Overpayment on Estimated Heat Bill for 8 Years - England

bobbycat2

Based in England. Heating with Eon in a flat. I gave a meter reading of 5000 kWh in Feb 2018 and just gave another reading (July 2026) of 9500 kWh. My estimated bill is 22,000 kWh so I have been massively overpaying for the 8 years inbetween. I'm the idiot for not providing meter readings in those years but it just wasn't at the forefront of my mind, the meter is hidden behind a bunch of junk, I worked away weeks, sometimes months at a time and the meter was actually dead so I booked an Eon engineer to fix it as soon as I noticed, I believe it was just a dead battery and that's when I submitted the most recent reading.

I've spoken to Eon and they don't seem to care too much, they dismissed my request for any sort of refund. I escalated the complaint and they've offered me £5 - to be honest that offended me more than the £0! I've looked at the Energy Ombudsmen website and I can only see Eon Next, as I'm in a flat I'm not sure I am Eon Next. Is Eon Heat is even covered by the Ombudsman?

I was under the impression the energy companies have to physically check meters every couple of years? Does anyone what steps I can take with claiming back at least some of overpayment. Surely they should by default add the credit back to my account rather than completely ignore the overpayment?

MeteredOut

Eon have the right to use industry standard estimates to cover periods when a customer did not submit meter readings, even if the battery has failed.

What energy do you think you have used? Was it confirmed the meter was not recording usage when it stopped working?

I suspect you're going to have to raise a complaint with the Energy Ombudsman (after exhausting Eons complaints process), with a fair outcome being for you/Eon to monitor your usage going forward (possibly over a year) to measure how much you do use, and then use that to extrapolate what you reasonably might have used during the period when readings were not submitted.

Energy companies no longer have to check meters every few years.

Baldytyke88

"AI Overview, In the UK, you are not legally required to submit your own meter readings, but your energy supplier has an obligation to read or inspect your meter at least once every two years."

If your battery was dead, in the meter, it's likely that you have escaped a higher bill, which is why they don't want to give you any compo.

MeteredOut

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086039#Comment_82086039

And this is exactly why we should always check what AI produce, and not just post it without doing so. Because it gets things wrong and makes the people blindly trusting it look silly.

A supplier has no such obligation (and more).

Baldytyke88

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086074#Comment_82086074

AI got its information from Ofgem

Boohoo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086085#Comment_82086085

Good point.

Quick Google shows that electricity smart meters run from power going through them but gas relies on a battery.

Is the OP all electric?

bobbycat2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086133#Comment_82086133

I'm in a new build so assume it's electric as we have no gas. It's measured in kWh which I believe gas doesn't use? The battery was replaced by an engineer and that's when I gave Eon an updated reading and realised I'd been charged over double.

Boohoo

In the 8 years you have been a power customer what happens to the bills that you got?

I take it you have an online account and if yes I would download all the bills and correspondence from your energy company and have a good look at them.

What are you paying per month DD?

debitcardmayhem

When did you notice that the meter was dead?

MeteredOut

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82086124#Comment_82086124

And you checked that link to ensure it was up to date, and not a news article from, say, 2010?

I think you need to use another AI, or learn how to write prompts that makes it more likely to provide up to date information.

Rodders53

Is this some form of District Heating system (EoN Heat) for central heating and hot water, and nothing to do with Electricity (EoN Next or ANOther supplier) for cooking, lighting and TV etc.,.??? Which would be another meter and bill?

Photos of the meter(s) could help?