E.ON rant

**parapaul** · 11th November 2008, 02:01

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

<takes deep breath>

I moved into my house last summer. Set up a Direct Debit with EOn for £50pcm, to cover both electricity and gas. Bearing in mind this was summer, when the first quarterly statement came in it was immediatley obvious the £50 was nowhere near enough to cover it, so I contacted them and suggested I increase the DD.

I can't remember their exact response, but it was along the lines of "don't do anything yet, we'll adjust it when you've been there for 12 months and we can predict your usage". That didn't seem right, but they followed it up with a standard letter to say they would review the payments on a regular basis, so I left it at that.

Each subsequent quarter the amount we owed grew and grew, until after 12 months we owed just over £600, but the covering letter with each statement said the same thing, that they would review our payments on a regular basis.

Anyway, in July, after the 12 months, they wrote and said they wanted to increase the DD from £50 a month to £178

in order to clear the outstanding balance by 1st April. So I phoned them, had quite a sensible conversation, and managed to get the DD down to £150, which should have cleared the debt over 12 months, ie by next July.

We've also spent a lot of money this summer on cavity wall and loft insulation, thermo valves on all the radiators, timer switches for all the appliances, and we've stopped using the tumble drier completely, in an effort to cut down the bills as much as sensibly possible.

The next statement arrived this week, showing, as expected, a sizeable chunk cleared from the outstanding balance, and confirming we were indeed using less gas and electricity. Result, right?

Yeah, right...

Another letter arrived the day after the statement, happily informing me that they would be increasing the DD to £219 pcm. FFS!

I was straight on the phone to them, wanting to know

was going on.

The first trained monkey I spoke to started to fob me off with a well-rehearsed spiel about how energy prices had gone up, blah, blah, blah, but when I put him on the spot and asked him if he really thought they had gone up £70 a month for an ordinary house, he started to stumble and I asked for a supervisor.

The supervisor was totally unsympathetic

and in a nutshell, said that the agreement I'd made only 3 months ago was no longer good enough, and that we now needed to clear the debt by 1st April. So, with only 5 months to clear the balance instead of 9, and energy price increases in August, and their prediction of higher usage over winter, that was where the figures came from.

He was unable to say why EOn had changed their mind, which was the most frustrating part of it all. They just had. Twunts. And he couldn't possibly reduce the DD payment, the computer wouldn't let him. Double twunts.

So, because EOn wouldn't increase my payments early on, I'm now paying over £200 a month for gas and electricity. Guess who's not on my Christmas card list?

**yorkshireborn** · 11th November 2008, 02:27

jeez unlucky

ring them back tell them u cant afford 200 a month that 150 is your maximum a month u can afford.
9.9 times out of 10 they will except it.

also if they wont budge mention that if it goes to court to claim debt that u could be paying considerbly less per month but over a longer period to clear debt.

**glenboy** · 11th November 2008, 09:34

We had a very similar scenario a few months back with EDF Energy,we were saying £50 a month for over 12 months and noticed are bills getting higher and higher,thought we might play catch up over the summer months,well as we all know the summer was crap,as per usual,so we are now paying £110 a month to catch up,think they do these things to pi$$ ppl off and have succeeded in my case.......

**Gregg** · 11th November 2008, 09:46

I had an outstanding bill of £668 from Eon when i moved in my new home.
Didnt pay it in the end but they claimed i had been in, also i mentioned that the whole house had been empty for a full year with everything off gas water and electric. They soon said well your not accountable for the previous occupants.
I would check what you owe as they seem to be crafty bleeders, ive gone to british gas on dual fuel and im spending about £40 each, so around £80 for both and i wouldnt say im an eco warrior in regards useage

**BigLad** · 11th November 2008, 20:22

I been on a capped rate for 12 months with 12 months to go, I dont normally do things at the right time but that was deffo one of them.

**VauxVeteran** · 12th November 2008, 04:53

OMG these Tuesday rants are becoming all to common.

**Trev** · 12th November 2008, 06:28

Ring 'em, tell them what your're going to pay (easy enough to work out and sounds like you have), note time/date of conversation, follow up with a letter confirming (keep copy) and instruct your bank accordingly. Remind them that your the customer, they're the supplier.

Once sorted go online to find best deal and switch.

Other option is to jack in your job, get Sky+ fitted, sit on your a**e and get a nice contribution from all of us left that work hard to pay our bills

We recently had similar with British Gas, wanted to put it up from £52 to £96 despite me being in credit (admittedly through the summer). I poiinted out that I had fitted new boiler 10 months ago so old consumption prob. to high. The v. helpful guy I spoke to did qucik calculation, said we were probably overpaying even on £52 (we only use Gas for heating & water) but suggested leave through the winter. I was happy with that.

Good luck!

**ion** · 12th November 2008, 08:40

I'm paying £75 each per month from EDF.

The gas has just increased from £50 per month, but now I'm noticing a credit building up so I might be able to reduce it again at some point.

Why they suggested £50 pm for both is ridiculous!

**gtr1000** · 12th November 2008, 10:06

I'm also with E-ON and recently queried why DD had gone up from £68 to £112 a month

. Usage and cost of gas and electricity was the answer.

Now I don't have a problem with E-ON, they're all the same in my book.

What I have done is come off DD back to quarterly standard paper billing. Have lost 2% privelage for on-line billing and 10% for not having DD (I think that's what they said). What it will do for me though is to let me manage my usage by always looking at the meters and cutting back. I can easily claw the lost % back my been careful.

**neilshaw1980** · 12th November 2008, 11:14

What annoys me is that alot of european governments have made energy companies put a cap on all their prices. I think their putting the price up on us Brits to make up for what their losing in europe. Our government should do something similar. I think 90% of the uk's energy suppliers are based in mainland europe. And now were selling our nuclear powerplants to the french (EDF)