[Sussexjohn]

It appears that Eon have a policy of deliberately over estimating annual usage and so driving accounts into unnecessary credit balances. It is then down to the user to request that credit refund or Eon are happy to hold onto peoples money.

Over the last six months I have had to request £800 in credit refunds and have needed to amend our dd amount multiple times as the annual usage is deliberately over estimated which results in them collecting too much each month.

We have a working smart meter and eon have all of the required billing data since early last year.

For example our estimated gas annual usage is set at 12 times our December usage which is obviously incorrect.

Before I raise I complaint I wanted to ask if other people are having this issue ?

I can see that in the past Ofgen have significantly fined companies for this behavior.

[meldrewreborn]

@Sussexjohn

i suspect you are not alone. I always recommend making complaints - it’s the only way to get them to improve.

Basically your Direct Debit need to be reasonable , if you can show it isn’t then complain. A useful tactic now that we’re moving into the summer months is to switch to variable Direct Debit. If you are substantially in credit you’ll pay nothing at all for months as your credit is depleted.

[Mailman]

@Sussexjohn

My last bill from Eon Next stated my estimated annual kWh consumption for Gas/Electric were 2407kWh and 6359kWh v my actual consumption figures of 2433kWh (very close) and 5833kWh ( 8% too high but in the right area). It matters not what these EAC figures are as I pay by variable DD but, in my case, they are both within 10%. Yes a little over estimated but not drastically so in my case.

[Matobato]

Mine is also overestimated (by about 600 kwh) and I m 400 quid in credit. they are crediting my bank account 67 each month. i m on fixed DD.

So I assume they have detection in place for customers in high credit and gradually they are paying them back.

In 2020 I was 600 in debit and they left me off the hook for nearly a year. :) i guess it works both ways

[JoeSoap]

@Matobato

Is the £67 monthly credit to your bank account in the form of a payment from Eon Next or a reduction to your DD? I only ask as that sum is the amount we have been given by the government each month for the last six months due the EBSS and is normally in the form of a credit to your energy account and a corresponding DD reduction. That monthly payment has now ended. If you check your online Eon Next account under Transactions, any credits or payments to your bank account should have an explanation.

[Sussexjohn]

Originally Posted by JoeSoap

@Matobato

Is the £67 monthly credit to your bank account in the form of a payment from Eon Next or a reduction to your DD? I only ask as that sum is the amount we have been given by the government each month for the last six months due the EBSS and is normally in the form of a credit to your energy account and a corresponding DD reduction. That monthly payment has now ended. If you check your online Eon Next account under Transactions, any credits or payments to your bank account should have an explanation.

Eon reduced our dd by the amount of the government payment support. The issue is their calculation of our annual usage is hugely more that our actual usage and they have our current data via our smart meter.

[Matobato]

@JoeSoap they have not reduced my DD. the refund of 67 was trsnsferred to my bank on 4th april.

on previous months they added 67 to my eon credit balance and then reduced it by 67 and sent monies to my bank

[JoeSoap]

@Matobato

Ah ok. It still sounds like you have had six EBSS payments of £67, albeit in a roundabout way. I don’t think these payments were on account of your credit balance but I may be mistaken. Your online account transaction history will confirm their nature.

[meldrewreborn]

@Mailman

you may like to insert another digit in your gas consumption figure above!

energy consumption isn’t fixed and will differ over time - mine is particularly sensible to winter temperatures for my gas. Customers are more likely to report estimates that are higher than the customer thinks appropriate , even if the actual evidence supported the supplier having a 50/50 split of too high / too low. Like many others I think it likely that suppliers err on the high side both to help themselves and to make it less likely that customers end up in significant debt. Customers do have means of checking whether their debits are reasonable, although it seems clear to me that many customers don’t do that often enough.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

@Mailman

you may like to insert another digit in your gas consumption figure above!

🧐 Figures are correct 😁

March was the first month in the last year where consumption had risen slightly compared to the comparable period 12 months before. All the low-hanging fruit of easy energy savings has now been made in my home - I really cannot see my reducing it any further🤔