Eon - bills erroneously issued for prepayment meter after moving out
pinkteapot
Posts: 8,038 Forumite
in Energy
Situation resolved so just a warning really... We moved out of a house a couple of months ago that had prepayment meters. It was only a short-term rental so we never bothered getting the meters switched to standard meters. The gas and electricity meters were both in credit when we moved in, and in credit when we moved out.
Recently I got a "final bill" for £93 for electricity and £98 for gas. :eek: It's taken a couple of calls to Eon but they've now said it was an "unjustified balance" as our credits to the meter match our usage, so they're wiping the bills. Just waiting for a zero statement in the post to confirm that's been done and I can stop wasting my time on this.
I get that system errors happen, but I don't understand why people would ever have a bill on a prepayment meter (apart from the fact you can go slightly overdrawn on them). How many vulnerable customers would just pay a bill like this?!
I naively didn't realise that meter readings and credits were transmitted to the supplier - I thought everything was handled at the meter with a prepayment meter. So my advice would be to keep a note of meter readings and the receipts from your top-ups in case there's ever a dispute. I was concerned at one point that if Eon insisted I owed this money, I would have no way of proving I didn't as I didn't bother keeping any records (as I do with a standard meter).
Recently I got a "final bill" for £93 for electricity and £98 for gas. :eek: It's taken a couple of calls to Eon but they've now said it was an "unjustified balance" as our credits to the meter match our usage, so they're wiping the bills. Just waiting for a zero statement in the post to confirm that's been done and I can stop wasting my time on this.
I get that system errors happen, but I don't understand why people would ever have a bill on a prepayment meter (apart from the fact you can go slightly overdrawn on them). How many vulnerable customers would just pay a bill like this?!
I naively didn't realise that meter readings and credits were transmitted to the supplier - I thought everything was handled at the meter with a prepayment meter. So my advice would be to keep a note of meter readings and the receipts from your top-ups in case there's ever a dispute. I was concerned at one point that if Eon insisted I owed this money, I would have no way of proving I didn't as I didn't bother keeping any records (as I do with a standard meter).
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Comments
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Photos, photos, photos! Just my simple advice to take photos of meter readings at every significant point - such as moves in and out. It helps in situations such as you found yourself in.
It sounds as if you carried on using the previous tenant's top up key/card, which could have been risky if it had been configured for a debt repayment. New PAYG tenants should always get a new "clean" key/card.0 -
Thanks. I've always taken meter photos when I've had standard meters. I genuinely thought it was a non-issue with PAYG.... Because it's PAYG!
The letting agent gave us the card and key for the two meters so they had been previously used (by the letting agent for a few months while the house was refurb'ed, and probably by the tenants before that). Again though, I just didn't think that could be an issue because I thought it was like a PAYG mobile phone and you couldn't run up debts on it. I thought you just put credit on your meter, it gets used, when it runs out your supply is cut off till you put more money on it (though I knew it let you go overdrawn by a small amount if you accidentally run out).
Lesson learnt! And very relieved Eon could see a mistake and cleared these bills. I think the letting agent noted the meter credits on check-out so we might have been able to get some confirmation from them, but that would have been it.0 -
Never believe anything a letting agent says and never trust them to do anything.
According to the letting agent, the house I'm currently renting has a combi boiler. Fortunately it has a lovely, well insulated, 300L tank!
Last year my partner was renting a place for work. Letting agents were supposedly dealing with energy bills incurred by the builder. Next thing, the gas meter was forcibly changed to PAYG with a card that swallowed credit to pay builder's debt. Letting agents had done nothing; contacted builder and they sorted it.0 -
pinkteapot wrote: »Situation resolved so just a warning really... We moved out of a house a couple of months ago that had prepayment meters. It was only a short-term rental so we never bothered getting the meters switched to standard meters. The gas and electricity meters were both in credit when we moved in, and in credit when we moved out.
Recently I got a "final bill" for £93 for electricity and £98 for gas. :eek: It's taken a couple of calls to Eon but they've now said it was an "unjustified balance" as our credits to the meter match our usage, so they're wiping the bills. Just waiting for a zero statement in the post to confirm that's been done and I can stop wasting my time on this.
I get that system errors happen, but I don't understand why people would ever have a bill on a prepayment meter (apart from the fact you can go slightly overdrawn on them). How many vulnerable customers would just pay a bill like this?!
I naively didn't realise that meter readings and credits were transmitted to the supplier - I thought everything was handled at the meter with a prepayment meter. So my advice would be to keep a note of meter readings and the receipts from your top-ups in case there's ever a dispute. I was concerned at one point that if Eon insisted I owed this money, I would have no way of proving I didn't as I didn't bother keeping any records (as I do with a standard meter).pinkteapot wrote: »Thanks. I've always taken meter photos when I've had standard meters. I genuinely thought it was a non-issue with PAYG.... Because it's PAYG!
The letting agent gave us the card and key for the two meters so they had been previously used (by the letting agent for a few months while the house was refurb'ed, and probably by the tenants before that). Again though, I just didn't think that could be an issue because I thought it was like a PAYG mobile phone and you couldn't run up debts on it. I thought you just put credit on your meter, it gets used, when it runs out your supply is cut off till you put more money on it (though I knew it let you go overdrawn by a small amount if you accidentally run out).
Lesson learnt! And very relieved Eon could see a mistake and cleared these bills. I think the letting agent noted the meter credits on check-out so we might have been able to get some confirmation from them, but that would have been it.
Hello pinkteapot and glad we were able to sort this.
Customers with prepayment meters still receive statements showing what's been used and what's been paid. As energy is paid for in advance, these statements are usually just for information. They can also, as in your case, highlight issues.
As Talldave says, the letting agent should've advised you to contact us for a new card and key rather than giving you the old ones. The new devices would've reset the meters and any debt from before would've been cleared. As you say, I suspect the balances relate to the previous tenants and/or the letting agent during the refurb work.
Glad we were able to sort it pinkteapot.
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You can have bills for prepay meters, if you leave that company.
Let's assume you have a key meter. Any increase or decrease in your tariff is only loaded onto your meter when you top up and insert the key into the meter.
Next assumption is that the tariff is increased and you top up 7 days after the increase in tariff. This then means that for 7 days you have been charged on the old tariff and not the new increased tariff. Therefore you will owe the difference. If you leave the supplier with your meter showing a near zero balance, then you will not have enough to pay this extra - and thus a bill will be issued for whatever amount. This also applies to prepayment gas card meters.0 -
Never believe anything a letting agent says and never trust them to do anything.
According to the letting agent, the house I'm currently renting has a combi boiler. Fortunately it has a lovely, well insulated, 300L tank!
Last year my partner was renting a place for work. Letting agents were supposedly dealing with energy bills incurred by the builder. Next thing, the gas meter was forcibly changed to PAYG with a card that swallowed credit to pay builder's debt. Letting agents had done nothing; contacted builder and they sorted it.
... With bells on. Glad you resolved it, pinkteapot and please, never do that again; always ensure you get a new contract with a new property/tenancy. I know you will.0
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