EDF - Can anyone help?

Sarahmarsh

I am new to money saving expert and was wondering if anyone can help me or Has anyone been in this position, I have just been informed by EDF that for the last 4 years they have been they have been charging my electricity at the night rate rather than the day rate, I have been paying approx 55 pounds a month and now they are saying i owe them 3770.03 and that they will give me 4 years to pay it back and that they will be increasing my direct debit to accomodate my electricity needs, i live in a normal 3 bed house I have a tumble dryer and a dishwasher that I use once a day, I have gas central heating so my emersion heater is never switched on, they say I use 150 pounds a month, how can this be???? if i'd have known that I would have swapped years ago, they say it was an error on their part when my account was originally set up and because I have had a perfect account they had no reason to question it, how can i be liable for someone elses stupid mistake i can't afford that kind of price hike, the manager is meant to be phoning me back today to see if they can work something elses out, I would like to know if anyone else has been in this situation and what you did about it, sorry to go on!!

Sarah

Frankie231

I'm sure someone who can answer your question with 100% certainty will be along soon. But in my opinion, they have admitted it was their fault, not an error from your end, which would make me think (if you have written roof that they've admitted this) that you could have it wiped. Personally I would contact Consumer Direct and see what they say about the situation.

Frankie

penrhyn

You should take a daily meter reading for a week or so without changing your usage to see how much energy you are using.
Do you have accurate bills going back over the period or are they estimated.
Someone else will comment on your liability.

Sarahmarsh

Thank you, I will definatly contact Consumer Direct, and also monitor my usage, this has come as real shock as I thought that what I was paying seemed reasonable for my usage but according to the manager I spoke to yesterday 150 pounds a month for electric is perfectly normal?:(

shortchanged_2

Sarahmarsh wrote: »

Thank you, I will definatly contact Consumer Direct, and also monitor my usage, this has come as real shock as I thought that what I was paying seemed reasonable for my usage but according to the manager I spoke to yesterday 150 pounds a month for electric is perfectly normal?:(

That sounds very, very high to me particularly if you don't have any form of electrical heating.
As others have stated contact Consumer Direct, as if they are at fault and you had no way of knowing this, I very much doubt if they could actually claim this back.

Auntymog

I would be interested to see the replies for this thread as we have a similar issue!

Premier_2

Since this thread appears to attract so much interest (;)) let's start from the beginning.

The meter is in the customers property.
The customer should receive regular bills from the supplier
A sensible customer would at least take a quick look at thopse bills to ensure they seemed approximately correct if they didn't go the full hog to check each bill reading against the actual reading to ensure it/they are correct.

To have been billed total consumption at night rate implies you are on a dual rate tariff, so the bill will show both registry readings.
If one registry shows no consum,ption over a typical billing period of 3 months, a customer should realise something is probably wrong (unless they have a very unusual consumption pattern that they will be aware of)

So if the daytime/normal registry records no usage and the night/low rate all the usage, you can reasonably assume the switching mechanism has failed. To allow this to go uncorrected for not just months, but years is asounding! To expext to get away with only paying low rate 24/7/365 is equally astounding. And to expect that the meter failure won't eventually catch up with you and leave yourself facing a huge bill is perhaps the most astounding of all.

Now the supplier, who can only go by the meter readings provided, may also be partly to blame.
In my experience, suppliers will often pick up on such irregular usage and question it (even if the meter is actually recording correctly)

Therefore you may have a chance under the 12 month back billing agreement, but if a customer had informed the supplier previously of the fault (and could prove they had, e.g. by sending such a complaint recorded delivery) then if the supplier failed to correct the issue the 12 month back billing rule would almost certainly apply.

Premier_2

Auntymog wrote: »

I would be interested to see the replies for this thread as we have a similar issue!

Unfortunately you don't appear to be in exactly the same position because you appear to be a business customer.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2835524

The 12 month back billing rule only applies to residential customers

dogshome

Hi Sarahmarsh - From your post it appears that you have an ECO7 meter with Day & Night rates and Gas Central heating/Hotwater ?

'ECO7' meters are usually fitted in properties that have electric Storage Radiators and Hot Water tank, both of which heat up overnight using cheap power - The downside is that the power you use during the day is much more expensive than that supplied thro' a 'Standard meter'

It is possible to 'win', although only just with Gas CH and ECO7 electric, but you have to live a lifestyle that is dedicated to only running Wash Machines, Dishwash machines, Tumble Dryers and stored Hotwater overnight, and also being very carefull with what you switch on during the day.

The usual reason that people with ECO7 heating go to the trouble and cost of fitting gas CH, is that ECO 7 is extremely expensive.
When they inform their supplier of this change, which they most certainly would do, the supplier does one of two things:
Change the meter to a ' Standard' type
Add the ECO7 meter readings together and charge the total as though it were a 'Standard' meter

The problem with the 'Add Together' method is that it is only a note on the account, and the time of a change of Account Holder or Switch, it gets lost and the Supplier reverts to chargeing ECO7 prices

You must inform EDF of your Gas Heating and Hotwater set-up immediately in writing and also ask why and when they reverted to ECO7 billing for your address.

Sarahmarsh

thank you dogshome, that makes sense, when I moved into the property 9 years ago I asked if it was economy 7 and they said no, and I never had a problem, I switched to EDF in 06 as the prices seemed cheaper and as I have had no reason to query my account everything was running smoothly paying an average ammount for the electric I have been using, it is my fault i didn't look further into my statements I would have noticed that it was not right, though not my fault as they have admitted to me over the phone that when they set up my account it was switched round and everytime i have submitted a meter reading from my end either from myself or a meter reader they have been switching the numbers round at their end. As I have been sending them correctly. The manager is looking into the situation to see what can be done, after googling my situation there was an article in the mirror in April of this year about a lady who also was in the same position as me in that 4 years ago she set up her account with edf and they switched her day and night usage and were now demanding repaymant. My argument is why have they let this go on for so long even though they say they review my account every 6 months, surely this should have flagged up before now, the only reason they have found it now is because I phone querying my last bill as it didn't look right.

Premier_2

dogshome wrote: »

The downside is that the power you use during the day is much more expensive than that supplied thro' a 'Standard meter'

Not really - E7 tariffs are typically about 10% more during the 17 hours of normal rate and about 50-70% cheaper during the 7 hours of low rate period.
Here are some current EDF prices to see the differences for yourself
http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/documents/edf-standard-tariffs-25-07.pdf

dogshome wrote: »

...The usual reason that people with ECO7 heating go to the trouble and cost of fitting gas CH, is that ECO 7 is extremely expensive...

Eco 7 is not extremely expensive.

Heating by electric expensive