[Penfold]

My elderly mum has an outstanding bill with e-on next for just over £19,000. (Didn’t think this was going to my next forum post this morning!)

She lives in a small terrace cottage, with 3 electric storage heaters and an immersion heater for hot water, on economy 7. No gas. She’s lived in the property for over 25 years, and she mentioned she’s negotiating paying off an £18,000 electricity bill… she thought it was due to the increase in energy prices and has never previously raised it in conversation, also thinking the government subsidies in the news would cover it.

I followed a trail of her paper bills (she’s not online), and the biggest change is in July 2022 and a “data collector reading” was added. (I can’t attach an Image, but have copied and pasted the entry)

She has since had an estimated bill for the next 18mths (no more readings), and last month was switched to a smart meter and I have no way of checking the meter.

she is currently in negotiations to pay it off!! But no one has questioned it if it is correct, and no one has reached out from e-on concerning her age, affordability etc etc since that £9k bill in 2022.

I spotted this thread who had a data collection reading and it was incorrect - https://community.eonnext.com/thread...ection-Reading


Next Flex (27th Apr 2022 - 30th Sep 2022)
Energy Charges for Meter D138204850


27th Apr 2022 41083.7 Estimated reading
10th Jul 2022 57207.0 Data collector reading
1st Oct 2022 59563.9 Estimated reading
Energy Used (Night) 18500.2 kWh ® 16.80p/kWh

27th Apr 2022 26901.3 Estimated reading
19th Jul 2022 41347.0 Data collector reading
1st Oct 2022 44265.1 Estimated reading
Energy Used (Day) 17363.8 kWh @ 33.01p/kWh

Standing Charge 157 days @ 39.761 p/day £62.42
Subtotal of charges before VAT £8901.85
VAT @ 5% £445.09
Total Electricity Charges £9346.94


Her estimated annual usage is nearly 40,000kWh for both night and day combined. I’m sure on average this should be around 3,000kWh only. 🤷‍♂️

Any advice on what is going on and who to contact…

[retrotecchie]

@Penfold

FIRSTLY...Send accurate reads and have the bill recalculated. SECONDLY...they cannot chase for outstanding debt more than 12 months old .

[Mailman]

@Penfold

If your mother has previous bills (prior to April 2022), look for previous Data Collector Readings (prior to 10 July 2022) and any readings marked as Customer Reading. If you have any such reads, perhaps you can report back.

Also, post Oct 1st 2022 bills, what are the same reads since then, up to the point that the Meter was replaced with a smart meter. There has to be a final reading for the old meter before it was replaced last month. A listing of these readings will give a clue as to the veracity of the electricity used per annum.

Submitting a correct meter read should generate a new bill as well.

[meldrewreborn]

@Penfold

this going to be a difficult one because you don’t have sight of the old meter. But when meters are exchanged the readings are usually left on a sticker somewhere.

the other thing is the when was the last genuine reading prior to July 2022?

[Penfold]

Ah! Thank you! I have a picture of the new meter and next to it is a tag hanging with the removed meter readings.

Here’s the plot twist - the meter numbers are different! The last three digits are different between the bill and the tag. But the final readings are 51909, and 32332 - so much much lower!!!

i don’t have any paper bills earlier than this 2022 bill with the data collector reading - so I can’t see the last actual reading before it went wild or if the meter number changed on her billls.

[JoeSoap]

Originally Posted by Penfold

i don’t have any paper bills earlier than this 2022 bill with the data collector reading - so I can’t see the last actual reading before it went wild or if the meter number changed on her billls.

I’m not sure that this will work but if you register for an online account all historical statements and transactions may show up in there. Always worth a try.

[meldrewreborn]

@Penfold

thats good that you have those readings. They should get through to Eon Next and require a backwards recalculation of all your mum’s bills back to whenever there is a proper confirmed set of readings. That might be many years ago. Hopefully the smart meter will get current consumption accurately billed but the back calculation is inevitably going to be complicated.

[meldrewreborn]

@Penfold

we on the forum can’t access your mums account but the eon next staff can. If you send a Direct Message to @PeterT_EONNext with your mum’s account details - so not here on the forum - he will be able to set the wheels in motion. It will take a little time to sort this one I suspect.

[meldrewreborn]

@Penfold

Also get onto customer services with you mum and get her to add you as a person who can deal with account matters. And register her as a vulnerable customer for the PSR.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by Penfold

Ah! Thank you! I have a picture of the new meter and next to it is a tag hanging with the removed meter readings.

Here’s the plot twist - the meter numbers are different! The last three digits are different between the bill and the tag. But the final readings are 51909, and 32332 - so much much lower!!!

i don’t have any paper bills earlier than this 2022 bill with the data collector reading - so I can’t see the last actual reading before it went wild or if the meter number changed on her billls.

I assume you are talking about the MTD's (Meter Technical Details) specifically the MSN (Meter Serial Number) of the old meter. Either Eon Next have had the wrong MSN all these years (until the meter was changed to a smart) or the details recorded on the changeover tag are incorrect. But whichever of the two it is, I find it difficult to believe that the meter reads shown on the tag (51909, and 32332) are incorrect as well.

Whenever you contact Eon Next have all your details clearly listed (on paper) and try to be as precise and polite as possible in the assertions/questions you ask of the CS agent that initially takes your call. This is a complicated situation for sure.