E.ON monthly bill suddenly increased from £107 to £250 please may I ask for advice

[Speshe]

Hello first off before I ask for some advice I must sincerely say a big thanks to all the people who offer their time knowledge

and expertise in helping others on this forum,

the continued support offered and the positive impact it can have on peoples lives may be overlooked but is whole heartedly appreciated.

 

Today I am after some advice on what to say to E.ON because

 

they have suddenly increased my gas & electricity monthly direct debit from £107 to £250 for the next 12 months.

(they gave me 10 days notice in writing)

 

I feel this figure is unreasonably high for me to pay each month.

 

Over the last 2 years I was automatically set on a tariff and only ever advised by E.ON to pay £107 p/month to cover my usage,

 

Today it is now clear I wasn't paying enough each month and have now accumulated aprox £950 worth of debt.

(its hard for me to understand but apparantly my electricity and gas usage has nearly doubled although nothing has drastically changed ergonomically in my household).

 

I appreciate in retrospect I should have paid more attention to my annual statement and contacted them earlier to question my payments

however, according to their terms and conditions,

website pledges and the Energy Retail Association (ERA) Code of Practice for Accurate Bills,

 

E.ON "will take all reasonable steps to ensure your payments are set at the right level.

This includes reviewing your account proactively to make sure your payments are sufficient to cover your energy usage."

 

My argument is....

If E.ON had proactively reviewed my account early I would have been better informed,

and in a position to select a more effeciently priced tariff thus reducing my annual bill and subsequent debt.

 

Their are also ambiguities on my on-line accounts energy usage chart (i.e 4 months of paying less than £5 a month for electricity usage last year which makes no sense).

 

In summary i would like E.ON to reduce a percentage of my outstanding debt because to a degree their inefficiency has put me as a customer at a disadvantage,

 

I would also need them to lower my monthly direct debit payments to around £160. (this covers my usage and pays £10 toward the outstanding debt)

 

Questions

1. what would your advice be ?

2. Is telephoning best or should I write to E.ON ? and would It be best to deal with a manager or higher ?

3. What would be the best way of asking for a reviewed/reduced debt figure taking into account my personal circumstances

and their apparent proportional lack of proactively maintaining my account ?

4. Can I write them a notice / offer to pay say £10 p/month over 10 years to pay of the debt on top of my monthly tarrif ?

5. is there any powerfull legal terms i.e neglegence, I can use to get my point accross

 

Thanks in advance for looking at this really appreciate your advice

 

Kind regards

 

 

Lee

[dx100uk]

who's been sending readings or reading the meter in all this time?

 

under the attached billing code

 

I don't think

they can rhetorically charge you passed 12mts because of 'their' mistake?

 

dx

[nottslad]

Hi Lee

 

You're right in the sense that EON should be reviewing the adequacy of your Direct Debit, however when a large bill is produced, they are allowed to off-set any payments already made.

 

if you have particular circumstances that would indicate a vulnerability then eon certainly should be able to offer a longer period of repayment, however the rate of £10 per month would probably not be accepted and they would normally offer a max of 12 months to repay.

 

i would suggest raising this as a complaint by emailing the directors office.

[Surfer01]

As you have £950 debt, they need to recover this soon. Split over 12 months this is almost an additional £80 per month. However taking into consideration that during the summer your usage should halve perhaps a figure of £180 would be more acceptable than £250? I would also suggest that you check your bills to see when last you had an actual reading.

If you have not had an actual reading within the last 2 years, then the supplier may be on dodgy ground as regulations state that they should do an actual reading at least once every 2 years.

I would also suggest that in future, you supply readings to them at least once every 3 months. We supply readings every month to our supplier and our bill is always exact. As you have this debt, you are now locked into your current supplier for at least another year at their new increased prices and cannot change.

[E.ON Company Rep: Helena]

Morning Surfer01,

 

I'm sorry to read of the situation you're in, I do understand that this isn't very nice.

 

I agree with raising a complaint as this needs to be investigated fully. This is the first thing to do.

 

How have you been receiving your bills? Online, through the post? Have you seen the balance growing as each statement has been produced?

 

Or has the account been estimated for some time and now we have received an accurate read the account billed up to date which has caused a catch up bill.

 

When did we last read the meter? When did you last provide a read to us? We need to read the meter once every two years.

 

I'm sorry as this sounds like a lot of questions, but this is some of the things that will get looked in to, so it's always good to have an idea.

 

Once the account has been fully reviewed we will certainly be able to offer a payment arrangement, but paying £10 per month towards the balance really won't be accepted I'm afraid.

 

In these sorts of circumstances we may offer for the balance to paid back over the length of time it has taken to build up.

 

I do hope this is resolved for you quickly.

 

Helena

[Surfer01]

Helena, your post clearly demonstrates that you do not take the time to read posts correctly which is why you answered the OP incorrectly. The OP is "lstreet" and not myself as I was only making a suggestion having worked in the utilities industry .

[E.ON Company Rep: Helena]

Helena, your post clearly demonstrates that you do not take the time to read posts correctly which is why you answered the OP incorrectly. The OP is "lstreet" and not myself as I was only making a suggestion having worked in the utilities industry .

 

I'm sorry, you're correct this is my mistake.