Outrageous 1st bill from smartmeter

  • davidfromhull's Avatar
    Level 5
    @Mailman

    Hi after some hours of quite frankly unnecessary investigation I absolutely agree with you it's just trying to convince Eon if it.

    The IHD is today showing 77.1kwh used 'this month' when scrolled through, the meter was installed on 2nd May so my bill for 21 days from that install date definitely cannot be 1710 kwh the meter is showing. Where has the other 1633kwh come from ????

    I definitely agree the meter was not at zero or something similar to this when it was installed. Government reports show at least one third of all smartmeter installed are faulty. This is outrageous and has initially at least, caused me so much worry about how I was going to pay but now after putting together a range of evidence there's no way I will pay the quoted bill.

    I will switch suppliers too if Eon do not become more helpful and supporting of the whole situation.

    Thanks for all replies so far folks, very much appreciated.
  • davidfromhull's Avatar
    Level 5
    Success!!

    My brand 'new' smartmeter was actually installed with an opening balance of 1636kwh on it !!! Here's the WhatsApp reply from Eon just a few moments ago after I've sent a number of messages, information and pictures to them.


    "Thank you this explains the issue for me, so what has happened is the meter has been recorded as starting from 00000. I have pulled smart readings from the 2nd May and found the starting read was 1636.0. which would make a lot more sense as to why the high charge appeared.


    I have now removed the initial read of 0 and billed the account to the correct readings for you.
    I am really sorry about the inconvenience David"


    I wonder how many other people this has happened to who may not have noticed, and just paid the bill? Vulnerable, elderly, those who aren't able to understand the tech of a smartmeter forced upon them.

    This is appalling Eon !
  • WizzyWigg's Avatar
    Level 80
    Success!!

    My brand 'new' smartmeter was actually installed with an opening balance of 1636kwh on it !!! Here's the WhatsApp reply from Eon just a few moments ago after I've sent a number of messages, information and pictures to them.


    "Thank you this explains the issue for me, so what has happened is the meter has been recorded as starting from 00000. I have pulled smart readings from the 2nd May and found the starting read was 1636.0. which would make a lot more sense as to why the high charge appeared.


    I have now removed the initial read of 0 and billed the account to the correct readings for you.
    I am really sorry about the inconvenience David"


    I wonder how many other people this has happened to who may not have noticed, and just paid the bill? Vulnerable, elderly, those who aren't able to understand the tech of a smartmeter forced upon them.

    This is appalling Eon !
    Thank you for your update. Very glad to hear that your problem has been resolved.
    You have highlighted that when new meters have been installed that we (the customer) must check that the correct end (old meter) and start (new meter) readings have been forwarded to the supplier by the engineers before they leave.
    I know we shouldn't have to do this.
  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 57
    @davidfromhull

    That is good news. One final thing you should also check is that the end meter read from the old meter is reflected in both its final read on your statement AND on the tag which should be close to the new meter. Something like this.

    Name:  RemovedMeterDetails_Redacted.jpg
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    Also check that the statement and your online account now have the correct MSN (Meter Serial Numbers) attributed to your electricity online account.

    Possibly the installer put the correct starting read on this tag but uploaded an incorrect start read to the system. In my case both coincided to 00000 so no problem. However I moved in the the property in August of that year and inherited my smart meter. I subsequently moved to Eon Next in October 2021 but the old MSN was attributed to my MPAN rather than the new MSN but that was corrected within days by Eon Next fortunately. Again hard to know whose fault it was other than to state it was rectified quickly and have had no issues since then. Had I not spotted the different MSN perhaps I'd be balder than I now am.
  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 57
    You have highlighted that when new meters have been installed that we (the customer) must check that the correct end (old meter) and start (new meter) readings have been forwarded to the supplier by the engineers before they leave.
    I know we shouldn't have to do this.

    And that the correct MSN's are connected to the account as detailed above. The issue with me only surfaced on change of supplier (from Bulb to Eon Next) some 6 months after the smart meter was installed. Even the 2 bills I had from Bulb had the correct MSNs for my meters but in the switch process the incorrect (old) MSN on the electricity was transferred over (rather than the new MSN) whereas the gas was correct. 🤔
  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    Success!!

    My brand 'new' smartmeter was actually installed with an opening balance of 1636kwh on it !!! Here's the WhatsApp reply from Eon just a few moments ago after I've sent a number of messages, information and pictures to them.


    "Thank you this explains the issue for me, so what has happened is the meter has been recorded as starting from 00000. I have pulled smart readings from the 2nd May and found the starting read was 1636.0. which would make a lot more sense as to why the high charge appeared.


    I have now removed the initial read of 0 and billed the account to the correct readings for you.
    I am really sorry about the inconvenience David"


    I wonder how many other people this has happened to who may not have noticed, and just paid the bill? Vulnerable, elderly, those who aren't able to understand the tech of a smartmeter forced upon them.

    This is appalling Eon !

    This is great news. In the end everything pointed to the meter not being at zero when it was installed and luckily it was able to have readings pulled from day one so you didn't have to continue the fight to get things put right. I would have been happier if some compensation had been awarded though.
    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.
  • davidfromhull's Avatar
    Level 5
    @JoeSoap

    Hi JoeSoap, I've had an apology so I guess that's their idea of compensation lol but to be fair I'm not that person after things. I just wanted to be taken seriously, be valued and have the obvious problem sorted. Shame first operator person on Saturday didn't show more empathy and understanding.

    I was asked what I was expecting from Eon, I said a fully tested installation before the engineer leaves and a system that highlights any unusually high bills compared to historical use to be investigated before the bill is sent out.... And sending me into shock lol

    Here's my last message from Eon today....



    "I completely appreciate that, on the other side of things without a smart meter I wouldn't have been able to fix the issue for you as soon as I did as I was able to pick up the readings from the day of installation. It is a rare circumstance that this can happen and I will certainly feed this back to see if there are other measures we could put in place to pick this up right away. As a representative of E.ON Next I want to personally apologise for the poor experience you recently encountered with our company. Please accept my heartfelt apologies on behalf of the entire team at E.ON Next. We deeply regret any inconvenience this may have caused you.
    At E.ON Next, we take pride in providing exceptional customer service, and it is disheartening to learn that we fell short of your expectations. We understand the frustration you must have felt, and we are committed to rectifying this situation. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us, as it helps us identify areas for improvement and work towards enhancing our services.
    To make amends, we would like to offer you as a token of our sincere apology
    - This writing of apology.
    - Feeding back the issue to management for my suggestion on how we can fix an issue like this before it occurs and to prevent any financial detriment. I do have a suggestion of my own to put forward.
    Once again, I apologise for any inconvenience you have experienced. Your satisfaction is of the utmost importance to us, and we are dedicated to earning back your trust.
    I want to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We value your feedback and will work tirelessly to regain your confidence in E.ON Next"
  • JoeSoap's Avatar
    Level 91
    @davidfromhull

    Fair enough. It's still a shame that after all the time, effort and worry this has caused you, the standard grovelling message they sent you didn't have '£50' inserted where they chose to put, 'This writing of apology.'
  • meldrewreborn's Avatar
    Level 91
    @davidfromhull

    Well done. I’d consider making a complaint, and be prepared to take it to the ombudsman, asking for compensation for the time distress and worry. £50 is the absolute minimum. At least you would cause Eon Next some aggravation in return for their treatment of you. And it’s telling that they were able to identify the cause (almost as though they followed this thread) quickly in the end - but why not earlier?
    Current Eon Next and EDF customer, ex Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.