EON - Last owner's debt?

clarabella71 · 12 October 2018 at 3:49PM

I bought a house in April which had a pre-payment gas & electric meter.
I applied for a credit meter and it was accepted - they then took 4 months to change it.
During that time noone was living in the house and once the pre-payment card in the meter ran out we did not add money to it.
There was no electric provided to the house and no power in the house.
I expected to pay the standing charge for electric BUT a bill for £150 for electricity usage on top of the standing charge has been sent to me.
I suspect it is a debt from the previous owner - I cannot see how I owe for electricity which I did not have available to the house AND which was on a pre-payment meter. Please note I am not disputing paying the standing charge.
Unfortunately I am trying to deal with Eon which is a nightmare!!
Has anyone else had this situation? Going to see CAB on Monday but am so worried about this.

[Deleted User] · 12 October 2018 at 4:49PM

The supplier should furnish you with what debts were left on the meters when the meter was exchanged .All the info is there to be seen on the meters themselves with just a few presses of a button.
If there was more debts than just weekly standing charges, (approx £1.80 a week ) then the first screen on the meter would display (gas have to press red button once ) much bigger weekly debt. The minimum amount that suppliers are allowed to set a weekly debt is £3.50 upt to £16 a week.
You surely would have spotted that weekly amount in the few months you had the meter. With standing charges and a £3.50 debt ,£4.40 in total, it would have swallowed £10 and only given you £5.40 worth of energy. You probably would have seen that i m guessing.
If that is nt the case I suspect the meter was debt free except for standing charge build up, but the suppliers should be able to confirm this

D_M_E · 12 October 2018 at 6:21PM

The meters were changed to credit meters, so you no longer have access to the meters to make any check.

You need to write to E.On and head your letter COMPLAINT and detail that you had prepay meters which were changed to credit and, during the period concerned, no power was used.
State that you are willing to pay for any standing charge but not for power.

Did you read the new meters on installation - if not, look in the meter cupboards and check if a card has been left and if so this should have the installation readings written on it.

Also check that the serial numbers of the meters on the bill match those on the meters.

Also check that it is an actual bill based on actual readings and is not an estimated bill - estimated means this is what we think you have used.

Finally, edit your title - click the edit button then click Go Advanced - and edit your title to read something like E.On - Last Owner's Debt - or something similar which includes E.On and one of the E.On reps frequenting the board will most likely pick it up and comment.

EDIT - if you did not select a tariff when you had credit meters installed then you will probably be on a standard tariff and the standing charges on these can be high, check what E.On charge per day for this to give you an idea of what to expect to pay.

clarabella71 · 12 October 2018 at 7:15PM

D_M_E Thank you - that backs up what I thought was going on. Unfortunately the meters have been taken away.
Seems a bit daft that they will credit check me and say all is fine but then try to say I have a debt to them.
I have been in email contact but I think it will have to be a recorded delivery letter.
Has all been a battle - It has taken Eon so long to actually change the meters and their complaints people are lovely but the system they are working with is useless.
Unfortunately I suspect that they are trying to get the money from me as they know there is little chance of getting it from the previous owner/occupier.
Will let you know what CAB advise.

EON - Last owner's debt?

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