:
Day rate: 33.86p/kWh
Night rate: 7.5p/kWh (and 1 less hour at this rate per night!)
Export: 6p/kWh
Standing charge: 60p/day

This equates to:
Day rate: £1,829
Night rate: £218
Export: -£154
Standing charge: £219
TOTAL for 2026 would be £2,112 Thats circa 60% more expensive! (£1,334 to £2,112)

I cannot see how any energy Company can justify such an increase?
I have asked them to explain and they left a voicemail saying its not a 60% increase, and will try and call me back. From everything I can see online, these tariffs are correct.

The day tariff has increased by 39%
Night tariff has reduced hours from 7 to 6 and increased by 15% for those hours.
Export has reduced by 62%
And a small reduction in standing charge.

Isthisforreal99

The tarriff ia the tarriff and if you are not happy then switch.

They are not going to explain their policies to you.

Rodders53

Correct.  Electric prices have rocketed.  I am in a similar boat (though no solar or home battery).
EoN Next Drive v6 so a tad higher price that you (I just missed v5 by a week or so) ending next month.

v5 was very cheap electric at the time.  NB the off peak also reduces from 7 hours 0000-0700 to 6 0000-0600.

Choose alternative suppliers: Octopus and EDF, for example, get quotes/tariffs from them:  then plumb the numbers into a spreadsheet and see which is likely best price for your use.

Factor in any exit fees if prices drop in near future and you want to move again.  EoN is none.

Export / FiT prices etc.,. may need a separate consideration / column or two in the spreadsheet.

EoN quote figures for (allegedly) my use and other tariffs with them work out to a very similar annual cost (Smart saver no exit, Gust with exit fees even an 18 month fix with exit fees.

Check for referral fees when moving supplier if you know anyone on the new supplier.

MWT

PThomas_2 said:

I cannot see how any energy Company can justify such an increase?
I have asked them to explain and they left a voicemail saying its not a 60% increase, and will try and call me back. From everything I can see online, these tariffs are correct.

Controversial perhaps, but flip this around, how can you possibly justify getting angry about being able to buy energy at 7.5p/kWh when most people on the Standard Variable Tariff are paying twice that amount... ?

... OK... full disclosure, i obtain roughly 99.7% of my annual energy at 7p/kWh, through a combination of an EV tariff and a large home battery, and if anything were to change that 7p to say 15p, I'd be sad for sure, but I'd be happy about the years I've spent paying very little compared to others.

Your energy supplier was probably over ambitions in setting the rate as low as they did and adjusting it up a bit was not unreasonable.

Ultimately you and I have no right to be able to get tariffs at such very low rates, and if they do vary a bit from time to time then so be it.

If that small variation in combination with other small variations results in a larger swing because of our pattern of use then so be it.

matelodave

TBH I'm not sure that many of these "special" deals, especially for EVs and other ToU tariffs are going to be sustainable over the longer term. It's apparent that many of them are no where near as attractive as they were a year or so ago.

I guess as more and more people switch over they'll get even less attractive because the energy companies wont be raking in the revenue.

Most incentives that have been introduced over the past few years have been changed, modified, diluted and eventually withdrawn - the government have been past masters at it. Look at how incentives for heat pumps, EV's and anything else you can think of have waxed and waned as they become more expensive for the government or industry to sustain.
However once you've been hooked you then you end up to paying the price further down the road.

Netexporter

I'm working on the basis that maximising self-consumption from solar is the way to go, for 8 months of the year at least, and tough it out as best you can for the winter months.

MWT

matelodave said:

TBH I'm not sure that many of these "special" deals, especially for EVs and other ToU tariffs are going to be sustainable over the longer term. 

I fully expect they will evolve and change, particularly the ones that are just a re-branding of E7 variations.

Simply offering overnight hours at a low price isn't going to be sustainable, but offerings like Octopus IOG that are flexible and hand control over exactly when the EV will charge to the energy supplier have a lot more potential to continue in the long term.

lohr500

Is there any of that 5,403kWh peak day time load you could shift to off-peak?
It seems quite high given you are using oil for your heating and have solar.

How are you heating your hot water? 
With a reasonably efficient oil boiler and the current oil price, it will most likely be cheaper to heat your water with the boiler.

Are you charging both PHEV during the off-peak rate? If not, is it worth looking at getting higher output charging points installed so you can charge both of them during the off-peak period?

Definitely look at battery storage. It's been a game changer for us. My 7 hour off-peak Economy 7 rate with UW is 4.98p per kW/h. 98%+ of our annual 4500kWh peak rate usage is now supported by our Tesla PW3 battery which charges up every night on the same 4.98p rate. 

The UW export rate is pants though, but as we have no solar, it doesn't matter for our scenario.

QrizB

PThomas_2 said:
I cannot see how any energy Company can justify such an increase?

As stated above, the tariff on offer is the tariff on offer. If you don't like it, you can look elsewhere.

I agree that Next Drive v5 was an especially good deal when you took it, and you shouldn't expect to get the same deal again.

EON have also changed their export tariff offer so you can only get their 16p/kWh if you're on a "normal" tariff not eg. Drive.

Look at what's on offer elsewhere and see if you want to switch, but I don't think there's any offer quite as good as Drive v5 was.

I also agree that you seem to be using a lot of daytime electricity, around 16kWh a day. That's double the "average" for a household without solar PV. You should see if you can reduce this; if you can't, an AC-coupled battery storage system will be independent of your FIat and will let you shift some or all of your daytime usage to the nighttime rate.

rp1974

In a similar situation as the OP in regards to renewal of EV tariff with Eon,although without the complication of solar and home battery in the mix.
The suggestion being that EV specific tariffs are,and will be changing,mostly increases and other restrictions,if that's where the markets headed it is what it is.
There's not that much of a difference at the present for me moving elsewhere than staying with Eon,as with any supplier they don't need to offer or justify any tariff except the SVR,pretty much a take it or leave it situation,it's up to the individual realistically.

Reed_Richards

I hadn't realised the restriction Eon Next had applied to their export tariff.  But my Export tariff with them was fixed for a year from the day I started it in March 2025 so it has a little while yet to run.  After that I'll be looking for a new supplier/provider, I guess.