EDF - Standard tariff for first 14 days?

lorrishere

I have just received my first bills from EDF for electricity and Gas after transferring to them and it shows me on a standard tariff for the first 12-14 days before changing me over to the online saver 6 tariff that I signed up for.

Does this sound right and is normal practice?

Airmike23

No, if you signed up to one of the onlihne saver packages at point of sale that should be the only set of tariff charges and discounts you see on the bill, call and get the bill reissued with the correct charges

vegansaver

lorrishere wrote: »

I have just received my first bills from EDF for electricity and Gas after transferring to them and it shows me on a standard tariff for the first 12-14 days before changing me over to the online saver 6 tariff that I signed up for.

Does this sound right and is normal practice?

According to their t+c this does indeed sound about right.

"If You are a new Customer, you may be placed onto our Standard tariff until the transfer to your requested tariff is processed and a written confirmation has been provided by Us; if you have not received such confirmation within 90 days of Your application, You should contact us free on 0800 096 9000‡ for further details."

dogshome

Interesting - In Sept. I organised the transfer of a friend with South Elec for Gas & Elec, to EDF's Online S@ver V6 via EDF's web site

I monitored this transfer closely and corrected errors on the Contract Form by letter which was headed with the customers name, address, Meter Nos and 'Online s@ver V6'

With each notification requesting Meter Reads and advising of the transfer date, ( Seperate for Gas & Elec.) I confirmed the information, both given and recieved, in writing with letters again headed with 'Online s@ver V6'

Last week the first Gas & Elec bills arrived, and Hey Ho both charge 'Standard Tariff' rates for the first 17 Days of the supply.
I then took another look at the T&C's and it does indeed have the term posted by Vegan, but, the Key word is "may" and my stance is that a new customer opting for Online s@ver V6 from the outset would have no reason to think this Standard tariff clause would apply to them - The Clause is after all about EDF's acceptance of the customer for Online s@ver V6, but if a customer specifically applies for it and EDF don't want to accept it, then they should refuse the account transfer entirely.

Frankly, the whole thing smells of a stealth charge and my letter of Complaint is on it's way, and if EDF don't want to play fair I don't think it's one for Consumer Focus or the Ombudsman, so my next missive will be to the Office of Fair Trading

dogshome

I sent in the 'Complaint' letter as my Post #4 above, which was based on several issues including what I considered a big problem in the way EDF's T&C's were written

On Page 3 of the "Online S@ver Version 6" literature published February 2010, under the heading 'What happens next' they list the term:
Please note that this tariff will only become effective from 27 March 2010. New and existing customers who request to sign-up before then will be pre-registered and transferred as soon as the tariff becomed effective. Until then, you will remain on your existing tariff, or go on our Standard tariff
Note that this limits the chargeing of Existing or Standardtariffs, only to those applicants who apply for Online S@aver Version 6 before 27 March 2010. And also note the words as soon as
However buried away on Page 6, Clause 2 covers the above in considerably more detail and includes wording that 'written confirmation from EDF must be issued before an applicant an applicant can benifit from the V6 tariff '

In my letter I claimed the information on Page 2 is a 'Key Features' statement, which should have listed any possibility of a 'Standard tariff' delay period, being charged to applicants applying after 27 march 2010, and also that the full clause on Page 6 was so ambigious that applicants applying after 27 March, were not able to understand whether or not a 'Standard' tariff period would or would not apply

The reply from EDF which I quote " .... I have discussed this with my manager and we cannot see why the tariff was not applied immediately after we gained your energy supply", and with the letter were re-issued Gas & Elec bills wholly based on the Online S@ver Version 6 tariff

These corrections are worth £15+ to a low income family, so if you have suffered a 'Standard' tariff period when you Switched EDF's Version 6, Complain !

backfoot

I am in discussion with EDF's legal team regarding this and hope to have some guidance over the next day or so.:)

backfoot

I now have some guidance and reasonably good news from EDF.

EDF are migrating their billing systems currently to a new platform. This migration is due for completion around March 2011.In the meantime, they have to use the old billing system, which has a constraint regarding immediately setting up the new online tariffs The interim process involves the account being set up on the Standard Tariff.

Unfortunately,this does mean that there may be a short period of time where billing is made on this Standard Tariff.

EDF accept that this is not a fair position for Customers and that they will now give REFUNDS for such amounts. Unfortunately, this does require a Customer to alert them to the problem.

I have pointed out that some Customer's have been treated differently and I am told that the Legal Team will issue further guidance to the Call Centres and Billing Teams to ensure consistency of approach going forward.

When the new system comes on board this problem should no longer occur.

I hope this is helpful for any customer's affected by this. It is not a completely satisfactory position, because it relies on customer raising the matter. However,at this stage,it is better than nothing.

TwittersPVFC

How do we go about making EDF aware of this? What if their call center operators haven't been informed yet?

backfoot

backfoot wrote: »

I have pointed out that some Customer's have been treated differently and I am told that the Legal Team will issue further guidance to the Call Centres and Billing Teams to ensure consistency of approach going forward.

Twitters,

This was how they answered the question to me.

I suppose it's like anything about policy and training, you just have to hope that their communication lines are good.It's probably better to wait for the first bill and then take it up with them.

If a problem persists, please let me know with details and I will see what I can do.

TwittersPVFC

How often do they send bills out? I'm still waiting for the letter confirming the date of my gas switchover, even though I know it was today (rang them to ask when my electric was switched over).

backfoot

I got the impression it was quarterly at least till the online system is fully functional. If anyone has precise details let us know.