[Jakey998]

2 weeks ago I had a smart meter fitted - I had resisted for many reasons one being the reported failures of the meters.
I was assured by Eon that the meters they fit are of a different type to those that have been failing.
The meter was fitted and it failed!
Direct debit set up - account zeroed before that but less than 2 weeks later the DD was upped as the account was £366 behind where it needed to be!! (acount showing a debit balance of £23 at the moment.
Not happy - I feel as if everything I was told to persuade me to have the meter and return to DD were a lie.

[geoffers]

@Jakey998 - when you say the meter has failed, what has failed?

Have you checked on the citizens advice meter checker whether it is working in smart mode?
https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

If the meter was initialized on installation, where has EOn got the reading from showing that your account is in debit after only 2 weeks?

Actually, If they are taking readings from the meter it would presumably correctly show you are in debit until your first DD payment is received

[Jakey998]

Hi - It is not communicating - EON are aware and coming to fix it - the installing engineer could not get it to work.
Whether it is sending to Eon I cannot say but even so it would be impossible for me to use £366 of energy in 2 weeks. ( have a semi not windsor castle!).
I just feel that the power companies are still the same disingenuous money grabbers they were when I first dropped out of DD, Big mistake allowing them access to my bank account again - they cannot be trusted.. I am likely to drop DD again in the next week or so. 3% saving just is't worth it!!

[Mailman]

@Jakey998

I can only assume one of more of several things have happened:

1. The new smart meters are not working properly (yet) and have thrown out a wildly inaccurate advance since they were installed. If you look at the most recent statement you should be able to see the opening read of this new meter and the reading taken that generated the latest statement. Take a reading of this new meter now if you need to check the advance since it was installed to see if it looks reasonable.
2. A statement was generated coinciding with the removal of the old meter and this has led to a higher bill than anticipated. This can happen if readings have not been submitted regularly each month with Eon Next having to use estimated readings instead.
3. A revised EAU (Estimated Annual Usage in kWh) that is much higher than what you know to be true. Look at the last few statements (inc since the new meter was installed) to see what they are as this is what Eon Next will use as a means of working out what they think is an appropriate level of DD payment going forward.

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by Jakey998

Hi - It is not communicating - EON are aware and coming to fix it - the installing engineer could not get it to work.
Whether it is sending to Eon I cannot say but even so it would be impossible for me to use £366 of energy in 2 weeks.

If you say they are not communicating, then there is no way that EOn can obtain a meter reading to base the DD value on

Have you submitted a manual reading which maybe doesn't correspond to the initial setting?

Otherwise it does look like EOn have randomly chosen some excessive DD value based on some wild guesswork

Or as @Mailman said maybe the £366 is the closing balance from the old meter, if its final true reading was much higher if they'd been using estimates previously (a very good reason for using smart meters, to ensure accurate usage is paid for)

[Poppy_EONNext]

Hi @Jakey998, Welcome to the Community!

I am sorry to hear of the issues you've had with your smart meter, how did the last engineer visit go? Is it now communicating?
With the balance of £366 I would definitely reach out to customer service, they will be able to look into this further for you and confirm the dates/readings used 🙂

Let us know how you get on!

For more information on Direct Debits, check out this post here 🙂