Payment of bills and guidance for customers in difficulty

Transcription

1 Payment of bills and guidance for customers in difficulty SustainableEnergy For residential heat customers

2 This tells you about the different ways to pay your bills and what happens if bills are not paid If you are having problems, please call us immediately We will do our best to help and will tell you the options available to you How your heat bills are worked out Heat bills are sent monthly and we base them on actual readings from your meter, where available As your heat meter is a smart meter, we normally read it remotely every day If we can t get an actual reading, we ll estimate a reading based on your previous usage Each bill shows the readings and has a full explanation of how the charges are worked out If you have any queries regarding your bill call our Customer Service team See Contact Us on page 5 How to pay your heat bills We can help you choose a method of payment that best suits you When you talk to us about payment options, please tell us about any special needs that you have Depending on your circumstances, some payment options may suit you more than others The ways that you can pay are - By cash or cheque Free of charge at any NatWest Bank If you pay at your own bank, this service may also be free of charge Free of charge at the Post Office By post The address can be found under Contact us on page 5 We recommend that you don t send cash through the post but, if you do, please send it by registered post By telephone or internet banking By telephone via credit or debit card By monthly Direct Debit Your bills can be charged directly to your bank account if it allows Direct Debit payments A bill is sent to you monthly showing your charges and the date the money will be claimed If there s an existing debt on your account, it must be paid before we can start this scheme This can be done within two weeks with a one-off claim Choose your payment scheme We also offer a range of payment schemes designed to suit a variety of needs and help spread the cost of your bills - Variable Direct Debit You receive your bill as normal each month and the amount shown on the bill will be claimed directly from your bank Monthly standing order This works in a similar way to a monthly Direct Debit scheme except you ll need to instruct your bank to make the agreed monthly payments to us Regular cash payments We ll agree the amount and payment frequency with you (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) and payments can be made through our wide network of payment outlets If the arrangement is to clear a debt, we will ask you to pay a set amount towards the debt and pay all of your monthly invoices that are produced in the meantime, in full, within 14 days Part payments There is no fixed amount or payment frequency agreed and we simply issue you with a payment card that you can use at any of our wide network of payment outlets You pay us as little or as much as you want in advance towards your next bill Any payments made will show on the bill and the balance remaining must be paid promptly in full 2

3 How to get help if you re finding it difficult to pay If you can t pay your bill, it s important that you contact us immediately Our trained advisors will deal with your payment problems sympathetically and will advise you on the payment options available In making an agreement, we ll take into account any information that you, or someone acting on your behalf, provides including the Citizens Advice Bureau or Money Advice Centres For more information see Useful contacts on page 6 You should also consider improving your energy efficiency as this could help reduce your bills It may also help improve the comfort of your home as well as benefiting the environment For more information call our Energy Efficiency team See Contact us on page 5 There are also discounts available when taking more than one fuel from us For more information call our Customer Service team See Contact us on page 5 Making arrangements to pay If you don t pay a bill, we ll send you a reminder If you still don t pay, we ll offer you a choice of payment options which may be influenced by your previous payment record The payment options include - Paying the balance in full Setting up a monthly payment arrangement Making a weekly, fortnightly or monthly card payment arrangement If you continue to pay your bills late, or break payment arrangements that you ve agreed, it may change the way we follow up future bills, including starting debt recovery action sooner or limiting your payment options When you contact us, we ll take into account your personal circumstances so it s important that you inform us of your situation in full, including any benefits you receive Please tell us if you - Receive Income Support or Jobseeker s Allowance Receive Working Families Tax Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit Have anyone living in your home who is of pensionable age Have anyone living in your home who is blind, severely sick or has a disability What happens when bills are not paid or you don t keep to your payment arrangement If you don t pay your bill or keep to your payment arrangement, we may take steps to disconnect your heat supply If we do disconnect your heat supply, we may charge your account with an administration fee and we may also charge you to reconnect your heat supply It s important that you keep to a payment arrangement once agreed If you don t your supply may be disconnected Please contact us if you re having difficulty paying so we can help you deal with the situation 3

4 Cutting off your supply as a last resort If you don t pay, we may have to cut off your supply as a last resort It s rare for supplies to be disconnected in these circumstances but please remember that it could happen if you don t pay Security with future bills We need to be confident that you ll be able to pay your bills and if we re not, we may ask for a form of security This security won t be needed if you pay by Direct Debit and keep to your payments Your supply won t be cut off without warning and we ll continue to try to contact you to discuss the options available Additionally, between the period of 1 October to 31 March the following year, you won t be cut off if we re aware that you re elderly, chronically sick or disabled Please ensure that you advise us of your circumstances so that we can take the appropriate action If any debt remains unpaid after disconnection, we may take action through the courts to obtain payment You ll be asked to pay for the additional costs If we haven t heard from you within four weeks of disconnecting your supply, we ll try to contact you to discuss reconnection Putting your supply back on again If we ve cut off your supply for non-payment, it won t be reconnected until you ve paid the bill or agreed a payment arrangement We ll leave you confirmation of what we ve done and details of how you can arrange for your supply to be reconnected You ll be charged for the cost of obtaining an entry warrant if it was necessary, the cost of disconnecting and reconnecting your supply and any security we may require Once you have paid or we have agreed a payment arrangement we ll restore your supply This work will normally be done during our working hours of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday If you re an existing customer, we may not let you continue to pay monthly if your bills are paid late (over 28 days after the bill date) more than twice in one year, or if you pay by cheques that don t clear Instead, you may have to pay by Direct Debit or provide another form of security The security deposit may be a payment 1 1 /2 times your average monthly bill The deposit will be refunded within 14 days after you have paid three monthly bills on time If we still hold your deposit when you move house or change to another supplier, we ll return your deposit within one month, providing you ve paid your final bill If you dispute your account If you dispute the accuracy of your bill we ll investigate your concerns There are a variety of reasons why a bill could be unexpectedly high and we ll ensure that these are explained to you as appropriate It s unusual for meters not to measure accurately but we can carry out tests if necessary, including examination by an independent examiner However, we may ask for the meter test fee in advance Please note that this will not be refunded if the meter is found to be accurate If there s any part of the bill that s undisputed, you must pay this whilst we arrange for any testing to be carried out Dealing with account disputes is covered by the supplier s Guaranteed Standards of Service and if we fail to deal with your dispute within five days, or if we fail to arrange a meter inspection within seven days, you ll be entitled to an automatic payment of 20 4

5 Once the dispute has been resolved you must pay any outstanding charges agreed or we ll refund any credit owed to you If we can t resolve the dispute between us, we have a complaints procedure you can follow For more information call our Customer Service team See Contact us opposite Tenants and landlords If you are the landlord of a property, whenever you occupy a property with a tenant or if there is a change of tenancy, please contact our Customer Service team so that we can update our records and you are only billed for what you use See Contact us opposite Moving home If you move home, please contact us with details so that we can calculate your energy usage accurately and send your final bill to your new address If you move into property supplied by EON it s equally important that you inform us immediately with details of the meter readings Energy efficiency Our specially trained Energy Efficiency Advice team can give free, impartial advice on ways you can use energy more efficiently and on the energy efficiency of appliances This could not only help reduce your bills, it could also help improve your standard of living and benefit the environment To take advantage of this service, call our Energy Efficiency team See Contact us opposite Help and advice For advice and information, call us on any of the numbers below If you feel your enquiry hasn t been resolved satisfactorily, please ask to speak to a manager or call our Complaints team on the Customer Service number below To help us improve service quality, we may record phone calls from time to time Contact us Customer Service am-5pm Monday to Friday Energy Efficiency Advice Minicom Service heat@eon-ukcom Write to Customer Service Centre, EON, PO Box 7750 Nottingham NG1 6WR Translation service We provide a translation service by telephone For more information please contact our Customer Service Centre on Our Codes of Practice We also publish Codes of Practice on - Complaints handling procedure Help and advice for customers with special needs You can receive a free copy of these documents from our website at wwweonenergycom/about- Us/About-Us-Codes-of-Practicehtm or call us on There are energy efficiency grants available from a variety of sources, ranging from local authorities to government agencies For more information call our Energy Efficiency team See Contact us opposite In order for us to give you the best possible advice, we may arrange for an Energy Efficiency Advisor to visit you at home 5

6 Useful contacts The following organisations may be able to offer you specialist advice and information - Age Concern England Astral House 1268 London Road London SW16 4ER Phone Website ageconcernorguk The Disabled Living Foundation Harrow Road London W9 2HU Phone Website dlforguk Energy Retail Association Home Heat Helpline Website energyretailorguk Energy Saving Trust 21 Dartmouth Street London SW1H 9BP Phone Website estorguk EON Energy Solutions Limited Registered office Westwood Way, Westwood Business Park Coventry CV4 8LG Registered in England and Wales No Citizens Advice Bureau Phone Website adviceguideorguk National Debtline Phone Website nationaldebtlinecouk Consumer Direct Phone Website consumerdirectgovuk SE/055/10 6