Not getting regular statements on NextDrive

  • HarryHH's Avatar
    Level 5
    Hi,

    I switched to NextDrive in October. Had to chase my first statement in December. Even though I had half hourly smart metering enabled I was asked for a reading, and my statement was calculated from the last reading on my old meter, not the new smart meter, and assuming my meter had rolled around, it was calculated I owed £8831.

    I hit the roof, and since that was clearly nuts, it got sorted out, and I did get a wacky bill in December full of re-imbursements, putting me back to where I should be.

    January, my statement was sent as usual. Now February's is over 2 weeks late.

    I called up last Friday to chase this, and as I still don't have a statement for the beginning of February, I've just emailed.

    My monthly direct debit, of course, goes out like clockwork.
    I don't think it's too much to ask to have a monthly statement.
  • 20 Replies

  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    @HarryHH

    You could try submitting a manual read as that tends to generate a statement.
    I'm an Eon Next dual fuel customer with no particular expertise but have some time on my hands that I am using to try and help out a bit.
  • geoffers's Avatar
    Level 34
    Hi,

    I switched to NextDrive in October. Had to chase my first statement in December. Even though I had half hourly smart metering enabled I was asked for a reading, and my statement was calculated from the last reading on my old meter, not the new smart meter, and assuming my meter had rolled around, it was calculated I owed £8831.

    I hit the roof, and since that was clearly nuts, it got sorted out, and I did get a wacky bill in December full of re-imbursements, putting me back to where I should be.

    January, my statement was sent as usual. Now February's is over 2 weeks late.

    I called up last Friday to chase this, and as I still don't have a statement for the beginning of February, I've just emailed.

    My monthly direct debit, of course, goes out like clockwork.
    I don't think it's too much to ask to have a monthly statement.
    If it's any help I joined next drive in July, and it wasn't until the December statement that I started getting regular joint fuel statements.

    Prior to that I was getting regular monthly gas statements, but had to email a couple of times to get them to send the leccy ones.

    I think their request for a meter reading is their stock response for a statement request, as their "energy experts" don't seem to understand that we're on an ½ hourly ToU tariff (I infact stated this on my statement request so never got asked for a meter reading, as they already had the smart data)
  • HarryHH's Avatar
    Level 5
    @HarryHH

    You could try submitting a manual read as that tends to generate a statement.

    As I said, the last time I submitted a manual reading , I got charged £8831 😬 so I'm not keen...
  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    As I said, the last time I submitted a manual reading , I got charged £8831 😬 so I'm not keen...

    Yes but you’ve had a statement (January’s) since then which presumably had the correct meter readings on it at that time. Whether a reading is taken as a smart reading or you submit one manually, the readings are coming from the same meter and the bill will be issued for what you have consumed since that January statement.
  • geoffers's Avatar
    Level 34
    Whether a reading is taken as a smart reading or you submit one manually, the readings are coming from the same meter and the bill will be issued for what you have consumed since that January statement.
    @JoeSoap ...wrong : the manual meter reading is meaningless if you're on the Next Drive tariff like @HarryHH, since it has no way of determining how much was consumed at the low/high rate.

    The only way they can produce the correct statement is by applying the relevant rate to the energy per ½ hour measured usage
  • HarryHH's Avatar
    Level 5
    @JoeSoap ...wrong : the manual meter reading is meaningless if you're on the Next Drive tariff like @HarryHH, since it has no way of determining how much was consumed at the low/high rate.

    The only way they can produce the correct statement is by applying the relevant rate to the energy per ½ hour measured usage

    And on top of that, the next drive statement has no readings on it at all (48x30ish readings would be needed) only summary of peak and off peak kWh consumed.
    Only E.on Next has those, or customers who have signed up for the Bright app
  • retrotecchie's Avatar
    Level 92
    @JoeSoap ...wrong : the manual meter reading is meaningless if you're on the Next Drive tariff like @HarryHH, since it has no way of determining how much was consumed at the low/high rate.

    The only way they can produce the correct statement is by applying the relevant rate to the energy per ½ hour measured usage

    Ah, but submitting a single manual reading normally triggers the generation of a new bill. That bill would by necessity need all the previous half-hourly readings. Those readings are not sent every half hour, but polled by DCC on a daily basis just after midnight, or when an app such as Bright requests a data refresh.
    Last edited by retrotecchie; 23-02-24 at 01:06.
    Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player. I DON'T work for or on behalf of EON.Next, but am willing to try and help if I can. Not on mains gas, mobile network or mains drainage. House heated almost entirely by baby dragons.
  • HarryHH's Avatar
    Level 5
    Ah, but submitting a single manual reading normally triggers the generation of a new bill. That bill would by necessity need all the previous half-hourly readings. Those readings are not sent every half hour, but polled by DCC on a daily basis just after midnight, or when an app such as Bright requests a data refresh.

    From when I had the smart meter fitter in January 2022 (requirement for solar panels), until I switched to NextDrive, the smart meter was sending readings once a month, and from that the bill was sent. I didn't have to send a manual reading to get a monthly bill, and I shouldn't have to now. It should be triggered on the same day every month, and E.on.NEXT should be requesting the refresh to get the data they need to send me a statement every month. [EDIT: Looking at my account online: monthly smart readings are still getting posted, on nearly the same day of the month. The last one was 4 Feb. My statement should have appeared at most 2 days later]
    Last edited by HarryHH; 23-02-24 at 01:47.
  • geoffers's Avatar
    Level 34
    And on top of that, the next drive statement has no readings on it at all (48x30ish readings would be needed) only summary of peak and off peak kWh consumed.
    Only E.on Next has those, or customers who have signed up for the Bright app
    Correct - that's what you get on your statement ie a summary of the energy used on each rate (plus an effective overall averaged rate calculated for your total usage)

    They don't provide a breakdown of usage per ½ hour (why would they need to on the bill). I admit they should provide the facility to see your detailed usage so you can check your bill, in the same way as phone companies itemise your calls.

    However as you say, you can use Bright: downloading your itemised ½ hourly data from glowmarkt.com to do your own calculations to check the billed usage, which I do and luckily can confirm is correct👍

    And on your point about timing of your statement - it took 5 months before mine seemed to settle down to a regular monthly period. I think that EOn launched this tariff before systems were properly in place to support it, since the app didn't handle it (still can't show costs) and they can't get the ToU rates onto the meter so the IHD doesn't show costs correctly
    So initially I guess there's a lot of manual checking/processing required to produce the statement with consequent delays
    Last edited by geoffers; 23-02-24 at 06:48.