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Ripping Off Customers, Asking Them to Work Harder
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AST year I wrote about my exceptionally bad experiences with e.ON or ‘E.ON Next Energy Limited’ (they seem to use pseudonyms with these spin-offs), which had taken over our longtime energy provider, nPower. The acquisition did not get blocked. It looked like it was going to be prevented, but nPower was eventually scooped up by some tentacle of e.ON ‘next’, which claims to be a new and small company. It’s a lie. It’s probably part of an elaborate shell game (dodging regulation or cheating financial auditors).

Things have not improved since; the prices shot up (gone through the roof), they try to compel clients to have an Internet connection and “apps” (spies) and/or spy meters etc. They want to blame the customers, who already pay extra not to have those things, for wrong bills. They keep nagging those clients, despite having paid to not be nagged, to provide meter readings. Well, if they want more meter readings, then they should send out their staff more frequently, just as they used to do before the pandemic started.

“COVID profiteers” seem to nowadays include energy companies, which moreover exploit the crisis in Ukraine to send the prices sky-high (while their profits too go sky-high). This is not acceptable. I’ve begun challenging the nags from e.ON or ‘E.ON Next Energy Limited’. It has led to the following discussion, which is still ongoing.

e.ON:

If you’ve done this regularly, or in the last few months, then just reply to this email and we’ll look into it.

Me:

I am paying you EXTRA to send staff to take readings and NOT bother me with false emails like these. Please do not email me again.

e.ON:

Hello,

I would like to sincerely apologise for the time your query has been left unanswered.

This is not to my own or E-on Next’s expectations and for this we apologise and take this an opportunity to do better.

Energy companies are only legally obligated to take meter readings once in a two year period, which means the onus falls upon the bill payer to provide these readings, should they wish to not be billed to an estimation.

You are not obliged to give these readings however, your energy account will be estimated and things such as EAC/AQ (yearly estimations), tariff quotes, payment adequacy and much more will not be as accurate as your energy provider and yourself would like.

May I ask if your query has been resolved?

If not please can you confirm your account number (A-), property address, name on the account and more information in related to your query, and I will be happy to assist you further.

Alternatively you can contact E-on Next via phone on 0808 501 5200 (Monday-Friday 09:00-16:00).

Jack

Energy Specialist

E-on Next

Me:

Dear Jack Platten,

You need to send people to take meter readings a lot more often.

It seems like you have exploited the lockdowns to never restore proper service, only increase your prices by like 30-40% (while making services worse, probably to cut your own costs at our expense).

If this carries on, Jack, you too might be on the company’s “chopping block”.

So please relay my concerns upwards to your bosses. If I pay EXTRA* to secure the job of people who take meter readings, they should be dispatched regularly. Now a couple of times a year.

Do not send me emails nags trying to get me to do their job instead. I already pay extra for that not to happen**.

Regards,

Roy

___
* The lower tariffs are only available if the job your company used to do (or NPower before the takeover) is outsourced to me.

** Companies come and go. Companies that mistreat their clients go away faster.

e.ON:

Hi Roy,

I hope you are well,

Energy companies are only legally obligated to take meter readings once in a two year period, which means the onus falls upon the bill payer to provide these readings, should they wish to not be billed to an estimation.

You are not obliged to give these readings however, your energy account will be estimated and things such as EAC/AQ (yearly estimations), tariff quotes, payment adequacy and much more will not be as accurate as your energy provider and yourself would like.

If you are on the priority service register, these data collection readings can be taken more frequently, however without confirmation of your account details, I would be unable to look into this further.

E-on Next offer a very good service package for customers, with renewable energy at the forefront of our operations, market leading customer service (14,000+ 5* trust pilots) and extremely competitive tariff agreements in the current energy market, and for these reasons and so much more, do not charge exit fees at this time.

Jack

E-on Next
Jack from E.ON Next

Me:

Hi,

Your response fails to actually address the points I made in my previous message — maybe it intentionally bypasses them.

Could you please consider responding to my message not like a lawyer but as a person?

Thanks in advance.

Update: Further communication below.

e.ON:

Hello,

“Your response fails to actually address the points I made in my previous ?message — maybe it intentionally bypasses them.” -

If you can kindly provide the section of your query in which your questions were not answered, I am more than happy to provide further information. Further to this, you have yet to provide the security answers which will enable me to locate your E-on Next account:

Account number (A-)
Property address
Name on the account

Jack

E-on Next
Jack from E.ON Next

e.ON:

Evening Roy,

Thank you kindly for providing your details to locate your account.

I can see that no user reading has been provided for 365 days for both gas & electric.

I can see an RD1 (data collector) reading was taken on 21/01/2022, and I have added your user profile to the list of customers unable to read their meter, which means a data collector will be out to take another reading, however this unfortunately cannot be scheduled.

Are you able to take a meter reading at all? If not, I would advise to review this information on the OFGEM website about the priority service register, if this applies to your situation, I am able to add you to the register which includes quarterly readings: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/getting-extra-help-priority-services-register, however these cannot be scheduled.

Are you interested in free smart meter installation? If you were to have a smart meter, this would send your reading in each billing month, so that you are billed to the physical amount of energy used, and no estimates will be needed.

Would you like me to add your email address to the account also? This will provide you with access to your account online.

Let me know if you have questions,

Jack

E-on Next

Me:

> Evening Roy,
>
> Thank you kindly for providing your details to locate your account.
>
> I can see that no user reading has been provided for 365 days for both
> gas & electric.

I never send readings. I pay extra to not have to do this.

> I can see an RD1 (data collector) reading was taken on 21/01/2022, and I
> have added your user profile to the list of customers unable to read
> their meter, which means a data collector will be out to take another
> reading, however this unfortunately cannot be scheduled.

We work from home, so almost any time would be OK. This was never a
problem in the past.

> Are you able to take a meter reading at all? If not, I would advise to
> review this information on the OFGEM website about the priority service
> register, if this applies to your situation, I am able to add you to the
> register which includes quarterly readings:
> https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/getting-extra-help-priority-services-register
> https: //www.ofgem.gov.uk/getting-extra-help-priority-services-register, however
> these cannot be scheduled.

Why is it a "priority" to get the same service we always had prior to e.ON?

> Are you interested in free smart meter installation? If you were to have
> a smart meter, this would send your reading in each billing month, so
> that you are billed to the physical amount of energy used, and no
> estimates will be needed.

No, like I said before we pay extra to not have these. I already
discussed this in great length with a manager at e.ON last year.

> Would you like me to add your email address to the account also? This
> will provide you with access to your account online.

No. No E-mail,  no account other than one you use for communication by
post and seldom by phone.

> Let me know if you have questions,

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 at 10:50 am and is filed under Rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.