EDF Monthly meter readings-owe 300 in 28days!

Blueparrot

I have been sending monthly meter readings into EDF and last month asked why the energy tracker was not working.

Each meter reading was taken at the end of the month.

At the beginning of Feb I told them that they were thwarting my attempts to keep abreast of the bills and I received an email on 10th Feb saying that I was
£137.33 in credit for electricity and owed £18.23 for gas :T Excellent!

I took a meter reading on 28th Feb and have checked my account today and am £37.58 credit for electricity and owe £322.69 gas:mad: I do not understand how this can have happened unless EDF ignored all the past readings.

Any suggestions as to what has happened?

kjsmith7

Either you've used a lot of gas, or they hadn't actually 'billed' your readings as you suggest. I'd phone and find out

Blueparrot

I have now complained .

EDF must have ignored all my meter readings and my pleas not to get into debt and further compounded the problem by telling me that I was comfortably in credit overall. Honestly, this is not fair because my actual words in the Feb email were

So far I have sent in 3 lots of meter readings.
My last one Gas 05723
Electric 41282
I want to see how much in debt I am with you and sort it before things get out of hand.Please will you update the energy tracker, or at least tell me! I am trying to be responsible and take monthly readings and you are thwarting me!

Then they wrote on 10th Feb

Thank you for your recent e-mail, I have checked your accounts and calculated your usage, you electricity charges to date are approximately £112.32, and your account is currently £137.33 in credit, therefore your electricity account seems fine with no cause for concern.

Your gas usage calculates at approximately £157.00 usage and your gas account is currently £18.23 out standing, therefore i would advise that you consider increasing your direct debit or making a one off payment on the account.

So I was quite happy on 10th Feb that overall, according to EDF I was nearly £120 in credit, though this was not the case.

It is not fair when I really tried to be responsible!

kjsmith7

It's likely they were looking at your balance, which if you pay via direct debit/swipe card would credit monthly/fortnightly/etc., but had not billed you/debited you, which is usually quarterly. I agree you put meter readings in, but no supplier would generate a bill for you unless you were 'due' a bill, which is quarterly in most instances. I used to phone up my supplier each month and give a meter reading and request a monthly bill, which I'd view online, so I understand that you were trying to be responsible.

epsilondraconis

I too have sent monthly meter readings to EDF that haven't been used to generate an updated bill. When the quarterly bill is produced and sent out by EDF, they appeared on that, its just that they weren't used to generate a running balance within those 3 months.

kjsmith7 wrote: »

I agree you put meter readings in, but no supplier would generate a bill for you unless you were 'due' a bill, which is quarterly in most instances.

ScottishPower do. I switched from ScottishPower to EDF last year and although have saved money due to having a lower unit cost and cashback, the EDF billing system isn't as good. With ScottishPower I used to submit monthly meters readings online and within a couple of days, a new updated bill was generated.

Blueparrot

I used to be with Scottish Power too, hence the shock when EDF assured me I was comfortably in credit and 28 days later billed me £300 plus. I have rung up with readings, I emailed them readings and asked for an update, the fact is they ignored my readings in the email.

EDF have thwarted me at every point of contact to be responsible regarding this year's hard winter.

I sent in monthly readings, I emailed twice, getting a "wrong calculation" yet I actually included the meter readings in the email!

I have had a response and it puzzles me,

I have checked your Gas bill for you. Looking at the period of time this bill relates to is from the 21 December to the 08 March. We have billed you in December from a meter reading which you have provided of 05129 to a meter read again provided by yourself, on the 08 March 2010 of 06086.

Rightly as you say we have been receiving meter readings from you on a monthly basis and the usage in your property does look to be consistent.

Could I ask what appliances you use in the property that are Gas? It is detailed on your bill that your current installments of £52.00 do not need to be changed.

Should you require any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Also I send in the meter readings on the last day of the month, so I have no idea why they used 21st December and 8th March!

samba

I think you have misunderstood the email they sent you on Feb 10th. To my mind it says that you have a credit on your electricity of £137.33 and a debt on your gas of £18.23.

However, they also say that since your last bill you have used £112.32 of electricity, and £157.00 of gas, so really at that point you were only £25.01 in credit on your electric, and owed them £175.23 on your gas, for the 6-7 weeks between 21st December and the start of February. At this point you owed them around £150, and the cs adviser did suggest you make a one off payment...

Another month has passed, and from your reads you have used another £80 or so of gas, and probably around £60 of electricity, which would bring you up to around £290.

So from my calculations using your reads, your latest bill is just about right. However, it does seem quite large to me, and perhaps you should look to see exactly why you are consuming such large amounts or electricity and gas?

Blueparrot

I rang them up!
I do not understand the last post, I was told I was in credit with electricity and only £18 debit gas, so thought that was the case. OK so I am thick. Credit means credit to me. (That is why I was shafted with equitable life......I thought guaranteed meant that too! )

Anyway, I am upping my gas DD, and as I understand it and explained above, EDF totally ignore all monthly meter readings. They bill once a quarter and thats it. However, as someone suggested above you can ring monthly and get a monthly bill.

The lady from EDF said I could e-mail her and she would sort it with my readings and she is raising a further complaint. She understood why I was so surprised and cross.


EDF must put on their website that all except quarterly readings are ignored as far as power debt is concerned.

wrt usage, it is correct, it has been blisteringly cold here and 4-5 adults at home weekends. It was so cold that I had to open up the loft hatch to make sure the pipes did not freeze.

Anyone got decent tracking software/excel macro so that I can take control?

Scottish Power have an excellent system and I would go back but when I was with them they refused to put me onto a tariff that they had for new customers, so I went forth!

samba

NickyC wrote: »

I do not understand the last post

I thought it was quite straightforward. You pay so much for gas and electric each month, which builds up a balance from which they take your billed usage each quarter. Since your last bill, you have built your balances up to £137 and -£18, but have also consumed £160 in gas and £112 in electric, which have to be deducted from your balances to work out where you really stand. Hope that helps explain it.