Fixed DD with EDF

SamanthaD85

Even though i have a online account i have also set my bill method to paper, as i know you can have online bills, maybe thats why? I think i may phone them tomorrow just to clarify.

I did look at their FAQ's and it stated that if your a new customer my first 'bill' will take up to 12 weeks to process! Also online it says £75 credit, not sure where that came from.

jalexa

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

Even though i have a online account i have also set my bill method to paper, as i know you can have online bills, maybe thats why? I think i may phone them tomorrow just to clarify.

I did look at their FAQ's and it stated that if your a new customer my first 'bill' will take up to 12 weeks to process! Also online it says £75 credit, not sure where that came from.

Read my guide thread to Direct Debit. Includes a link to the Edf Direct Debit page.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3409983

Regarding the "£75", it is common for suppliers to "credit" that as soon as the billing system requests the payment from the bank, but the payment does not get collected until the notified collection date, normally about 3 workings days later.

Astute observers may spot it is a good time to submit customer readings just after the account has been "credited".

macman

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

I assumed they would send me a bill with my usage on each month, so then i know if my DD is enough.
That was the plan to make sure we have enough credit on the gas to cover the winter.
I didnt know i had to take my own readings for my own record.

We were paying £20 electric on prepayment meter and about £30 gas a month, so thats why we set them at the prices i stated. The meter reading i gave was only for 14 days as the prepayment meter had been taken out and then we had to wait 14 days to switch to DD instead of quarterly.

How could they know your monthly usage, since they are only required to read the meter once every 2 years? The EDF policy is I believe to review your DD level twice a year. Normal billing is quarterly.
Best plan is to submit your own readings at least every quarter, a few days before the bill is due.

jalexa

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

I assumed they would send me a bill with my usage on each month

How long were you with your previous supplier? Long enough to get the statutory annual notification of your usage?

SamanthaD85

macman wrote: »

How could they know your monthly usage, since they are only required to read the meter once every 2 years? The EDF policy is I believe to review your DD level twice a year. Normal billing is quarterly.
Best plan is to submit your own readings at least every quarter, a few days before the bill is due.

If you had read my first post i stated this our FIRST house and are NEW to all this. Thats why i am asking these questions to get advise, i dont know how it all works and cant compare with my parents as they dont have gas in their house. I thought you gave meter reading more than once every two years and i thought they issued bills on your usage, i think i read that when looking on the internet. As i said we are still learning.

We only moved into our house 6 months ago and BOTH the gas and electric were prepayment meters and we only had them changed in July and then changed to DD.

macman

I did read your first post. My point was that an accurate quarterly bill can only be provided if the meter has been read before billing. So if you are due a bill in 2 months, send them a reading in about 6-7 weeks, or whenever you wish.
If you don't supply readings, and they haven't read the meter, you will get an estimated bill. The purpose of submitting regular readings is to set the right DD level for your consumption to avoid arrears building up.

jalexa

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

If you had read my first post i stated this our FIRST house and are NEW to all this. Thats why i am asking these questions to get advise, i dont know how it all works

Well I posted my guide to this and *you* didn't respond.

I agree that with 6 months history "annual projections" particulary gas might not be accurate. In that case you should ask the supplier what is their "assumption" for the annual consumptions. Post the number and the "experts" here can offer an opinion.

SamanthaD85

jalexa wrote: »

Well I posted my guide to this and *you* didn't respond.

I agree that with 6 months history "annual projections" particulary gas might not be accurate. In that case you should ask the supplier what is their "assumption" for the annual consumptions. Post the number and the "experts" here can offer an opinion.

I didnt quote you in my post and that wasnt for you. I have read through the policy and now have more of a clear idea on how it works.

I have logged onto my account and looked at my meter reading and the last one i submitted was 28.07.11 when i phoned to change tariffs.

Am i right in thinking that i can submit readings every month, just to make sure that i dont go into debit. That way i can keep track of what im using and then hopefully wont get in debit in the winter months.

jalexa

SamanthaD85 wrote: »

Am i right in thinking that i can submit readings every month, just to make sure that i dont go into debit. That way i can keep track of what im using and then hopefully wont get in debit in the winter months.

Yes, and normally I would advise the regular provision of customer reads. But here is a big caution, I entered a customer read yesterday and it produced a completely ridiculous - and wrong - review of my monthly payment. There is also a least two recent threads reporting DD being set to £1 after reads being provided.

It is hard to recommend entering reads until Edf sort out their systems. I'm happy to police Edf through the complaints process in accordance with my guide (based on the printed Edf review guide) but I can see it would be hard going for someone less experienced.

The best thing is for you is to be aware what is your typical annual comsumption (not easy at 6 months), but failing that ask Edf what their "assumption" is. Post the number and people here can give an opinion.

I have forgotten your house details but accepted "average" annual usage is 16,500kWhrs for gas and 3,300 for electricity. Enter that into a comparsion site for your tariff to get the annual cost for that usage. Until you are certain, either pay that monthly cost or put the money aside.

SamanthaD85

Thanks for the info.

I think i will write my readings on my calender and then submit them every 2-3 months online.

I just went onto a comparison site and entered the figures you said was the 'average' usage and it seems that what i am paying now is about right and EDF are the cheapest tariff for me as N power came up with cheaper electric by hardly anything and £23 dearer for gas.

Thanks for the advice.