EON Scrap standing charge for prepayment meters.

[MARTIN3030]

Just had a letter today informing of this.

They state that its in response to "Our customers have told us they dont like paying a standing charge."

 

Ha ha....I bet they dont.

They say they removed this on 4th.July 2009-presumably to comply with rules and guidance.

 

The letter relates to gas-no mention of Electricity.

 

This is very odd since I have a letter dated September 2008 in which they advised of INCREASED charges effective from 22ndAugust 2008.

 

Standing charge is quoted as 39.5p per day 41.98p inc Vat.

 

 

Which is around £11.75 a month.

 

Anyone else had this-and what about standing charges for Electricity prepayment meters ?

[silverfox1961]

Hi Martin,

All well and good removing the standing charge but how much are they going to up your unit price to compensate for the loss of income.

 

I did read a while back that someone(can't remember who) was looking at the extra, prepayment meter users pay and considering if it's fair or not.

 

I don't pay a standing charge but I do pay 12.63p per unit leccy and 3.63p per unit gas

 

fox

[MARTIN3030]

Just looking at the letter now.

It states that there will be a two tier system as in the case of credit meter customers...and those with prepayment meters will pay the same rates.

 

So first 670 units used per quarter will be charged at the primary rate which is 6.21 (6.52) inc VAT

 

After this charges will be at secondary rate which is £3.24.5p (3.407) inc VAT

 

A considerable difference to the old rate (pre this letter)

which only had one rate-that of primary and was 9.8p (10.29 ) inc Vat.

 

So the difference is potentially 60% less for the gas and then theres no standing charge.

 

I am going to try to find out when they was ordered to do this-or when it was decided this was unfair.

Looks like this could be in response to the earlier ruling discussed on these forums.

[MARTIN3030]

Just looked at Aug 2008 Elect statement from Eon.

 

shows 3 different rates of standing charges;

 

20 days @ 23.01

 

221 days @ 39.95

 

61 days @ 36.67

 

Elec tariff 9.65

 

all plus Vat.

[MARTIN3030]

Reading further on this it appears that there was an EU directive in 2004 over unfair pricing.

However EU directives are not the same as an EU ruling.

An EU directive requires individual member states to adopt the rulings and implement it in their own country.

Its not clear as to whether the GOV did that here.

 

Am trying to find the actual EU directive so can look further into it.

[Like-Im-Being-Ripped-Off]

I see you eon people are paying a standing charge for prepayment gas meters.

im with edf i only pay S Charge on the electric about 13.43pence per day no charge for gas.

seems a con to me. and i have both meters.

[Clare_L]

I see you eon people are paying a standing charge for prepayment gas meters.

im with edf i only pay S Charge on the electric about 13.43pence per day no charge for gas.

seems a con to me. and i have both meters.

 

 

No, he is saying that Eon no longer charge a standing charge for prepayment gas. This was effective as of 4th July.

[MARTIN3030]

Thank you Clare:)

[nottslad]

Eon, and no other supplier have been ordered to do this, however in line with internal objectives known as 'the customer charter' which should be available on the website, this directive was taken to help customers reduce their bills and to also make prepayment a more attractive option for people struggling to manage their quarterly bills

[MARTIN3030]

nottslad can you give us any info where we can see that EON was ordered ?

I did find something in which it was reported that EON had taken this initiative voluntarily but have misslaid the bookmark-I will try to find.

What would be the explanation of only EON being ordered-is it because the other providers had already complied earlier ?

[MARTIN3030]

Heres one from a BBC report,although not the one I was speaking of.

 

BBC News Online | Business | E.On cutting gas prices by 3.3%

[nottslad]

Just checked BG's website http://www.britishgas.co.uk/pdf/Standard%20Electricity%20prices.pdf and it shows that their prepayment tariff still has a standing charge on 2 out of the 3 electricity products.

 

EON have not been forced to remove the standing charge at all, it was a voluntary move to make the pricing structure more comparable and prepayment a more attractive option.

[MARTIN3030]

ah ok

[MARTIN3030]

Although the standing charge appears to have been waived on Gas prepayment meters,in the case of Eon its still being collected on my Electricity meter the setting shows as £2.70 which I assume is weekly.

Anyone else with this ?