Ripped off

sarah781

Can someone please help, Ive recently tried to change gas supplier and was told it had been cancelled by my current supplier (edf) as there is an outstanding balance. Being on prepay meters i queried this as anyone on prepay knows you only use the gas that you put on your card. EDF told me that from August 08 - May 09 there was free gas escaping from my meter, although i was putting money on my card they are now saying it never registered, and i should have realised there was gas escaping. I told the woman on the phone that its not my fault the gas engineers are incompitent and cant do their job properly, this is not my debt and its not my fault. They are now taking money off my meter each week. I also have to put on £25-£30 EACH WEEK on my gas when all i have is hot water and heating being powered by my gas. This is a hell of a lot of money when im a single parent of three small kids on benefits. I really dont know what to do. I cant switch suppliers as EDF put a stop to it as there is this debt owed. Just so you know they are claiming i owe £1200. Please somenon help

oldfella

suggest you ask them how they know how much has escaped seeing its not registered by the meter.

also as you are responsible from the meter inwards, the supplier owns the meter, why are you responsible if the meter leaks ?

Cardew

I doesn't sound plausible that EDF would say there was a leak from Aug 08 to May 09.

How would they know? As soon as a leak is discovered it is fixed - in an hour or two.

Your £1200 debt is more likely to be a debt from a period before the pre-pay meters were installed.

claireloupul

Hi,

Ask them for a copy of there complaints procedure write to this email managingdirectorofcustomerservices@edfenergy.com ask them bluntly to discount this amount due to there mistake not yours they may say no they may discount a little but then say no and ask them again to wipe the amount if they say no again then send them a deadlock letter saying you are reporting them to the energy ombudsman..see my thread vicotry against EDF thread this should help!!
Good Luck

SwanJon

I think there may be a misunderstanding due to jargon - it is possible for prepayment gas meters to pass free gas - i.e. act like a billing meter.
If this happens you may use more gas than you are paying for (the credit on the meter won't go down).
There are a few reasons this could happen, but mostly it will be a mistake at their end.
However, if the gas has been used, they are going to want their money. Try to find out why this happened, and argue for a reduction.

If you had a gas escape, you'd have smelt it - and it is not the supplier's responsibility to maintian the gas pipes in the house. If the leak was before the meter it wouldn't have registered the gas.

Good luck