[theunknowntech]

Also, I'm not even an E.On or E.On Next customer by the way. I'm actually supplied by OVO and there's many very good reasons behind my obscure username and avatar. The only connections I have to E.On Next at all are my presence on this forum.

[meldrewreborn]

@theunknowntech

While I respect what you say i suspect that it cannot be the case that money once paid over to a supplier for prepayment is irrecoverable. It is an advance payment for energy yet to be consumed and legally is still the customers not the suppliers. When a customer leaves a property with a prepayment credit balance is it lost forever? When somebody dies can the estate not get a refund?

While a direct transfer between the meters might be impossible I can't for the life of me why a supplier can't withdraw credit from any prepayment meter and apply it to a gas meter credit account. I think we are in the 21st century, but sometimes i wonder. if aliens have transported me back in technical time.

[theunknowntech]

Refunds are mostly handled the same way for Prepayment Customers as they are for Credit Customers. Except that whatever the refund amount to be withdrawn is, has to be pulled from the meters first before it can be handed over. Because of the difficulty, it's usually only done if you move house, switch away or the customer passes away.

[GSimpson]

I wonder if anybody from EONext could explain how John2020 could get a refund from his prepayment non-smart meter account. Once the refund hits his bank, I'm sure he would be happy to then pay the whole amount off his gas account.

At the same time as explaining how to get a refund from a prepayment meter overpayment, perhaps we could have an explanation of how a normal meter can get a refund after excessively high direct debits have caused the unnecessarily high credit.

The unknowntech's reply has been most helpful in letting us know that the supplier is behind the times and appears to be unwilling to do anything about it, but it would still be nice to hear from EONext. Perhaps they might offer to give john a customer service bonus payment which equates to the excess on his electric meter :-)

[theunknowntech]

And to make things more fun, Traditional Prepayment Electric Meters usually provide lots of helpful data to the supplier via the electric key, but the data provided by Traditional Prepayment Gas Meters via the gas card lacks tons of information that would help to make this process easier.

Blame the way the systems were designed 20+ years ago! Unfortunately, until every last Traditional Prepayment Meter is removed from service, things will have to stay the way they are.

Which ever so conveniently... Will be within the next 10 years when said prepayment gas meter batteries all run out of juice. :)

[theunknowntech]

Originally Posted by GSimpson

I wonder if anybody from EONext could explain how John2020 could get a refund from his prepayment non-smart meter account. Once the refund hits his bank, I'm sure he would be happy to then pay the whole amount off his gas account.

At the same time as explaining how to get a refund from a prepayment meter overpayment, perhaps we could have an explanation of how a normal meter can get a refund after excessively high direct debits have caused the unnecessarily high credit.

Traditional Prepayment Meters manage all credit locally in "Standalone Mode" and the only communication route back to the supplier is via the electric key/gas card used to top-up the meters. There is no other way to communicate with them. So the answer unfortunately, is that there is no way for a refund to be arranged at this time because E.On can't see how much credit it's got left on it between top-ups.

Credit Meter accounts are managed centrally so refunds are much easier because the supplier always knows your account balance.

Even if a refund could be arranged, it'd take at least FOUR top-ups and FOUR shop visits over FOUR weeks to grab enough data to send back to E.On to have any chance of figuring it out.

[GSimpson]

@theunknowntech thank you for your very interesting reply. All I can say is, "Poor John". It seems EONext might be completely unable to do anything for him, but will be able to keep his money! So much for "we put our customers first".

Perhaps EONext could take a little time before posting any solutions they might be able to come up with?

[meldrewreborn]

@GSimpson

E.On Next could cancel the voucher and credit his gas account (which is NOT prepayment) with the amount instead. There is a way, but it does involve some extra flexibility to be shown.

[GSimpson]

@PeterT_EONNext Pete, perhaps you could explain to John (and others in his situation) how he can have a refund of the excess payments made to his electricity meter. Or are they EONext's for ever and ever even though the electricity hasn't been used much?

[PeterT_EONNext]

@GSimpson

Well with Prepayment, we don't generally refund this credit as it just sits on the meter until it's exhausted (this isn't just E.ON Next by the way, this applies to all suppliers)

We would refund in the instance where there's credit remaining after moving out of the property, or potentially in an instance where it's noticed that the prices are set incorrectly on the meter (meaning more was charged than should have been) then a refund would be issued for the difference.

- Pete