i will try in the morning

energy watch are contacting them again and hope to hear within ten days

will let you know outcome

thanks

Have you tried the energy supply ombudsman?

www.energy-ombudsman.org.uk/

hi basil

i have never written on the forum before but your case sounds so like ours it made me want to scream

Wondered if you have had any luck with eon. we run a business and have had two correct bills in eight years , we are now employing a company to check our bills and they range from £13,000 to £23,000 for the same eighteen month period,

today i got an email from them stating they were not accepting any form of payments or payment plan and they would not accept a meeting to sort this out, i have a full file of complaint letters to eon and letters from energywatch all of which eon have never replied to,

every letter we write said we were willing to pay on the issue of a bill as we cant just pay monies over with no bill and no receipts for vat etc

to top this off they are now going for a disconnection warrant which will shut down my business with eleven job going and three kids and us out on the street as we live above the premises

energywatch advised to write saying payment will be made on receiving the bill but its still not correct as they have charged todays rate for all power used since march 06 and not applying the rates per quarter as applicable

I am now paying a standing order weekly and paying lump sums all of which they have emailed to say "AND!!!!!! we still taking you to court"

is there anybody with ideas as i am at breaking point

I recieved a letter yesterday from eon telling me they are willing to come to an arrangement. I telephoned them and the arrangement was for me to pay the £1068 in installments which I refused. I asked the lady when the meter was last calibrated and she told me it was done in 2003. I asked how come they didn't notice the storage heaters when they calibrated the meter. She then asked me if the meters were there when the meter was calibrated. When I spoke to the complaints dept at eon a few weeks ago the man told me that the heaters had been fitted 5 years ago (2003). They can tell me the date the storage heaters were fitted and when the meter was calibrated but still deny that they knew that the property needed an economy 7 meter. They also told me that they had been to the flat in march to take a reading and that the meter is correct. As I know the person who lives in the flat I immediatley rang him to see if eon had been out in March to read the meter and was informed that there had been no such visit and eon have had no access to the meter.

I also asked why they could not recalculate my usage at economy 7 rate but she told me this is not possible as they would not know how much I had used. Heaven forbid they lose out on a few pence. She also told me that I had been paying a very low monthly rate (31.50) the rate that they recommended I pay. Even if I had continued to pay the higher rate of £75 a month it would still be nowhere near the £1068 that they expect me to pay for a period of 6 months.

I am still going round in circles with eon doing nothing. My phone bill has tripled this month from ringing eon and energy watch.

I have rang energy watch today and told them I am not happy with eons descision to come to an arrangement and am waiting a reply from them.

Just thought Id share my experience with you...

The company I work for has recently received a bill from E-on for £13,000... I rung them up as soon as it came and was basically told 'yes sorry but we've been undercharging you for the past 7 years and now we're got the right meter reading this is your bill'. We have been in heated discussions ever since, we refuse to pay for somebody elses *** up... it stems from wrong meter readings even though their meter reading ppl had been out to read it! When complaining I was pretty much told that if we settled the bill now they would knock off £2k as a good will gesture... and that we could make the payment in installments.... of course we still refused to pay. Like yourselves we have since received letters from their debt collectors saying they're going to take us to court etc etc even thou we have told e-on to put our account on hold until such time we have reached an agreement.. e-on and their debt collectors obviously dont communicate! we have been in touch with energy watch who basically say that they're allowed to re-invoice for mistakes for the past 6 years for a business and I believe 1 year for a private household... they also suggested we contact our local mp to see if he can help. We have contacted our local mp and he has since written to e-on and thats as far as its got at the moment......

Hi Basil. I saw your post. Nothing has still been resolved in my case and they still have not been out to investigate the meter. Energywatch told me that if nothing had happeneds in 10 days to get back to them which I will be doing over the weekend.

Loafman

Yes I do wish you luck but I think we need some one who has authority to investigate this company.......possible television company etc?? Who is controlling these guys??

Why not let this be made known to all!!

Basil

I moved out of a rented property last year (mid July 07) and gave all meter readings to Powergen/Eon. I received an email saying my final bill is ready online and another stating they have received my final meter readings (still have emails to confirm this). And of course paid the bill in full at the time. Now they have emailed me saying I still owe them money. It's only about £60 but I will not pay on priciple. And here is why:-

1. I spoke to a fella on the phone who said my gas was estimated on the final bill. It cannot be estimated as I gave the readings, plus it cannot have a final bill that is estimated, it would be a contradiction.

2. After I moved out the property was partly renovated and then sold in mid September, and the meter reading that has caused the upset was given by the NEW home owner, meaning 2 months had passed in between, during which time anything could have happened (heating on to dry paint etc. during renovation of property?). The guy on the phone said the meter reading was given by the new home owner the day after I moved out, but the house wasn't even on the market then so that is a blatant lie. When questioned on this point the guy admitted that the new meter reading was submitted in mid September, but as it was listed as a vacant property for 2 months they backdated the reading to the day after I left the property. Outrageous!

3. He then told me if I refuse to pay ther would set debt collectors on me, which was said in a quite threatening manner. I don't respond well to intimidation, and would rather plant a boot in someones head that give in to these bullies.

4. When I suggested the gas could have been used by someone after I left the property he agreed and told me I would have to prove that. I told him that he would have to prove that I used it (common sense tells me I am correct, but you never know in this crazy world).

5. I asked why they took 9 months to come back to me and he said it's becuase the new owner would not pay it. So they have resorted to trying to fleece ME in other words.

6. I asked them to prove I used it before trying to charge me, and have heard nothing. They have since tried to take the money (without my permission) from my bank account, but my bank refunded the payment. Maybe because the DD no longer exists, or maybe because I used to pay Powergen but they tried to take the money as E.ON. Personally I think this is theft (or worse still fraud) as I have already paidthe bill labeled 'Final'.

All in all they have picked a difficult fight in me, as I love to get my teeth into this kind of thing, and will give them a real headache. If possible I will make sure it costs them money.

Will be speaking to my solicitor if they don't back down as I think I have a strong case against them. Wish me luck!

Hi burr311

Did you see my post? It is a problem so similar to yours...........outrageously high bills and then reassurances from Eon that there must be something wrong, dont worry the accounts on hold etc etc then the debt collections dept contacting you and the rest you know!

Has your problem been resolved? We are a business getting bills 10 x higher since Eon fitted a new meter and we could be put out of business by them if we are not careful. Is there some way of finding out if others are in this situation?

Basil

Hi there

I have been talking to Eon about the whole thing and they say they will send someone out to see if our shop could use so much electric...........and then dont show up. In the meantime the bills are escalating so we have decided to get an overdraft to pay them off and sort it from there. In three weeks the check meter recorded 6500units ! The equip has been tested and there is no faults so we just dont know where these charges come from.

The meter is flashing red and so is the checkmeter and despite telling them this many times they dont come out to check it..does anyone know what this means?

I wonder how many other business face the same problems and the distinct possibilty of closing down!

There's living proof that it has happened, basil......which is feasible in your case, follow the good advice and consider calling in your own electricians to follow the feed of everything from the source of the feed if necessary they will conduct consumption checks on individual appliances as well, particularly if there have been building works, improvements or alterations, your meter in fact may be recording the correct consumption ...but it may be that another business is running off, or partly.. off your meter as well. !!!

Hi Basil,

Me again ,just a taught check all your equipment and see if any of them are using unnecessary amounts of electricity, in a previous job we had a walkin in fridge that after being serviced used double what it needed to use because of some fault. Check them one by one, you never know, Switch everything off and see if it is still using.

jk

Hi Basil, like you I bought a business last August ( a deli) and saw my bills double in a short period of time after a new meter was fitted, I was having some work done so I shut off all electricity over a 3 day period and noted the reading, each day it increased and I informed EON about this which they said was bizzare did not believe me at first but sent out an engineer to investigate, he discovered that during a re fit and split of the building I now own into two seperate buildings some one made a huge mistake with the wiring and all the costs for electricity were being charged to my metre, no wonder the owners of the building next door laughed when I told them my story, they had yet to receive a bill and kept very quiet about it .Eon offered me a full appology and a full refund.

Be very vocal with your complaint and speak to your local newspapers, eon are on a huge sales promotion at the moment and would not want any adverse publicity, if you can prove that the prevous bills were much lower that sue them , they are supposed to be competitive and if they made any promises to this effect when you changed meters then I believe you have a strong case. I know my current contract with them promises to beat the competition and guarantee lower bills. These people running the call centres know only what is on the screen, ask to speak to someone more senior and demand that they visit you, try and get some comparisions from other shops in the area.

JK

Hi basil --- I am not allowed to put links to other forums here but if you place the five words, "electric meter check meter inaccuracy" into Google, it returns user forums from other posters experiencing similar problems that they have had with Powergen and also PDF files on what to do with meter inaccuracy disputes that may be of assistance.

Assuming that the consumption proves to be correct, is there any way a surrounding business or other establishment could have tapped into your supply, either mistakenly or intentionally..... You never know these days with energy costing so much. ????

Thank you for that, but unfortunately Energy watch are saying there is nothing much they can do if the checkmeter proves there is nothing wrong with the main meter. Nobody seems to want to know that one meter was removed in 2006 and the replacement meter records 10 times as much consumption I am baffled as to how a few fridges, coffee machine and dishwasher and lights can consume £2000 per month.We havent changed any equipment or added any..........the price has gone up yes, but why should the consumtion go up. I still believe the meter is faulty, it records a new unit every minute.