[Sandrai05]

I have just had an email saying my direct debit is going up to £381 a month. In March before eon next took over my account was sitting at £0. Meter readings given on 30th March went from £0 to nearly £600 in debit. Gas and elect this time last year was never above £100 for both and that was a bad month. Just supplied them with meter readings. Elect £342 & gas £120. We have been away for two weeks.

These figures just being pulled out of thin air. I am now £1011.38 in debit. Happy days.

[Andy65]

Hi @Sandrai05

Energy prices have gone up dramatically this year as have the standing charges, you're far from the only one who has had a shock.

There is a lot to be said for reading and submitting readings every month, you should then get monthly bills and it's help to keep on top of your usage and payments.

[JoeSoap]

@Sandrai05

I can sense you’re angry and so would I probably be if I was £1000 in debit. The thing is, I try to keep on top of my meter readings to check they’re accurate and make sure readings are submitted every month. I check my bills as I have an idea what they should be. If I see a debit balance when I would hope to have a credit then if the bills are accurate I increase my DD to compensate rather than wait for my supplier to do something.

I mention all that as you haven’t supplied much detail of your tariff(s), billing, meter readings (actual or estimated). You say you had a £0 balance in March but didn’t say if you had just paid a bill based on actual meter readings or if it was estimated. You then say you submitted readings at the end of March and went to £600 debit. Did you not question that at the time? If you only paid £100 on a bad month then a £600 bill for March (one month) would surely ring alarm bells.

Perhaps you were moved to Eon Next with under-estimated previous readings. Perhaps you changed to a more expensive tariff. Energy prices were hiked in April and will be again in October. Your new DD may have been set using the original price cap rise of 80% as the new lower rate has not fed through yet, in which case it will be adjusted.

There are a lot of unknowns here but just talking in monetary terms doesn’t tell us enough. Have you raised this ongoing issue with Eon Next officially? Maybe the figures haven’t been plucked out of thin air.

Aside from all the issues I’ve raised I believe that Eon Next should not let you build up so much debt and then hammer you with big DD increases but it does sound like this has been building and perhaps you should have raised the issue earlier.

Sorry if I sound over-critical but more info is needed here and if you genuinely think you’re being over-charged then you need to work back over your tariffs, bills and payments to arm yourself with all the information and then contact customer service to get it sorted out.

I wish you good luck with it and hope to hear you get it all resolved.

[meldrewreborn]

Prices rose in October 2021 and again in April 2022. Even though the government ha restricted the next increase in October 2022 prices this winter will be approximately twice last winters level. So quoting what you were paying last year is rather irrelevant.

what are you forecast consumption figures? Your direct debit should consumption times the new government limited prices, then add your debit figure and divide that total by 12. We can check that for you if you post your forecast consumption and you general location we can double check your direct debit figure, so that you can debate logically.