[LauraM]

I have a complaint ongoing with Eon Next at the moment and I have asked twice for it to be escalated as I am not getting anyway and I have been told by the Energy Specialist that she is the one who will be dealing with my complaint until it is resolved. I don't understand this as we will not come up with a resolution because she keeps lying and ignoring what I am saying. I am valid to say she is lying as I keep proving my point to the extent where I have had to place a SAR request for a phone call she is making claims about and on receiving it, again shows she is lying.

I am going through a high risk pregnancy at the moment and really need to get this sorted asap. It has gone on far too long - 2 years!

A little back story is that when I was with another company we tried to get a smart meter but the engineer who came out to fit it said there was asbestos in the tin and it needed to go to a specialist team. I didn't push any further as left it with them (and it was then lockdown) and I changed over to Eon Next when my fixed tariff was up. All was fine until I contacted Eon Next in February 2023 to tell them that my meter reading had jumped backwards so I couldn't submit my meter reading. They said someone would get in touch and they didn't. I chased but then it seemed to be working so I could submit readings until July 2024 when it broke altogether (the screen went blank). I chased and chased until we managed to get a smart meter fitted in January this year. I was then hit with a big bill. On disputing it she has now reviewed and rebilled me with estimated energy use back to 2022.

She now hasn't responded to me when I have questioned this.

Any advice would be very much appreciated and thank you in advance.

[meldrewreborn]

@LauraM

Welcome to the forum. Is the big bill as a result of actual readings being used to replace previous estimated ones? Your old bills would be reversed and new bills raised if this were the case.

Alternatively is the billing relating to consumption tate was never billed before -did some months or quarters get missed.

The period between July 23 and January 25 will have been estimated because your meter was non functional for that period. On your bills there is shown on the right hand side an Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) figure. This is generated through a complicated industry wide system and is supposed to be accurate. But a number of us here (me included) have found that it isn't accurate, doesn't update to changes in consumption level quickly enough and generally over estimates consumption. Under the OFGEM regulation suppliers are supposed to use their own accurate information where it is available. So if you want to challenge this estimate for the past 6 month (it will have been based on the EAC figure) then you need to arm yourself with data on actual (not estimated) readings going back for up to 3 years. Then you will be able to argue the matter.

Ultimately, if your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction after 8 weeks you can take the matter to the energy ombudsman. That too takes time.

As it is we can help you on the forum by analysing the back readings and suggesting how to deal with the energy advisor. You can go back over your old bills and look particularly for customer's or meter reader readings. Ignore estimated readings. The more the merrier. However, you have to recognise that Eon Next may actually be correct in their billing - we can't tell - we can't see your account and we only know what you tell us.

[Indyk_EONNext]

Hey @LauraM

Welcome to our Eon next community, I am Indy one of the nexties here and would love to help get this sorted for you! 😊

I can see our lovely hem @meldrewreborn has provided you with great advice there.

Firstly I would like to apologise for the issues you are having with your account and that this hasn't been resolved yet. I would need a few account details so I am able to look into this for you, so I have popped you a dm.

If there is anything else you need please let us know 💜

[LauraM]

@meldrewreborn

Thank you so much for your advice.

The big bill was the 2 weeks from when i had the smart meter fitted to when i changed supplier as i'd had enough by this point. I appreciate i have to pay for what I use but there is no way I would have used over £600s worth in 2 weeks. Other than that all other readings have been estimated due to the meter being broken and the new bill which dates back to 2022 all have estimated written on the bill, except 1 which I'm not disputing. It's all very confusing to be honest as it keeps changing but my trust in the Energy Specialist is now non-existant.

[meldrewreborn]

@LauraM

@Indyk_EONNext has offered to help, and as an Eon Next employee your account can be accessed ( not by me though!)

I find going back to actual readings at particular points in time important. If you are on a variable tariff (80% are) then you have to work out the likely readings at the price change dates and apply the appropriate pricing to the consumption for the previous quarter. And do that for each quarter until you get to your last accurate reading before the meter failed.

when my smart meters were fitted, the EAC shot up really high for a short period and if a bill had been estimated at that time it would have been seriously wrong. Do I take it that the smart meter and this large £600 bill relate to a supplier other than Eon Next? Was it based on actual readings or estimated?

[LauraM]

@meldrewreborn

Indy has reached out which i am very grateful for.

I'll have a look back at when we were able to submit readings and make a note. I've double checked the bills and the £600 is definitely from E.ON Next as I was still with them when we had the smart meter fitted and apparently based on actual meter readings but they've changed the figures now to say it's £21 for those same dates but have also added a whole load of other estimated amounts dating back to 2022.