First bill for power.

[Icelollycraving]

We moved into our new home 8 months ago. Despite chasing we've just received our first bill from eon. It's £800 & estimated. They've under estimated. I'm on jsa & dh works but we can't afford that. I'm now in a mild panic. Has anyone got any advice,surely they can't expect it all in one go?

If I was in your position I would get the bill corrected (because eventually they will come and check your meter anyway so you might as well know the true cost now). In the UK lots of people pay by direct debit monthly so that the cost is broken down, there are probably other ways you can pay monthly too though. If you are in another control then I'm not sure whether it works the same way.

What this means is that say I pay £50 a month direct debit to the energy company then in the summer I'll be overpaying because I'm not using that much, but in the winter I'll be underpaying because it's cold. This means that you generally get a nice even balance and energy companies are quite happy with you owing them a small amount or being in credit.

It sounds like you haven't been paying monthly and this is the charge for your first quarterly bill, is that right? Well in which case you need to consider changing your payment plan for the future (as unless you are putting aside some money each month to pay off your bill then it won't work for you). You will need to talk to the company and explain the situation, they may decide to help you come up with a repayment plan because lets be honest you owe them money. You've used the electric and thus you need to pay for it, so yes they could expect you to pay it in full.

I would be surprised if they did not come up with a payment scheme though as it's added expense to try and claim the money back from you using debt collectors and court summons.

Was meant to say "If you are in another country (not control)"*

Thank you. I'm in England. I have always paid by dd but the building company we bought the house from didn't confirm we'd bought the property so I was chasing as I knew it would be really big.

I'm sure if you ring Eon they will be able to come up with a monthly figure, I expect you'll have to pay more monthly for a while until the debt is paid off. Then you should be able to agree on a more reasonable monthly amount which fits better.

It does seem like quite a high bill though I must say!

firstly, they will indeed be able to set up a repayment plan, you need to talk to them ASAP.

secondly, look for the cheapest possible way to use them as you can't change suppliers while you have a debt. Are you on the right tariff? (they won't volunteer a cheap one!) Are you reading meters monthly and keeping track? Are you getting all possible discounts for online billing, direct debit etc?

£100 a month is (sadly) not unreasonable for a power bill - but look at usage and insulation.

If its new build you'll be on their standard tariff, we were in this house.

Pay off what you can. Keep in mind they haven't billed you for nearly 3 quarters eg 3 bills haven't been issued so they haven't been giving you very good service.

If you aren't happy with their response ask to escalate it or email the CEO.

£100 for a newbuild is a more than I'd expect, has the builder programmed the hot water tank to heat up several times a day? Our builder did that plus set the thermostat to 70c so it was literally eating electric until I switched it off & ran it off the gas for 20 minutes a day.

What kind of property is it and how big? I don't think 100 pm is high at all but then I've always lived in really inefficiant rental properties.