Hi my partner is on home dialysis, we live in a one bed roomed flat no shower no washer. We only have tv fridge and the usual hot water which is e7. Our supplier Eon are saying we are using 250.00 per month of electric (please bare in mind we have no gas) he is on 4 times a week for 4 hours a time which is doing him great. The machine is 2.8kw We cannot afford to pay this we get help of 21.00 per month for electric. We used to pay 74.00 with British Gas in our previous home, we cannot switch in our new home due to having an owing bill. We have tried to speak to them but they wont do anything we have told them they are overcharging they wont put in a prepayment meter which we have asked for, and they are threatening us with debt collectors and cutting us off. We only receive benefits. Has anyone any helpful advice.
Home dialysis patient does anyone have pr... - Dialysis Support
Home dialysis patient does anyone have problems with the cost of electric.
Hi Daisy64, I'm sorry you're having to go through this. Telephone converstions never work with these energy companies. I suggest you call and speak to someone again, then politely but firmly ask for their complaints procedure since there's no resolution to the problem. (After this, all correspondence must either be by post or email, no more phone calls, please). It is your partner's life at risk here. Send the letter of complaint to the appropriate person detailing your issues with dates(I hope you've been keeping a diary). They usually reply within 14 days or so, then you take it to the energy ombudsman. It might be a long, convoluted process but you will be back paid once your complaint is successful. Please speak to your area CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) and I hope you've been keeping your bills and your meter readings. You need to be accurate to fight this. Good luck with the battle ahead but it'll be worth it, for your partner's sake.
Hi Thanks for your reply I have and I am going through the complaints department but they are just as bad.
EON best advised him to not dialysis as much as he does in order to cut costs, and that was the complaints department, our renal nurse has even rung them and they still wont listen.
Hi Daisy64, sorry to hear you're still going through all this rigmarole, you really don't need this right now. I would strongly advise speaking and working with the NKF advocacy advisors as suggested throughout this post and take this to the Ombudsman with their help. Don't forget the CAB, too. There are many good advices on this your post and I'm glad to see how much we all support each other. You are never alone. Someone will know someone who knows someone who knows something or can help :D. Good luck and let us know if there's anything more we can do to help.
Hello Daisy64 - I am sorry you are facing this battle - the last thing you both need. That figure seems really high to me.
Is the £21 per month an allowance towards bills from your partner's hospital? They should be paying you something towards electricity and water.
If I've read your post correctly, and you are in arrears with Eon, then it would be well worth your while getting in touch with your regional NKF advocacy officer (I cover the South West) - we can apply for funding from the British Kidney Patients Association: they generally look very sympathetically on this sort of thing, and will help clear the arrears. Once you are out of arrears, then it will be easier for you to switch. I also think an appointment with your local CAB would be a brilliant idea (as Hilly says below): they have specialist benefits advisers to check that you and your partner are receiving everything you are entitled to.
Please do get back to me and I can put you in touch with a colleague, unless you live in my region, then I would be very happy to help.
Hi thanks for your reply we got water reimbursement but due to being on a meter the water was 170 a month, for us to have the water capped to 34.00 we have had to refuse the reimbursement from the hospital for the hospital which is what we have done and we are better with that. We had an outstanding bill of 1098 in JANUARY and got a grant of 500 from BKF, since then till now the bill has gone up another 800 pounds.making it 1330 we now owe what we are paying is not covering it, they just wont listen.
Hi yes the 21 is from the trust to pay towards the electric. They pay depending on how often you are on some patients only get 10. The water was cancelled as due to being on a meter I had to refuse the reimbursement for water in order to get my water capped due to being on a meter. I was 1098 in arrears with EON in December the BFK gave me 500 towards my bill which was paid in Jan 31st. IU then tried to switch but the new supplier accidentally took on the wrong address, so therefore we were paying a company that was not even supplying us with electric, we only found out when we got another bill from EON, so now we are trying to get a refund, and now we owe eon 1338 this has jumped up since January. We have spoken to eon and we are using 250 a month in electric so will have to pay that as well as pay of the arrears. It is totally impossible, we have offered a payment but they have refused it saying it is not enough, we have explained he is on dialysis (which we have to do every time we ring up) they advised him to not do his dialysis as much to cut down on his treatment, and that was a lady from what was supposed to be the help department. They are very rude as John trys and trys to tell them but they are unsympathetic all they want is their money. We have done the check and yes we get everything we are entitled to. Its just that they are asking way too much.
Can you speak to the welfare advisor at the hospital. They are very clued up on these matters. I receive money every 3 months from my trust to cover some of my electricity and water charges. I understand that they only pay towards 5 x2 hour sessions a week although a lot of patients on home hd do it 6 or 7 days as it makes us feel so well. Also the kidney patients association may. Be able to help you. Good luck it's another worry you do not need.
Hi Daisy64, I was wondering if anything was wrong with your meter? As £250.00 per month is very excessive! I do HHD and I have washing machine/dryer, colour TV, fridge freezer, central heating gas/electric, electric cooker, etc., etc., and my gas and electric is only £93 per month! I am with EDF. I live in a two bedroom house and you live in 1 bedroom flat. There must be something wrong with your meter or Eon is ripping you off. I would switch as soon as possible. Hopefully the NKF can help you with that. Good luck.
Thanks for that, we have tried to tell them they are overcharging and they wont listen they are just blaming the machine. I cant swop due to being in arrears, the BFK only paid half of our bill in January and since then it has gone up another 800 as we cant afford to pay what they are asking from us.
Hi Daisy 64
In that case, if you wish, one of my colleagues (or me if you are in the South West - Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall or Dorset) can write to Eon and make them listen. It's either your meter which is faulty, or you are paying for your whole block of flats - something is very wrong here and you seem to be picking up the tab.
I am sure we can get Ofgem on the case to check this out. We can also get the dialyser technician out to check the machine and get a written report from him/her to send to Eon. I am very sorry that you are having such grief - the energy firms are now, more than ever, duty bound to listen to and respond to complaints such as yours.
If you are willing, please let me know which region of the country you are in, and one of us will be only too happy to help you. All best.
We live in Lancashire.
will ask my colleague to respond - you and he can then exchange email addresses/telephone numbers so that he can get behind you in your battle with Eon. Good luck with that.
We only have electric no gas we have the usual water heater, oven, tv, internet. All the normal day to day things.
Hi daisy64
After you've spoken to the advisor from British Kidney Patients Association, it's worth going to Citizens Advice to ask them to advise you on your legal standing as well as completing a benefit check. CAB helped me with a similar problem last year. Good luck & I hope you can find a solution soon.
I had problem with a debt with eon and they sent me a letter from a debt recovery agency called wescott. when I talked to them and explained that I was on benefits we actually worked out a plan to clear the debt inline with any spare money that I had left. Although it was not a big offer they were happy to accept the payment in order to clear the debt.What I did find with eon was that I had to check my bill everytime because they always seemed to overcharge and I had to resubmit my meter readings.
Contact KidneyCare UK. for advice as well as your home dialysis team.
kidneycareuk.org/get-suppor...
Your unit SHOULD have set up some regular reimbursment payment towards bills that comes from the hospital to you. They are responsible for this.
kidney.org.uk/assets/BRS-Ho...
The main thing to is to get advice and try and sort out any debt or bills owed first.
Good luck.
Figures from ww.ukpower.co uk show charges for electricity varying from 12.376p to 13.395p per kwh. If you're on another tariff not listed, I'd imagine 15p per kwh would still be higher than your tariff, so 15p X 2.8kw X 4hrs X 4 days X 4.5 weeks (a month) = £30.24 electricity for the month. Your increase from £74 per month to £250 per month is certainly not due to the dialysis machine.
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