If You Thought Utility Companies Could Be Incompetent.................

[noTAGlove]

Try the Energy Ombudsman for complete and utter incompetent f*!ktw@ttery.

I thought this would all be straightforward, and it should be. My previous energy supplier (Symbio) billed me to the 67490 (day) and 16062 (night). I had paid them up to these meter readings before they went bankrupt. I have the bill to prove it.

E.ON Next took over my account in November 2021 and used open readings 67193 (day) 15177 (night). No idea where these readings came from. It seemed they had used Google random number generator. I told E.ON Next I am not paying for electricity units twice, so can you please use open meter readings of 67490/16062 as that is what I had paid Symbio, and the Government ensures that no household should be out of pocket if their energy supplier goes bust. With E.ON Next erroneous opening meter readings I had overpaid them by 297 units (day) and 885 units (night). About a £250 overpayment.

Four months of trying to explain the simple maths of E.ON Next was like I was trying to coach them in the application of Fourier transforms to nuclear science. They refer it to the Energy Ombudsman. Ah, at last. I will have a competent voice of reason. Or so I thought.

First case officer confirms that E.ON Next opening reading are correct. I reject their decision and explain the reason why. The case officer admits they missed the Symbio bill I uploaded to their website as evidence, but the case must now be escalated to a Senior Case Officer, and they will review it again.

Second case officer comes back with a remedy and new opening meter readings of 67858 (day) and 15281 (night). To me these opening readings are completely unfathomable. But, by a stroke of luck I do my number crunching and work out that if I accept the remedy I will only be out of pocket by a few quid, when compared with starting with the correct opening meter readings of 67490/16062. That is the end of it or so I thought.

E.ON Next agree to the remedy as send me a revised bill with opening readings of the same original readings of 67193/15177, which means no refund. Back to square one. Un-fooking-believable.

Back to the second case officer I go. I tell them that I signed the agreement/endorsement based on revised opening meter readings of 67858/15281, and as per the Energy Ombudsman's remedy, and E.ON Next have continued to bill me from 67193/15177.

Oh yes, they said. I changed that in my letter to E.ON Next. What, you mean I signed and endorsed a remedy (which is still on my file), and then you changed it in the background when you wrote to E.ON Next. In what world do you believe that to be acceptable!!!!!!! I need to speak to my manager, they say. Now I must be near the fooking top of the Energy Ombudsman chain of command.

I feel like Steve Martin in Trains, Plane and Automobiles. You know the sketch where he says give me a car, four fooking wheels and a steering wheel, except this time it is give me a fooking bill with the correct meter readings based on what I paid up to with my last supplier.

The second case office speaks to their manager, and now there is a vague attempt to close me down. You accepted this etc. Woooaaah, that's when I lost a little bit of cool and politely told them to escalate it to the Senior Manager or I would be doing it independently, and this would include the (what I feel) is verging on dishonest behaviour of changing the agreed remedy.

So, off to case officer number 3, who is a senior manager, it goes. All for not being able to read and interpret a closing bill from my previous electricity supplier. Four months of E.ON Next across numerous agents, and now 3 months with the Energy Ombudsman and 3 case officers. All for a simple opening meter reading.

Sorry for the rant. If you thought energy utility companies can be bad. The Energy Ombudsman can hold their beer.

[M1011]

Unbelievable level of incompetence. Who the hell do you go to when the ombudsmen is the one being dishonest..!

[number2]

Yup, our experience with British gas and the energy ombudsman was equally satisfying,

[justin44]

We just had the exact same problem but for us we over aid by £40 after calling 5 times and being told a new bill with correct meter reading would be sent, only to get the same wrong bill 5 times we just gave up and excepted the £40 loss rather than wasting another 4 hours of our lives.

[Mr Curta]

Does a smart meter make it any less likely that these things will happen?

[IAmATeaf]

Does a smart meter make it any less likely that these things will happen?

It would if they took readings on the day that you transferred over but with the company going bust there will most likely always be a delay so I doubt it would have made any difference. Unless, daily readings from smart meters are kept for a period of time but again you’re asking for a bit of thought and intelligence there as opposed to the easiest answer which always seems to be “computer says no”.