EDF make me want to top myself

balchder

Why are these companies so stupid. I have just received my latest bill from them for electric - £1700! According to them I use on average 90.72units per day. Do they think I am powering the national grid? There is no reasoning with them. They make it up as they go along:-

"The readings are correct"
"The readings are incorrect"
"Rate 1 and Rate 4 should add up to total rate"
"Total rate is nothing to do with other readings"
"The meter is broke"
"The meter needs to be replaced"
"The meter is fine"
"The readings are correct but if you pay the bill in full then we will replace the meter"
"You're account is on hold while we sort this out"
"Pay within 7 days or we take further action"
"We are applying for a warrant to enter your premises to disconnect you"

How do they get away with it? I've had enough.

sexandthecity

One word

OFGEM

Vestra

Ok what seems to be the problem? Are they billing you on your readings? Do you think the meter is over reading? 90 units per day is possible in an all electric property..

Pink_fluff

I think your heading is a little OTT and I'm sure EDF did not tell you 'to top yourself'

Are you electric only? Do you have gas?
Is your bill based on actual or estimated readings?

balchder

The bill is for electric only. There are 5 of us in the house. One is a 7 month old baby and two are children 4 years and under so they don't use much electric. Since changing to EDF my electric bill has gone from approx. £15 per week to £10 per day! We cook one hot meal a day and have one tv. We have energy saving bulbs throughout the house. Heating is done by a coal fire. In the daytime nobody is here!

In 7 months the meter has been read 3 times by themselves, about 50 times by myself and 2 engineers have visited yet EDF refuse to budge. One week they say they realise that the bill is a mistake. The next week somebody different speaks to me and says the bill is correct and they are going to disconnect me!

Scottish power have told us that the meter is faulty but EDF say there is nothing wrong with it. Scottish power and EDF have told us that the rate 1 and rate 4 readings should add up to the Total reading. They Don't. EDF also claim that (depending what day it is!!) the total rate is nothing to do with the other readings. The first bill they sent me was for £960ish after just 93 days with them!

Vestra

You have an economy 7 meter yet you say you don't have storage heaters? How does your usage break down on the day rate and the night rate?

balchder

Hi,

we have got storage heaters but don't use them. I have had yet another bill from the lunatics today. This time they want £987. Over the last quarter the usage breaks down as ;

day: 1686kwh
Night: 2682kwh

This adds up to £381 for the quarter which isn't that bad. Its the £600 they want for the previous 3 months thats the killer! I wouldn't mind but we deliberately turned the storage heaters off to try to save money and still get a stupid bill like that! We were not even here for 3 weeks of the previous 3 months as we were away for christmas. Everything bar the fridge freezer was turned off.

Magentasue

balchder wrote: »

Hi,

we have got storage heaters but don't use them. Over the last quarter the usage breaks down as ;

day: 1686kwh
Night: 2682kwh

That's a lot of electricity if it doesn't include heating. I accept that your meter/s may be faulty but you need to look at what else may be the cause. If you have turned the storage heaters off, does that mean you don't have any heating? Using plug in heaters on Econ 7 is very expensive. Were you using any heating in the billing period above?

Also, hot water. How much water do you heat and, could your immersion heater be faulty? How long does it take to heat the tank and what temp is it set at?

Finally, are the readings the bill is based on accurate? If the readings are accurate and you don't have storage heaters on, how do you explain using so much electricity at night?

balchder

storage heaters are definately off. The only heating we have is a coal fire. There are no plugin heaters. We tend to heat the water just a couple of times a week as we have an electric shower instead. The only reason i can think of for the high usage at night is that that is when we use the dishwasher, washing machine etc as it is cheaper then.

The problem with EDF is that they will just not talk to each other. One person tells me they recognise their is a problem with the meter whilst another department will tell me its fine! One person tells me that rates 1 and 4 should add up to the total (which they don't!) and another tells me that the total reading has nothing whatsoever to do with the other readings! They sent me a letter which I received last Friday saying that they know there is a problem with the meter and my bill will be reassessed using figures from previous usage. When I phoned them on Monday they denied sending the letter!

dunloadin

You keep mentioning Rate1 & Rate4, normally meters have Rate1&2. Do you have 2 meters by any chance? If SP have been out to check it I assume you are in the SP region, in which case you may well have Comfort Plus metering (EDF probably dont support it, hence your bills being out).

Vestra

dunloadin wrote: »

You keep mentioning Rate1 & Rate4, normally meters have Rate1&2. Do you have 2 meters by any chance? If SP have been out to check it I assume you are in the SP region, in which case you may well have Comfort Plus metering (EDF probably dont support it, hence your bills being out).

I have quite commonly heard customer mentioning R1 as day and for some reason missed R2/R3 and then R4 is the night.