This morning a bill arrived from my energy supplier, whose name is e.on. The bill showed that e.on owe me £240.21 because I have over paid. e.on seems unable to estimate my bills fairly; they always take too much money and trying to get the money back from them is not an easy or straightforward experience. Last time it took several telephone calls and a meter reading. They did not make it easy.
My bills are in credit because two years ago I capped my electricity costs to 8.35 pence per kilowatt hour. I think that the cap lasts for another two years when I expect to be paying more than three times the amount that I pay now.
Along with the bill came a brochure called “Our guaranteed standards of service”, which comprised of stout paper probably weighing 150 grams per square metre which was in effect three pages of A4 sized paper joined together. The information about the standards of service of e.on was printed on two of the six sides. The other fours sides comprised some advertising for low energy goods, a cover sheet and some pretty pictures on wind turbines.
The wind turbines were there to tell you that e.on were the top energy brand in a poll of UK Green Households Brands, and eighth in the overall ratings.
The bill was also accompanied by a second heavy brochure selling energy efficiency items which might save you energy, but whose carbon and environmental footprint itself is probably rather significant. I was not sure that the items were properly described; does an 11w low energy light bulb provide as much light (measurable in lumens) as a 60w tungsten bulb?
These two heavy brochures were made not from recycled paper but from wood from managed forests. They were then printed, then carried in transport systems using fuel right up to the time when the post lady put the heavy envelop through my letterbox, all unnecessarily. The whole package could have been half its size and a quarter of its weight while still containing all the information.
It just strikes me that voting e.on as a green household brand is a bit like giving Ghengis Khan the Nobel Peace prize. Now to the weary task of trying to get my money back from e.on.
Filed under: carbon emissions, climate change, electricity, energy, global warming | Tagged: Eon, Ghengis Khan, Green household brands, junk mail, low energy lighting
Richard
If you value your life and the time you spend on the phone to the call centre you probably werwe paying more already!
Robert
I had exactly the same experience with E-on when trying to recover credit. In my exchanges with them, they changed their estimate of what my bill should be several times – sloppy at best, sharp practice at worst. They also estimate the proportion of one’s electricity that was consumed before and after a price rise, taking no account of possible variations in use between the two periods. My own calculations showed that this was always in their favour. In short, they guess what you owe them, then add a bit for luck. I’m off to ecotricity. I’d rather pay more.