Ed Vaizey, MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Thursday, 23 November 2017
Dear Mr Vaizey,
1. Alas, I have to write to you again and I hope I am not keeping Alex too busy!
2. My Gas and Electricity Company (E.ON) have just hiked my direct debit payments by 400%. Their winter estimate is without justification (please see attached letter). E.ON were not willing to negotiate the amount of the direct debit hike and they were not able/willing to accept my meter readings for 2017, 2016 and 2015. I do suspect wrong doing with this.
3. Consumers have been encouraged by the Government to switch energy suppliers to get a better deal. However, all meter reading information (and not just the meter readings at the point of switching) are not passed from the old supplier to the new. I have spoken to my previous energy suppliers and they have told me that they don’t pass on meter reading information. My previous energy suppliers also told me that if they were contacted by my new supplier, they would not give them historic meter readings. This is leaving customers like me in a vulnerable position where the new supplier can make an outrageous estimate for the supply over the winter period.
4. I suspect E.ON are abusing their position for financial gain. Let’s face it, if they could get customers to overpay for half-a-year, wouldn’t it be a free line of credit for the energy company?
5. To reiterate again, E.ON are unable/unwilling to make adjustment to my direct debit. My old monthly direct debit payment of £32 was covering my usage quite nicely.
6. I have written to E.ON (see enclosed). Phoning E.ON is hopeless and as you can see from my letter, I had to spend 1 hour 26 minutes on my last phone call to them.
7. Please urge the Energy Regulator to take another look at how the power companies share information with each other, so that customers can be treated fairly.
Yours sincerely
beehive yourself 😉
Enclosed: my letter to E.ON dated 22 November 2017. [The letter I am referring to can be found here – it is yesterday’s post]
