Edf present me with 4 years of bills!!

jbindebt · 16 June 2009 at 12:58PM

Just called Consumer Direct who believe that the billing code of practice should apply in my situation. This would mean only 12 months could be requested back but I need to continue paying as normal for my consumption which all seems fair. The energy ombudsman were rather abrupt saying that they can not deal with this until 8 weeks have passed! They did offer that it sounds like something they would support.

Above all everyone agrees that I can only be successful as EDF have collected their own readings and continously got it wrong. Hence they are at fault I believe.

ccleeds · 18 June 2009 at 8:36PM

Sorry to hear about the problems you are having with EDF, my sister is currently having the same problem. Like you she has been presented with a huge bill for £4,500. She has been told that this is for incorrect billing since 2004, despite the fact the meter has been read at least once a year by a meter agent. My sister has also provided her own meter readings when the bill came through as estimated, but was told that the bill was correct.

Since receiving her bill 2 weeks ago, EDF has offered her a 55% reduction, and are trying to claim the 12 month ruling does not apply in her case. I believe they are saying this to her to force her into paying.Like you, we have also contacted the energy ombusdman, who will not advice us until 8 weeks have passed, but this is causing my sister real stress. My sister does not have the money to pay for this, so I would be very interested in any advice you can provide in how best to deal with this.

Many thanks
Catherine

jbindebt · 18 July 2009 at 12:59AM

After several weeks of waiting I received a decline letter from the grant agency, Seemly, "paying off your debt would not help you to maintain current payments"??? So now I am waiting for EDF to get back in touch and also wait another four weeks for the ombudsman to get involved. surprisingly EDF have not bothered me recently even though I have cancelled my Gas and Electricity direct debits with them. I sense a court case looming...

jbindebt · 3 October 2009 at 5:30PM

Sorry I didn't update this. After more abuse for non payment from untrained evening "advisors" I !!!!!ed in a massive letter to EDF about my treatment a fortnight ago. A pleasant lady called me back and although I was rather sharp with her she was pretty cool about it and said she fully understood. She promised to get back to me and actually did. This resulted in us paying new direct debits of £65 Electric and £54 Gas (Consumption only!) which I'm finding hard to swallow but it all seems to be the "Norm".
Regards the 6 year old bill, she agreed I fell within their 12 month bracket and that is all they can claim from us. They are working out the actual deduction which I will receive in writing but off the record she claimed it would be well over half of the total arrears. I'll keep you posted. Just to clarify...they have estimated and read my bills over the last six years, I called them every now and again to query if the estimates were correct and they said yes,under that premise I fall in this 12 month code of billing area.The Energy Ombudsman seem rather unhelpful but I'll keep sending them the communication when it arrives.

Cardew · 3 October 2009 at 7:25PM

jbindebt wrote: »

Regards the 6 year old bill, she agreed I fell within their 12 month bracket and that is all they can claim from us. They are working out the actual deduction which I will receive in writing but off the record she claimed it would be well over half of the total arrears. I'll keep you posted. Just to clarify...they have estimated and read my bills over the last six years, I called them every now and again to query if the estimates were correct and they said yes,under that premise I fall in this 12 month code of billing area.The Energy Ombudsman seem rather unhelpful but I'll keep sending them the communication when it arrives.

I am a little surprised that EDF would make that statement and wonder if it is a case of 'a verbal assurance ain't worth the paper it is printed on!!'

The Billing code quite clearly states that the 12 month rule applies where a bill has not been produced and it that it was the fault of the supplier.

There have been masses of cases reported on MSE of huge 'catch-up' bills where a large debit balance has built up because of under-estimated meter readings.

Whilst I have little doubt that you will get a large reduction, it will be as a 'goodwill' gesture rather than the 12 month rule. If it were the latter shouldn't your bill reduce by 75%?

Keep us informed please.

jbindebt · 4 June 2010 at 1:47AM

Just as encouragement to others.

A few weeks back EDF came back to me with a £1500 reduction off my bill. They didn't admit that it was part of any "we can only get you for the last year" deal but as it was clear that I could never reasonably payback what they wanted in a reasonable timeframe they have accepted things.
Amusingly last week they sent someone out to ensure how many digits were on my meter again. It doesn't really fill you with confidence!

Good luck to others.

mattcanary · 4 June 2010 at 6:47AM

I know this is basically an old post but:

If EDF were billing you based upon a 5 dial meter reading, then they would have used the wrong start reading (based upon there being a 5 dial meter in situ). It may be the case that the real start reading (6 dial meter based) would have been much higher. Therefore the number of units used since the meter was fitted is in reality a lot, lot less than that which were billed.
Do you know what the correct start reading was, jbindebt, when you moved in? ie: the real one based on a 6 dial meter, not the 5 dial (false) one.

Basically, a 6 dial meter has 6 digits in the reading (not counting fractions of a unit at the end of the diaplay after a decimal point or the red reading number at the ned of the reading. A 5 dial meter only has 5 readings.

I should add that this is a common problem with a certain type of electric meter that has been introduced to the market recently (Iskra are the manufacturers, I believe). Unfortunately the meter gets set up on the computer records as a 5 dial meter - when it is really a 6 dial meter.
This is a small digital meter coloured white and all digits in front of the decimal point on the display are actually units used (not fractions of a unit).

I was a meter-reader until Sep last year. I repeatedly came across these type of meters being set up incorrectly on my hand-held machine. I would obviously amend the meter details so they showed as a 6 dial meter, not a 5 dial one. But the suppliers would continually ignore these amendments I made, and continue basing their readings on the false 5 dial one.
IT MAY WELL NOT BE THE METER-READING COMPANIES FAULT, WHATEVER THE SUPPLIER MAY STATE!!!!!

Ignite · 4 June 2010 at 2:01PM

I do wonder with these cases what would happen if it came to court? I would hazard a guess that the argument that the consumer is not an expert on meters (given that a meter reader told me that there are over 40 different meters in use), and that if the meter had been regularly inspected and read by a trained expert (ie the meter reader) that this should not have happened would hold some weight. I would love to see a judgement being made in court.