A pensioner has finally finished a 14-month energy bill ordeal that she saw her bills inflated by almost £500.
Susan Lansley (name changed), 70, thinks Eon mistakenly charged her for the energy used by the previous occupant of her flat, as well as for her own usage.
Lansley moved in to a flat in Worcester in October 2022, and within weeks was being asked to pay electricity bills of £473.30 by Eon.
Realising that the bill could not possibly be right, Lansley, a retired accountant, began investigating.
She thinks the reason for the high bill is that both residents of the flat had Eon as their energy firm.
Overbilled: One E.On customer was lumbered with inexplicably high energy bills (stock photo)
But Lansley ended up caught in a constant back-and-forth between Eon and her housing association over the erroneous charges.
Eon on more than one occasion told her that her flat ‘did not exist’ and that her meter, clearly labelled with her flat number, was not hers either.
This is Money has reported extensively on the stress and financial pressure that incorrect energy bills can cause.
Meanwhile a recent ranking of energy firm customer service by charity Citizens Advice found no firm scored higher than 3.65 out of 5 stars.
> Have you ‘inherited’ an energy bill? Email [email protected]
The energy firm sent her letters every two to three weeks throughout, Lansley said.
But more than a year later, in November 2023, the bill had risen to more than £731, and Lansley decided to contact This is Money.
‘So here I am, 13 miserable months later, my health deteriorating, my pill count going up and up, including antidepressants, and unable to get any sense from Eon,’ she said.
‘I never believed that something like this could cause so much stress.’
It was only after This is Money intervened that Eon finally wrote off the £473.30 charge, leaving Lansley with a correct bill of £439.33 for the energy she had used since moving in.
It has also fitted a smart meter to ensure accurate bills for Lansley in the future.
An Eon spokesperson said: ‘We have spoken to Ms Lansley and sent a follow-up email to confirm that the information we have on our system appears to be correct and to ask that she provides further information to us so we can investigate further, including confirmation on her move-in date and meter readings.’
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