edf charging 4 times as much as last year?

tumptyteapot

hmm, thanks everyone, he went into panic mode and pretended it wasn't happening :-(

dogshome

Hi tumptyteapot - You are quite right, your mate is a Blacksmith and it's EDF who are the Electricity supply professionals, and whlist they are both in error, it's EDF who's job it is to get it right.

It's a job for very quick LETTER - Do not Email or phone
He should state that he is a small business, will require time to pay off a debt that was primarily caused by EDF's error and whilst negotiations take place, they should instruct their Collection Agency to stop chasing

If your mate has not retained the last two years bills, he should ask EDF to supply copies, -they have to supply them
With these he can check that the first bill issued was on a 5 figure basis, and the number of Kw he has been billed for.
Now if he adds a '5' onto the end of the meter readings on the bills, he will convert each one into a '6' figure reading that is within +/- four units of the actual reading at that time, and armed with these he can calculate how much he owes EDF on each bill, less of course what he paid
Good Luck

tumptyteapot

dogshome, that is really helpful thank you, I was confused as to how to check their calculations but your plan makes sense.

JimmyTheWig

I don't understand the numbers.
If he's been paying £400 a quarter for two years but has been using 10 times as much as they thought, surely he is £3600 a quarter behind? I.e. he owes them £28,800?

Which is rediculous. Unless he's got some really serious kit down there I doubt that's the true figure.
Unless, I guess, that most of the £400 was some sort of standing charge / high rate for the first however many units.

I suggest you post the numbers from the first and last bill here and someone can have a look.
In the meantime, phone them up and see if they can clarify the problem. If they can't then tell them you need more time.

moonrakerz

tumptyteapot wrote: »

nope, the bills seemed fine, it is a blacksmiths workshop so there is not much in the way of powertools being used.

Does he not have a forge ?

tumptyteapot

He has a forge with a blower, the odd drill, a welder, a grinder lights and a power hammer that is on 3 phase or something that makes it cheaper? He is not working there full time.

tumptyteapot

right, I have a stack of old bills in front of me but I am not sure where to start :-)

tumptyteapot

I sort of have a bit of sense of it now:
It started off ok -
9th July 08 was the last actual reading which EDF did at 6 digits - 748633, the next bill for the 8th Oct 08 goes to 5 digits estimated - 75583 but the one after that starts with an actual EDF reading - also at 5 digits 74863. They did another reading on the 30th Dec 09 and that is 5 digits too, 76030.

So what he has to pay for is the time they thought it was a 5 digit, from the 9th July 08 to the most recent bill on the 9th April 10.

I don't know how I am going to work out if they are right though, there are different tariffs for the amount of lecki used.

dogshome

Hi tumptyteapot- OK, from your Read & Estimated readings listed in Post 19, it seems that EDF have srewed up Big Time - Foul-ups when switching are usually caused by mis-matched readings between the Outgoing & New suppliers, but EDF recorded all the meter details correctly when they took over the account, but then entirely within their own systems changed the meter details
EDF along with all the other suppliers have a duty to issue clear and accurate bills, which they have not done.

As in my Post 13, this needs a LETTER, but now it must be headed COMPLAINT.
Quoting the issue date on each bill, ask why they failed to record the 6th number on bills issued after the one dated July 9th, and why they reverted to a !!!!!!!isation of the reading on Bill No.1 when issueing Bill No.3, and that you require fully detailed 6 digit bills to replace each & every bill they issued with a 5 digit reading - As the customer it has to be your mate who signs the letter, not you

Using the 'Add a 5' method on the Dec 09 bill, 76030(5), your Blacksmithing mate used 11,672Kwh
since the 748633 reading on the July 08 bill
All the best

JimmyTheWig

So looking at one single bill, can you give us the start and end readings (as per the bill), the dates when those readings were for, the total cost of the bill and the breakdown of that cost (e.g. so-many units at such-and-such price).