[dl1234]

This last message finally made me get my act together and switch away from EON.
I found the tone of it to be rather aggressive and totally unnecessary - especially the last paragraph.
I am fed up with effectively having to prepay and provide EON a free loan.
I am perfectly capable of managing my money and my bills.

That in-credit line was before they took the current DD which would have been taken a couple of days after this message and put me well in credit again.

Looks like the ups and downs are only OK if they are in EONs favour.


We're here to help you keep your account in good shape and make sure you don't build up too much credit or debt.

Even though you're in credit by £123.63, you're using an average of £26.34 more each month than your current Direct Debit (DD) payment covers, which means your account balance is £258.36 behind where we'd expect it to be at this time of year.

It's perfectly normal for your balance to go up and down as the seasons change and you use more or less energy - you could be in debt at the end of winter or in credit at the end of summer.

But sometimes you can build up too much debt, which is when we'll ask you to make a one off payment and change your payment amount. This is to get your account back on track and make sure your payments cover your ongoing energy use, to help you avoid building up debt over winter when you use more.

What you need to do.
The quickest way to get your account back on track is with a one off payment of £258.36 on a credit or debit card, and by changing your monthly DD to £187.23. Just tap the button below to make a payment online, or give us a call and we'll help you sort it.

If you don't do this we'll change your monthly DD to £208.76, starting with your December payment. We'll also continue to review your account regularly to check your DD is set to the right amount.

[meldrewreborn]

@dl1234

Their statement is absolute nonsense and completely contradictory.

If you are in credit you could reasonably expect that credit balance to diminish into the winter months and even go into debit, indeed they acknowledge that with

"It's perfectly normal for your balance to go up and down as the seasons change and you use more or less energy - you could be in debt at the end of winter or in credit at the end of summer."

They then say "But sometimes you can build up too much debt, which is when we'll ask you to make a one off payment". Two issues here 1) you're not in debt, and 2) who decides what is "too much debt"?

My approach is to give them up to date readings, then ask for all your credit back, and then set a new DD, which will mean your account will go into debit through the winter months, which as they've acknowledged "It's perfectly normal for your balance to go up and down as the seasons change and you use more or less energy - you could be in debt at the end of winter or in credit at the end of summer."

I hope your new supplier is better, but I suspect that this tactic will apply everywhere. But by moving you'll actually achieve what my tactic suggests - your credit back and a new DD!! But in 6 or 9 months time they'll likely try the same thing.

[DebF_EONNext]

Hey @dl1234 welcome to the community!

It sounds like payment adequacy has been run on your account, this happens automatically every 3 months. If you have just been billed and are due to make a payment it doesn't take into consideration any payments that are scheduled that have not yet been collected.

The aim is to have your account in good standing for the winter so that if it's a cold one you don't fall into a debit balance and struggle. How much you need to pay is however based on your Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) if this goes up or down then your direct debit would be amended to match your usage. If however your EAC is incorrect perhaps due to estimates etc then this can have an impact on what we ask you to pay.

This is why it's super important to ensure your meter readings are up to date and accurate as it gives a clearer picture of your usage. If you struggle to give readings then a smart meter might be something to worth looking into. If however you think your EAC is wrong (you can find this on your latest bill) then you can get in touch and we can look into this.

If you want to amend your direct debit you can manage this via online via your online dashboard you can also ask us to complete a review of your account to make sure everything is up to date and that you are paying what you should.

Are you on a fixed direct debit? If so then it might also be worth considering if you would prefer a variable direct debit - where you pay for exactly what you use each month rather than a fixed amount each month 😀 it doesn't change your tariff only the way you are paying!

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

@dl1234

Their statement is absolute nonsense and completely contradictory.

If you are in credit you could reasonably expect that credit balance to diminish into the winter months and even go into debit, indeed they acknowledge that with.

Agree totally: Let's face it - everyone complains when their balance goes into credit over the summer months, with the inevitable response that they're effectively lending the supplier money.

But I haven't seen a single "thanks" in the winter months when their balance goes into debit and they're borrowing money from the supplier.

If the account balances out correctly over the year, the summer credit (lending) and winter debit (borrowing) must also cancel each other out

[dl1234]

I was surprised to see these responses as my browser indicated there was a problem when posting and suggested that the post had not been published - twice!

I had already got them to refund me a chunk of money (seemed to take several requests!) this year as last year......last year their estimate seemed to be way over in their favour.
I'm curious as no-one seems to think that their "What you need to do" is overly aggressive and unnecessarily threatening.....or am I being soft and sensitive!

Whatever I'm out of here ....I shall now see if the new supplier is any better...at least I making a cost saving.

[Andy65]

@dl1234

For what it's worth I don't find anything they've written as being aggressive or threatening in any way, but as others have said the logic behind their request is questionable in my opinion.

I've never been asked to make a one off payment by any supplier in over 30 years, but I've always managed my usage and readings.

[meldrewreborn]

@DebF_EONNext

my EAC is wrong and I’ve proved it. However Next apply the industry computed figure that would baffle Einstein as if it is the gospel from on high, even when data available from its own records says otherwise. Having just had a prolonged “debate” with customer services I speak from experience. In the past I’ve challenged @Lee_EONNext to investigate my EAC and explain my figure and how the EAC process works (or doesn’t like when my EAC fine remained exactly the same for 4 months). I’ve not heard anything back at all - silence - nada. So I hope you’ll forgive me when I say that customer services are not at all open to having the EAC challenged in any way. And your statement above that if a customer thinks (knows?) their EAC to be wrong it can be looked into - well a 5 second look doesn’t cut it with me.

two things could lead to direct debits falling behind a proper level - price rise or increased consumption or both. It would be fair and reasonable to say that because of those factors the DD need to increase, but to demand an up front payment isn’t reasonable. Nor is the big brother tone of the message “we’re going to get more money from you whichever option you choose “. When a customer is in credit having already given in effect an interest free loan to the company, I and I suspect most people would consider that as grossly offensive.

so better to say at your current usage and tariff your DD is insufficient to cover all your future bills and therefore your DD should be increased to £X. And better still not to do this while the account is in substantial credit, whereas debit or near zero valve would be fine. It’s about treating customers with respect.

Rant mode off.

EDIT had my Covid jab yesterday and feeling grumpy!

[DebF_EONNext]

@meldrewreborn I hope you're back to your usual disposition soon!

I completely understand what you are saying. The issue is while we can manually review on our side, it doesn't change what the industry says. So if we do a manual review we will have to add all of our calculations and how we have come to this in your account notes and manually review things. The problem is that when the next payment adequacy review is completed it bases it again on the EAC.

All we can do is keep submitting those reads and eventually it should even out, the biggest issue that can knock EAC off is it calculates the usage at the property not the individuals in the property - so if you've just moved in 1 month ago it could well be calculated using the previous tenants usage. If you forget to submit a read and an estimate is put in place it can then knock it off again - 1 incorrect reading can knock it out by months 😏 which isn't ideal and why you will see me rabbit on so much about smart meters and submitting reads!

Our Energy Specialists do what they can by ensuring that all submitted reads are validated by the industry and we can request an update to the total figure however once we have done our part it's not in our hands anymore. It's just as frustrating for our energy specialists - however saying that, this is something I know our Experts have been looking into to figure out how we can overcome this 😀

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by Andy65

@dl1234
...I've never been asked to make a one off payment by any supplier in over 30 years, but I've always managed my usage and readings.

Not sure if it'll make any difference, but because it takes three or four days from my DD being taken from the bank to it appearing on my EOn account, I shifted my payment day back by five days so that the payment appears on the Eon account before they make their monthly deductions, with the current credit/debit balance showing on that month's statement

Thinking behind this is that the monthly statement is more likely to stay in credit than show it's (briefly) fallen into debit. So if they base their estimated consumption on the number of months that you're in debit, hopefully this will help minimise the DD amount that they set.

[meldrewreborn]

@DebF_EONNext

I’m sorry but the explanation offered doesn’t wash in my case. I’ve been here since 1977. The industry EAC frankly isn’t fit for purpose. If as in my case Eon Next has more than 2 years of data then it could assess its own EAC - at least it could then defend the figure sensibly rather than lamely fall back on the industry EAC which nobody can sensibly explain, let alone correct.

computers are really good at doing this stuff, if they’re tasked to do it.