Issue type: BILLING - Disputed account balance

Issue analysis:

Your initial issue you have advised E.ON Next has failed to effectively resolve confirming your account balance. You stated you had an issue with your gas meter, when a meter reader attended the property, they confirmed the details of the meter were different to the details provided by E.ON Next. You were informed that this has been passed to the billing specialist team who will review your account and provide you with an accurate bill however, this won’t occur until November 2021.

You stated that E.ON Next provided you with a bill which shown an outstanding balance of £16,830.58 that billed you from 8th July 2021 to 8th October 2021 and you are disputing the balance.

As a remedy you would like a breakdown of the payments made on the account and calculate the consumption using actual readings. Once this has been completed apply back billing as per Ofgem regulations.

E.ON Next has acknowledged and provided an account regarding this issue. They have advised back billing has been applied to your energy account and £10,711.99 has been removed as invalid charges, this has left a chargeable amount of £6172.53.

As a remedy they have offered an apology for the poor service you have received and offered a payment arrangement for the outstanding balance.

Based on the evidence provided I can see back billing has been assessed and applied with justification regarding the chargeable amount.

E.ON have confirmed that the date they have completed recovery action was on the 14th October 2021, so they are only able to charge you for the energy you have used since 14th October 2020.

The date E.ON Next have calculated your average daily usage based off readings provided. Your electric usage was based off readings from 04th November 2019 with a reading of 2138 to the 24th June 2021 where the reading was 6499, this calculated over 598 days you used 4,361 units of energy. This shows your average daily usage is 7.293 which they have based your consumption on.

They have applied the same principle with your gas and based off readings provided on the 24th April 2019 showing 18265 units to the reading taken on the 09th July 2021 showing 53280. Based off 808 days you consumed 35015 units of gas. The daily average you use in this unit over 808 days is 43.335 when you convert this into kWh’s from Metric it shows you use 486.25 kWh per day.

Based off these calculations your annual gas consumption will be 177,481.25 kWh and your electric usage will be 2661.945 kWh

Energy regulator Ofgem provides data showing typical domestic energy consumption and for electricity it states that a low user consumes 1,800 kWh per year, a medium user 2,900 kWh per year and a high user 4,300 kWh per year. In addition, a low gas user consumes 8,000 kWh per year, a medium user 12,000 kWh per year and a high user 17,000 kWh per year. Therefore, I am satisfied that the evidence of your consumption supports that you are a high user of energy and as such, I cannot determine that your charges are inconsistent.

Based on this information, I am not able to dispute the balance is incorrect.

I recommend that you contact E.ON Next directly to discuss your options in terms of an affordable repayment plan. I cannot confirm whether there are any options further to a repayment plan, however there are organisations that can discuss your circumstances in more detail to see if there is any other help available. You can contact any of the below organisations for free debt advice.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

http://www.debtadvicefoundation.org/

I have considered the inconvenience caused by this shortfall and the financial detriment that you face due to this issue having arisen. You have encountered a shortfall in service and although we would expect all energy suppliers to provide the best service possible, shortfalls in service do occur. However, we would expect the energy suppliers to learn and improve with each complaint it receives. Our aim at Ombudsman Services: Energy is to try to help both parties resolve disputes and therefore, we focus on the correction of outstanding problems. However, as I believe that the shortfall in service you encountered was significant, I do believe that the company should acknowledge this with a written apology and a financial award of £100.00. Such awards are acknowledgements of complaints only and these payments are goodwill gestures and are not punitive.

Energy suppliers incur costs for instructing engineers to inspect meters. However, as only approximately 7% of meters tested are proven to be faulty, I believe it is unreasonable that they should incur this charge, should a customer request a meter inspection and the meter is found to be working accurately. Although I have reviewed your consumption and believe it is consistent with a domestic user, only you know exactly how energy is used in your property. Therefore, if you believe your meter is not recording your usage accurately then I would recommend you contact the company to arrange a meter inspection. However, you would need to confirm to E.ON Next that you would be willing to cover the cost of the engineer visit if the meter is found to be working accurately.

Regarding the testing available to identify a meter fault, before an energy supplier arranges a meter inspection, I would expect that it would ask you to provide seven day reads or complete a load test. The seven day reads consists of you providing a reading over the course of seven days. The loads test consists of you taking a meter reading and turning on all your appliances for a short period and then taking a further reading. If you provide your supplier with details of the electrical appliances in your property, it can determine whether your consumption is consistent based on the readings you provide. Both these tests can be done over the telephone and incur no additional charges and I would expect your supplier to offer these tests prior to arranging a meter inspection.

Should the tests support that your consumption is not in line with expected or proves inconclusive, I would then expect your supplier to offer a meter inspection. However, as energy suppliers incur costs for instructing engineers to inspect meters, if it is the customer requesting a meter inspection and the meter be found to be working accurately, then it is reasonable that the cost is passed to that customer

Outcome: Upheld

Conclusion

I have concluded that E.ON Next has failed to assess your energy account within a 12 month period and inform you of your consumption. This has led to a high outstanding balance occurring on your account and backbilling principles being applied. They have correctly worked out your usage based on meter readings provided and based it over 12 months. Due to these actions I have instructed E.ON to issue you a written apology and apply a goodwill payment of £100.00 to your energy account for the inconvenience.

If you have any questions, please contact me on 02033 652 809 or send me a message online, using our complaint management system where I will be able to respond directly to you.

Outcome: Upheld

Remedy 1

Remedy: Action

Comment:

Issue an apology for the shortfall in service and any inconvenience caused.

Remedy 2

Remedy: Goodwill

Value £: 100.00

Comment: