WARNING! EDF Energy Customers

schiff

schiff wrote:

I signed on to their so-called Self Read system when I joined them.

Because of the price change on 31/7 I took the precaution of reporting my figures to EDF on that day, even though my quarterly report wasn't due to be made till later this month.

So at least I've got some evidence to back me up, should there be any problems.

schiff

UPDATE: Well I've had my bills this last week, checked them thoroughly and they are fine - correct to the penny! In addition they used my figures (see above) for the change around in the rates of charge on 31/7.

What was unexpected though was the notification of a proposed increase in my gas DD from £28 per month to £60. Had I been a nervous, living on the limit of my income, elderly person with no head for figures, it could very easily have caused a serious change in my heart rate ++??

Luckily I'm just an elderly person. I also keep a monthly record of my meter readings, so I got out my figures for 31/7/2005 and 31/7/2006. Did all the calculations, not forgetting VAT, used the new 31/7 rates of course and deducted the rebate I get for reading and reporting my meter readings online.
Added the £39 odd that I was underpaid as at the date of this last bill and divided the result by 12.

It came to £34.50 in round figures. Phoned their CS, who are always very pleasant (though they do give you conflicting answers sometimes), and told the young lady what I had done. Following a fairly cursory but pleasant little chat, she agreed to my suggestion that it be changed to £36, effective this month.

If nothing reveals the merits of keeping records of your meter readings (it doesn't need to be more often than monthly but stick to the same day preferably) this little story should. There was quite a discussion about it on here a few months ago, and it was surprising the lengths some people went to to monitor their consumption levels and how many kept this type of record.

So start today if you haven't already!

schiff

mjmal51

schiff wrote above
"What was unexpected though was the notification of a proposed increase in my gas DD from £28 per month to £60. Had I been a nervous, living on the limit of my income, elderly person with no head for figures, it could very easily have caused a serious change in my heart rate ++??"

I had a similar but worse experience with them.
When they announced their rises I increased my gas DD from £35 to £40 to keep ahead of the game and I knew this figure would be just right over the 12 months. Along with my last bill which was in credit (summer) was a letter increasing my gas DD to £138/month.
As schiff said anyone who is not on the case would be having a heart attack.
Phoned them and they said they could not understand what the computer had done and put my DD to £40 as per previous. They did warn me to check their next automated half year DD change in January in case the same problem occurred. Never had this with any other supplier but at least their unit prices are the best for me.

EmmaLH1

Sorry, help me out here, am having a dumb day ! Am I better off on the online tariff or the standard with discounts ? ( EDF)

schiff

EmmaLH1 wrote:

Sorry, help me out here, am having a dumb day ! Am I better off on the online tariff or the standard with discounts ? ( EDF)

Not an easy one to answer I'm afraid. EDF have different online tariffs and different rates for different parts of the country. For me (Norweb area) the online tariff is far cheaper, even taking into account the £40 odd cashbacks of the 'normal' tariff.

There is another problem for you - it depends how and through whom you joined EDF (if in fact you did). I joined via MSE via the energyhelpline.com link and I got the online tariff for my area at that time (11/05). I don't know of course what you did and, if you did differently, whether you can switch from 'normal' to online.

The energyhelpline CS is fantastic - why not have a chat with them, with all your consumption figures etc in front of you and let them guide you. We are a bit short of info about you but if you haven't switched to EDF yet, you are in a good position (if they are the cheapest for you on the comparison site - this is important!)

This reply is so full of 'I don't know's and 'if's that it's getting rather unwieldy and probably not very clear for you. Perhaps I should have asked you to give much more info first and kept it shorter! If you do that we can take things a bit further.

schiff

Gareth56

mjmal51 wrote:

schiff wrote above
"What was unexpected though was the notification of a proposed increase in my gas DD from £28 per month to £60. Had I been a nervous, living on the limit of my income, elderly person with no head for figures, it could very easily have caused a serious change in my heart rate ++??"

EDF wanted to up my monthly gas payment from £20 to £85 until I rang them up and told them not to be so silly and to tell the people who programme their computers to get their act together to produce more realistic figures. I told EDF that based on my calculations the correct figure should be £30 per month and a somewhat shocked CS person agreed to that figure. The thing to do is not to take any nonsense from these people. The sad thing is some people would have just accepted that inflated figure and paid it and ended up struggling financially. EDF don't care because it's money in the bank for them.

jem16

EmmaLH1 wrote:

Sorry, help me out here, am having a dumb day ! Am I better off on the online tariff or the standard with discounts ? ( EDF)

For me, I am 42% better off on the online tariff rather than the standard tariff. That's why I'm not particlarly bothered about not receiving the "discounts" for DD and dual fuel. It's inbuilt into the tariff.

The Online tariff is ONLY available through the comparison services. In fact that may have changed to only WAS available because it doesn't seem to come up on any comparison site since EDF announced their most recent price rise.

schiff

Gareth56 wrote:

The thing to do is not to take any nonsense from these people. The sad thing is some people would have just accepted that inflated figure and paid it and ended up struggling financially. EDF don't care because it's money in the bank for them.

Though it's understandable, I wouldn't be too hard on EDF or on their CS. It's pretty obvious that there is quite a serious glitch in their systems, which I guess they will remove. I am awaiting 2 acknowledgements and a specific e-mail that I expected several days ago as further examples. But I don't agree that that 'EDF don't care...' What is happening is not wilful.

jem16: The online tariff is still available as far as I am aware. EDF has removed the inclusion of the tariff from energyhelpline's lists (for reasons I don't know anything about). So I'm not sure how one would go about getting the online tariff as a new customer. That's a separate issue,

schiff

EmmaLH1

schiff wrote:

Not an easy one to answer I'm afraid. EDF have different online tariffs and different rates for different parts of the country. For me (Norweb area) the online tariff is far cheaper, even taking into account the £40 odd cashbacks of the 'normal' tariff.

There is another problem for you - it depends how and through whom you joined EDF (if in fact you did). I joined via MSE via the energyhelpline.com link and I got the online tariff for my area at that time (11/05). I don't know of course what you did and, if you did differently, whether you can switch from 'normal' to online.

The energyhelpline CS is fantastic - why not have a chat with them, with all your consumption figures etc in front of you and let them guide you. We are a bit short of info about you but if you haven't switched to EDF yet, you are in a good position (if they are the cheapest for you on the comparison site - this is important!)

This reply is so full of 'I don't know's and 'if's that it's getting rather unwieldy and probably not very clear for you. Perhaps I should have asked you to give much more info first and kept it shorter! If you do that we can take things a bit further.

schiff

I didn't switch through a comparison site ( Seeboard just became EDF one day !) but I will definately try the energy helpline. Many thanks

Gareth56

schiff wrote:

Though it's understandable, I wouldn't be too hard on EDF or on their CS. It's pretty obvious that there is quite a serious glitch in their systems, which I guess they will remove. I am awaiting 2 acknowledgements and a specific e-mail that I expected several days ago as further examples. But I don't agree that that 'EDF don't care...' What is happening is not wilful.

Why ever not? These companies have but one aim in life and that is to make as much money [by any means] for their shareholders and if that means being disingenuous when it comes to dealing with their customers then so be it. I for one won't stand for it and will not give them a millimeter. It's the same with the water companies; providing clean, cheap water comes secondary to water companies, their main priority is their shareholders. The clue is in the word 'PRIVATE'

schiff

Gareth56 wrote:

Why ever not? These companies have but one aim in life and that is to make as much money [by any means] for their shareholders and if that means being disingenuous when it comes to dealing with their customers then so be it. I for one won't stand for it and will not give them a millimeter. It's the same with the water companies; providing clean, cheap water comes secondary to water companies, their main priority is their shareholders. The clue is in the word 'PRIVATE'

I think we'll have to beg to differ on this one. I don't take quite the tough, don't mess with me attitude you do, I suppose it's a difference in our natures.

Whilst I would agree with you that the companies are profit motivated, it still doesn't stop the employees being decent, helpful people and I've had a lot of that from the EDF CS - the fact that they are not perfect in what they tell you is not wilful, they are just poorly trained.

schiff