[WobSleptHere]

I have been a customer of EON (moving to Eonnext a few months ago). I have a dual fuel account (gas + electricity) with an agreement to be sent a bill monthly for my entire dual fuel plan and I arrange to have that paid in full through Direct Debit collected automatically a few weeks later. I have had a smart meter for a number of years. so there is no manual reading of my meter. Each bill would say:
"We will request a Direct Debit payment of £xxx on <date>"
This was working well for many years until a few months ago when Eonnext entered and seemed to lose the plot. From time to time they randomly started sending more than one bill a month. Some of these chaotic bills would be for one fuel only (eg gas but not electricity) with no explanation as to why this bill confusion was prevailing. Frequently, despite their bill having told me £xxx was going to be collected, it either wasn't collected or collected but by a different amount with no explanation given. Eonnext seemed to completely lose the plot when the Government Energy Support scheme, with the government paying in their contribution (eg £67 monthly) a few days after my bill was generated, but Eonnext ignored the government payment and debited the full amount. Then a few days after helping themselves through Direct Debit to the incorrect and excessive amount, they would generate a second bill which totally ignored the amount taken a short time earlier by Direct Debit. This second bill would often only be for one fuel, therefore being a total nonsense

I repeatedly contacted Eonnext and asked them to resolve the matter by sending me only one bill a month. It seems their staff could find no way of doing this and suggested that instead I signed up for a fixed monthly Direct Debit. However, especially given the Energy Price Crisis we are currently going through, I don't want fixed payments which could leave me in serious debit if energy prices continue to escalate.

Can anyone suggest what I can do to get Eonnext to only send me one bill a month. This bill to be for both my fuels (gas + electricity) and automatically deduct the Government credit and the result collected by Direct Debit? I find it astonishing that no one in Eonnext seems to be able to find a way of generating a single correct bill once a month and collecting the correct amount owed by Direct Debit.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by WobSleptHere

I have a dual fuel account (gas + electricity) with an agreement to be sent a bill monthly for my entire dual fuel plan and I arrange to have that paid in full through Direct Debit collected automatically a few weeks later. I have had a smart meter for a number of years. so there is no manual reading of my meter. Each bill would say:
"We will request a Direct Debit payment of £xxx on <date>"

For the sake of clarity can we assume that your online account shows that you're currently paying a variable amount depending on your usage?

Now can you go to the online account again and perhaps show your smart readings (not the numbers but the dates for both utilities)

I suspect that your scheduled pulls for your meter reading pulls are different for the two utilities. This needs to be sorted for sure so that the scheduled readings are pulled 'smartly' on the same date.

Just remember though that the DD actually taken will depend on any intervening transactions that have taken place between bill generation and possibly a week or even a little more prior to the date that the DD is taken.

[JoeSoap]

@WobSleptHere
You could try escalating the matter as a complaint. See here for details.

[WobSleptHere]

Originally Posted by JoeSoap

@WobSleptHere
You could try escalating the matter as a complaint. See here for details.

Yes, I have been communicating and raising complaints with Eonnext for over 3 months. At first they tried to persuade me to go for a fixed monthly Direct Debit. However in the current Energy Cost Crisis I think this is unhelpful as, given the potential of prices skyrocketing, I could find myself suddenly faced with a huge debt. So I explained to them that a significant problem has occurred since I've been receiving the Government support (approx £67 monthly), which has been paid around the beginning of each month. Eonnext was producing my bill on the 25th of each month and taking the Direct Debit on about 10th of the next month. Yet by the 10th, they have received the government's £67 (over a week before Direct Debit date), yet always fail to deduct it from the Direct Debit. Finally Eonnext staff agreed to change my billing date to 7th of each month by which time the £67 will have been received and can therefore be deducted from the total bill threy generate. However, for some totally crazy reason, Eonnext have started producing 2 bills a month, making the situation more chaotic and much worse. As part of the chaos, some of the bills are now generated only for one fuel (either gas or electricity) when I have repeatedly said I expect one bill a month for all my fuels. Finally last month I spoke to someone who seemed to understand the problem. She cancelled the bill that had been generated on 25th January and arranged in future to have all bills generated on 7th of each month. As promised by her, the 25 January bill was discarded and I received a bill generated on 7 February which made it look very promising that my months of billing chaos had been sorted. I received a formal notification in writing from Eonnext saying that my complaints had been fully dealt with and if I was not satisfied I could escalate the matter to Energy Ombudsman. Due to the fact that this matter had dragged on for months and months with me being wrongly billed, I have raised a complaint with Energy Ombudsman.

Hoping that at least last month an eventual billing solution was arranged, I was devastated when today I have received another fake bill from Eonnext dated 25 February. Once again it was for gas only, with no explanation as to why electricity is being ignored and thereby tearing up last month's agreement and dropping me back me onto months of more chaos.

My question remains:
What the heck is wrong with Eonnext that they seem totally incapable of generating a single bill for me once a month for all my fuel (gas & electricity) on one day (7th of each month) and insist on continuing to also generate me additional fake bills on 25th of each month?

[JoeSoap]

Originally Posted by WobSleptHere

My question remains:
What the heck is wrong with Eonnext that they seem totally incapable of generating a single bill for me once a month for all my fuel (gas & electricity) on one day (7th of each month) and insist on continuing to also generate me additional fake bills on 25th of each month?

I wish I could answer that, but I can't. It seems it should be a simple fix. Hopefully escalation to the ombudsman will help resolve the matter.

I sometimes get spurious bills but as I pay by fixed DD it is no more than a minor nuisance. I've almost always paid by fixed monthly DD and find it an aid to budgeting. If you start a fixed DD at this time of year you will build up a credit balance ahead of next winter, rather than building up a debit if you started at the beginning of winter. If a debit does start to build then the DD can easily be increased. It suits me but I understand it doesn't suit everyone. Good luck with getting it sorted.

[WobSleptHere]

Originally Posted by Mailman

For the sake of clarity can we assume that your online account shows that you're currently paying a variable amount depending on your usage?

Now can you go to the online account again and perhaps show your smart readings (not the numbers but the dates for both utilities)

I suspect that your scheduled pulls for your meter reading pulls are different for the two utilities. This needs to be sorted for sure so that the scheduled readings are pulled 'smartly' on the same date.

Just remember though that the DD actually taken will depend on any intervening transactions that have taken place between bill generation and possibly a week or even a little more prior to the date that the DD is taken.

Yes, There's no question that I pay by variable Direct Debit and have done for years. Every bill I've had for many years from E.ON (and now from Eonnext since joining them) has been for a different amount and each bill clearly states:
You opt to pay your balance in full each month.
The bill I received today shows it covers my energy usage from:
7th Feb. 2023 - 25th Feb. 2023

It then goes on to say:
1. We have charged you
Based on your meter readings.
Gas 7th Feb. 2023 - 24th Feb. 2023 £xx.xx

And then says:
We will request a Direct Debit payment of £xx.xx on 13th March 2023.

So the only fuel for which I have been charged on today's bill (covering energy usage from 7 February to 25 February) is gas and there's not a mention anywhere on the bill about my electricity usage during the period that the bill covers. So, to confirm:
My gas bill today was £xx.xx
So, despite my repeatedly insisting I want every bill to show both gas + electricity, today's total bill is £xx.xx, this figure being the exact amount of my gas bill.

What kind of nonsense bill is that when I am a dual fuel customer and believe it or not, I also use electricity every day. They evidently can't be bothered to put electricity on today's fake bill but will no doubt add onto my next bill to confuse me. I have told them time and time again that I want each bill to comprise both gas & electricity and I'm beginning to think they are producing these fake bills deliberately so as to cheat me to prevent me knowing what my actual bills should be. It seems they don't.like a customer to complain!.

[Mailman]

If you are on Smart meters ( and your meters are read directly by Eon Next ) then all your readings should be labelled as 'Smart' rather than 'Manual'. If they are not please advise. You now need to look at the dates for BOTH your Smart Reads - they should be the same date but I'm pretty certain that they are not, meaning your scheduled pulls from your 2 smart meters are set (somehow) for different dates of each month. It is this that is leading to 2 bills every month. Again you need to contact CS and request again that 'scheduled smart meter reads' are set for the same calendar day each month. And formalise your complaint if needs be.

These are my smart meter reads - coincidental that it is set for the 1st of the month as that is the anniversary date of when I joined Eon Next so yours will be different. Whatever the date is they need to be the same for both utilities. When you contact Eon Next confirm when the scheduled smart meter readings are taken (bill would be issued usually after another day and DD taken some 17 or so days later than the bill statement. Just remember that when the DD instruction for the month is set up, the DD won't necessarily coincide with the bill as there may be interim credits/debits on your account between bill generation and DD date. Normally Eon Next will take a DD to zeroise your account (not necessaily the same amount as the bill) on the date advised (in your case 13th March) in your statement.




Any more questions about how Variable DD works in practice from a customer point of view (as I pay by this method also) please ask👍

[MAW]

@WobSleptHere

Report them for harassment. I have.

[WobSleptHere]

Originally Posted by Mailman

If you are on Smart meters ( and your meters are read directly by Eon Next ) then all your readings should be labelled as 'Smart' rather than 'Manual'. If they are not please advise. You now need to look at the dates for BOTH your Smart Reads - they should be the same date but I'm pretty certain that they are not, meaning your scheduled pulls from your 2 smart meters are set (somehow) for different dates of each month. It is this that is leading to 2 bills every month. Again you need to contact CS and request again that 'scheduled smart meter reads' are set for the same calendar day each month. And formalise your complaint if needs be.

These are my smart meter reads - coincidental that it is set for the 1st of the month as that is the anniversary date of when I joined Eon Next so yours will be different. Whatever the date is they need to be the same for both utilities. When you contact Eon Next confirm when the scheduled smart meter readings are taken (bill would be issued usually after another day and DD taken some 17 or so days later than the bill statement. Just remember that when the DD instruction for the month is set up, the DD won't necessarily coincide with the bill as there may be interim credits/debits on your account between bill generation and DD date. Normally Eon Next will take a DD to zeroise your account (not necessaily the same amount as the bill) on the date advised (in your case 13th March) in your statement.




Any more questions about how Variable DD works in practice from a customer point of view (as I pay by this method also) please ask👍

As regards my Smart Meter it is very old (probably one of the first ones ever manufactured in this country) and I find it extremely difficult to read. So if I ever want to take a meter reading I go to the actual meters which I find easier. I have asked E.ON if they could please change it to a modern Smart Meter but they have refused to do it.

Prior to my joining Eonnext I ALWAYS received monthly bills with both gas & electricity (including while I was with E.ON). Eonnext suddenly appeared and took over from E.ON and started their chaotic and ridiculous billing without bothering to tell me anything about it, Eonnecxt set up this crazy billing arrangement where they sometimes billed me gas only & other times only billed me for electricity. I did NOT request it and Eonnext never discussed it with with me. While their bill said "We will collect £xx.xx on <date>" quite frequently (and without warning me) they changed the amount collected by Direct Debit to a different figure (or even zero). I was getting the impression that Eonnext billing was run by a bunch of schoolkids who had no idea how customer billing worked!

I am fully familiar with Variable Direct Debits as I have been using them for about 50 years with numerous other suppliers before Eonnext. I never had any billing problems over all these years until Eonnext came along and introduced me to their chaotic & fake billing!

So today, following what I consider a fake bill dated 26 February which contained only gas use and no electricity, I called Eonnext to find out what they're playing at. The staff member told me that I was correct and NO electric reading at all had been taken since the last bill. I explained this was unacceptable and I wanted ONE BILL A MONTH for both gas & electricity. It seems some fool at Eonnext has registered me for 2 bills a month, one for gas only (26th each month) and the other electricity only (7th of each month). I've never heard of such a ridiculous billing arrangement before. The staff member couldn't explain why this crazy arrangement has been set up. I stated that on numerous occasions I have requested ONE BILL A MONTH FOR BOTH GAS & ELECTRICITY with bill generated on 7th of each month. Today's staff member confirmed that they are arranging to cancel the fake bill of 26 February and have requested for all future bills to be once a month for both gas & electricity. Hopefully, after my asking this many times over several months someone at Eonnext will actually listen & implement this. So yet another month wasted by Eonnext.
I have already raised a formal complaint about 2 months ago with Eonnext. As they failed to take any reasonable action to resolve the matter I escalated the complaint to the Energy Ombudsman a few weeks ago. Meanwhile Enonnext have been continuing with their fake & unacceptable bills until now. Ombudsman told me today their investigation will start halfway through March.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by WobSleptHere

I am fully familiar with Variable Direct Debits as I have been using them for about 50 years with numerous other suppliers before Eonnext. I never had any billing problems over all these years until Eonnext came along and introduced me to their fake billing!

You have the advantage on me there. I've only been on VDD with Eon Next for the last 10 months 😎 but have had the exact opposite experience of what you have experienced. Eon Next use the Kraken method of software billing (same as Octopus) and I found it took me only a very short time to work out exactly what the platform does. I reiterate again that my VDD zeroises the account balance at the right date (some 16 days or so after the smart reads have been lifted) and is only taken once a month as a rule.

Every date a read is submitted, my experience is that it leads to a statement generation and a transaction entry on your account ledger. It matters not whether it is a manual read, or a smart read or whether it is just a single utility read. This has led to what you describe as 'fake bills' although that's not really what they are - more like correct bills generated at the 'wrong time'. But to stick with your nomenclature, hopefully you will no longer be in receipt of fake bills anymore and that such bills you now start to receive are generated at the correct date and for both utilities at the same time and on the same bill (circa 7th of the month) with VDD taken 16 days later.

Eon Next will almost certainly lift additional smart meter reads on 1st April so you might want to brace yourself possibly for 2 sets of VDD payments in April (one covering the period 7th to 31st March (taken 15th April) and the next from 1st to 6th April (taken 21st April). Due to impending tariff rate changes on 1st April. Hope I'm wrong on this.