Eon Next - Back billing issue?

QrizB

Where are these ombudsman decisions documented?

You've asked this question a couple of times in this thread and I think you're looking for something that doesn't exist (or at least, isn't available to the public).

Energy ombudsman decisions aren't published, as far as I'm aware. I've read a lot of threads on this forum and I've not seen a link to a decision as part of a thread.

What we do sometimes get is reports from people who have been to the Ombudsman and tell us what was decided.

Edit to add: here's an example from 2023 where Quantum912 was told by the Ombudsman that back billing protections didn't apply because their account remained in credit:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6478644/back-billing-disagreement-with-the-ombudsman

And also HBomb78 in July 2025:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81523269#Comment_81523269

I'm sure there are more examples here if you can be bothered to wrangle the Forum search function, but I've spent enough time on that already.

It seems clear enough that the Ombudsman's position on back billing is that it's a prohibition on asking for new money, not on taking payments from an account credit balance.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863201#Comment_81863201

Perfect, thats exactly what I was thinking of.

@OP - since the guidance isn't clear and the ombudsman doesn't have a published rule on this, I would still take it to them and make your case as you have nothing to lose doing that. Just don't expect to win based on the above previous decisions.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863235#Comment_81863235

There have been occasional decisions in the other direction so no harm in trying, but the preponderance of rulings is certainly suggesting it will be a failed attempt.

Personally I know I wouldn't take something like this to the Ombudsman if I knew I had used the energy in the first place.

Welshpoolfan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862860#Comment_81862860

And that payment by DD should pay for legitimate bills. Under back ball regulations a bill issued for usage more than a year ago isn't legitimate. Otherwise this would be written into the regulations.

Otherwise, the back billing regulations don't exist in any practical purpose if, at any point in the future, a customer's account has enough credit in it to cover a back bill. "This bill is 7 years old and we couldn't issue it before but you had a week where your credit covered it so unlucky" effectively removes the regulations completely.

As for "bill shock" - so it is bill shock if I need to pay extra money into my account to cover a back bill, but not bill shock if I have to pay extra money into my account to cover my next bill which was covered until the back bill...

debitcardmayhem

The rules are here https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/what-do-if-you-get-back-bill

Swipe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863540#Comment_81863540

Topping up your account with credit is proving that you have the money. Keep it in your savings account as advised.

Reed_Richards

The problem that I see is that, had you been paying attention at the time, you would have known that you hadn't paid anything for gas used between 7th January 2023 when you got a new meter and 16th January 2023 when you submitted your first reading. So you should/could always have known that there was an outstanding bill. Certainly your supplier was ridiculously slow in billing you for these 9 days but you're not in the same situation as somebody receiving a revised bill covering a period of time that they had already paid for. So that might make the Ombudsman less sympathetic to your case, should they even be capable of a sympathetic judgement.

Woodstok2000

There is definitely an interesting argument to be made here about Bill shock. Im with ovo, and they set the direct debit amount to keep 1 month of energy charges in credit on the account. My direct debit has not changed in 18 months as we're on a fixed deal. In theory, if they found some old charges and used my credit balance (which they mandate) to pay for them, my direct debit would go up (bill shock) to cover this and replenish the credit, and so could be argued to be covered under the regulations.

Swipe

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863588#Comment_81863588

I'd avoid suppliers that don't allow variable direct debit unless they had a really good deal compared to everyone else.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863540#Comment_81863540

I strongly argued the bill-shock point a few years ago with reference to someone who received a refund of £1,000 from his account balance then a little while later had it reversed to cover a previously un-billed period.

The Ombudsman was unmoved by the argument that it was pretty shocking to have a £1,000 refund reversed, they really are quite firm on the point that once you pay money into your account it is a bill payment, not an alternative to keeping it in your savings account.

I really do appreciate that it doesn't feel right, but the underlaying principle is that fresh demands for money not previously paid over 12 months ago is not allowed, using money you already paid some time ago is fine.

Similarly if that results in more money being needed to cover current consumption right now, that is also fine as it is not over 12 months ago…

Like it or not, the Ombudsman has been very consistent on these points with only a couple of exceptions that I can recall.

The point really is though that the rules are not intended to encourage people to try and avoid payment long enough to have it time out after 12 months and to that end any DD payment is considered a payment towards energy billed or un-billed.

The best route if you do not like this is to switch to variable DD as it avoids having a balance in the first place.