[docdunning]

Now that the Energy Bills Support Scheme has ended, I expected that Eon Next would automatically reverse the discount I've been receiving. As a result, my DD would revert to what it had been before the Support scheme.

Looks like I was wrong. My DD has remained at the discounted amount, which has eaten into my credit balance. And now EN have the nerve to email me telling me that my DD payment isn't enough for my usage. Well there's a surprise! And they want me to go in and sort it out, by making a one-off payment and changing the DD amount myself.

I'm going to email their complaints address but I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

[JohnT]

In my online account my DD is still at the discounted amount, but I haven't received such an email.

[Anasa_EONNext]

Hello @docdunning Anasa here 👋 Welcome back to the Community! I'm sorry to hear that you're not happy with the recent email that you've received about your Direct Debit. 😞 Have you been in touch with one of our Energy Specialist to discuss this as I can see that you mentioned this in your post? If so we'd love to know how you got on and if this has been resolved for you.

We know that it might not be for everyone but some people do prefer to have an online account where you're able to go online and make that payment, or re set your Direct Debit all without having to contact us as we know that many of our customers prefer to get that instant result rather than having to take time out of their day to give us a call or wait for an email response back. If you prefer to have a conversation that's absolutely fine too! We'd be happy to have a chat with you about this.

I do understand that you expected the Direct Debit to automatically go back to the original amount but what we do is review your payments and get in touch if the payments need increasing as in your case. With all the changes with tariffs we can't expect that customers usage will be the same as it was before the government payments and reduction to your Direct Debit and we need to let our customers know in advance if there are any changes to their monthly payments. This way they have the option to make a one off payment and keep their Direct Debit as it is or increase/reduce their payments according to usage.

[docdunning]

Thanks for your reply, @Anasa_EONNext. I've not yet heard back from your complaints department, but I'll report back here when I do.

Meantime, it would be so much better if all this had been explained to us when the EBSS started, so that I would have been ready to make the adjustments myself. The "What's happening to my bill" page on your website doesn't say anything about this either.

The email that I received is obviously a generic message to deal with a situation where someone's DD is lower than their usage. It makes no mention of the EBSS being stopped, which is currently going to be the most likely reason for a shortfall in the DD amount. Just an extra paragraph in the email to explain that after the EBSS, you expect customers to correct the DD amount themselves - that would have helped.

Anyway, I will go in and make the changes, make a one-off payment and put the DD back to the amount it was before.

[Anasa_EONNext]

@docdunning Thanks for the update! You're absolutely correct and I think there should have been some more information around it so you're prepared I do agree and I'll pass on your feedback to help us improve in the future. Although we're hoping that something like this won't happen again🤞but we'll certainly be more prepared.

In the mean time there likely be a few more customers that may reach out just as you have so it's worth seeing if we can make any changes to the current email that's being sent.

The great thing about this forum is that we do have the power to pop up a little post about it and thanks to you we've got this thread so we're able to direct our customers here.

Yes keep us up to date and we're here if you need anything else 😊

[docdunning]

@Anasa_EONNext - thanks again.

OK, so I've made a one-off payment to clear the deficit (which still has to appear on my balance, but it's Sunday so maybe that'll appear tomorrow).

And now I've updated my DD amount, back to the level I was paying before EBSS.

But why oh why does it say that this new amount will only apply from the payment on 2nd June? Surely there's enough time to change the payment on 2nd May? If not, I'm going to end up having to make another one-off payment to clear another deficit.

[Anasa_EONNext]

Morning @docdunning 😊 It's sounds like there isn't enough days to get it set up in time for 2nd May. We normally need at least 10 working days and you're just on the edge of that and then its bank holiday Monday. You can make a one off payment to even it out or if it's easier you could change the payment date for this month and then change it back at your convenience.

[docdunning]

Hi @Anasa_EONNext. Thanks for explaining that.

I just tried to change the payment date, but it still tells me that the change will only take effect in June.

The DD change confirmation page doesn't help. It advises me that:

If you have a payment scheduled for the next 5 days then it’ll use your previous Direct Debit details

From what you say, this message should change so that it says "10 working days" rather than "5 days".

But whatever, I'm evidently too late to make any changes at all to the May 2 payment. I shall wait until the next DD has gone through and then top it up with a one-off payment.

[docdunning]

Quick update. I had a reply to my complaint. It looks like the change to my DD has been expedited, and the more appropriate amount (i.e. close to the pre-EBSS amount) will be taken on 2 May rather than waiting until 2 June. So 🤞 that will resolve the issue.

[retrotecchie]

@docdunning

Good result 👍