How long do EDF take to issue credit refund after annual review?

PinkA

Hello! I was wondering if anyone has had a credit redund from EDF after the annual review revealed more than £150 had accumulated by direct debit?

According to their policy the refund happens after the review but I was wondering how long this takes? I've tried calling them before but they have been having problems with their lines and I held on for ages and ages but there's only so much "it's not that easy being green" that a girl can take! After giving up I FINALLY got my review after no bills since Feb, and turns out I was paying too much and they owe me £586! Very good news but I'd quite like that money please! That was a week ago and no money has come my way yet.

The only other thing (I guess I'll have to call them really ) is that a guy came from EDF about a month ago, and yet the bill they sent was ESTIMATED, so annoying. Do they perhaps not refund if it is an estimated bill in case I had used way more than they guessed? I wish my account number was able to be used online it would be so much easier!

jalexa

PinkA wrote: »

First of all welcome to the Forum.

Regarding contacting Edf, my experience in the last few days is that weekday morning calls are being answered in less than a minute, so give it a try (and post your experience).

Regarding the account balances, I *think* you are saying that at the last "annual review" (April?) you were over £150 in credit but contrary to the published procedure you didn't get an automatic refund? And at a recent "interim review" you are nearly £600 in credit? At the "interim review" there is no automatic refund however you can request a refund or partial refund at any time. The supplier may or may not agree but must explain the reason.

You need to ask for your account to be reviewed and discuss a partial refund and/or a payment adjustment. Have a customer meter reading ready.

Regarding the "estimated" meter reader reading, this is just speculation but there is always a flurry of meter readers around the time of a tariff increase, but the bill then gets estimated either side of the increase date based on the actual reading.

HTH

PinkA

Thank you for your reply! I figured I had to give them a call, and I'm glad I did My heart sank a bit when they still played the message about being midway through updates and phone calls therefore taking a long time to be answered, but you were right, after I'd gone through their long message the actual call didn't take that long to be answered.

I've now no idea when the annual review is meant to be, since I moved in in September 2010 I had received one bill in Feb (nothing else from them but generic letters about bills rising and apologising for the long call wait times), so I figured this was my annual review as it was my only review! But basically it was totally estimated, they had no readings since a guy came in August so who knows what the October reading man did with the readings he took. So I wasn't due for receiving any of my credit back, instead they lowered my direct debit payment by a grand total of £3 a month from the amount they have calculated I should pay with £0 credit - so I make that 16 years it would have taken to get my credit down to £0!!! The estimated readings were thankfully very close to my actual readings, I just got about 10p more credit. So after about a week I'll get my £586.94 (a manager has to sign for it as it is over £500 so it takes longer.. sigh), and my monthly direct debits will be £32 a month less than they were! Worth a phone call I think

zax47

EDF only now send a bill once a year, not once a quarter - so don't expect your next bill anytime soon!

Get yourself registered on their online "my account" system and make sure you put regular readings in to prevent stupidly estimated bills.

PinkA

Annoyingly, I can't. Aparently online billing isnt available for my account number yet..

It seems to me like it is all set up so that they overcharge you on purpose and hold on to as much credit as they can for as long as they can! I don't understand why their policy says they automatically refund if your credit is over £150 at the annual review when it seems to me that that simply isn't the case. I had paid my whole bill months ago and I've just been accumulating credit without being able to get through to them to find out if I was paying too much. And their plan was to give it back to me £3 a month at a time. What a joke!

zax47

I don't think it was your annual review - that's on/around the anniversary of you joining them. I joined in May 2009, had review in May 2010 and again in May 2011.

PinkA

I joined September 10, it is a bill but also says in big letters at the top "Your Direct Debit Review for your gas and electricity"

millie

I had the same problem with them I was £486 in credit I asked for it back and was told that it would have to be authorized as it was over their limit. I few days later I had a letter saying my DD was to be reduced to £2 per month. They were very reluctant to refund the money but I insisted and eventually got it. I keep my DD's lower now as its easier to pay the underpayments at the end than it is to get the overpayments back.

rockin_plumber

zax47 wrote: »

EDF only now send a bill once a year, not once a quarter - so don't expect your next bill anytime soon!

Get yourself registered on their online "my account" system and make sure you put regular readings in to prevent stupidly estimated bills.

Regular readings is not a good idea..

The system generates random figures that it decides will be your direct debit amounts.

Very much in the favour of EDF energy

PinkA

Update:

After they worked out with me on the phone and my actual readings on the 22nd that my monthly direct debits should be £60, they changed it to £60 and sent me a letter confirming this.

The next day, they sent me another letter, informing me that my direct debits would now be £123 (!!).

The day after that, they sent me a letter to confirm that my direct debit date has been changed as per my request (?? I made no date change request..), and confirming that the direct debit amount is £92 (the amount it was originally that raked up the large credit).

So I had to call them again this morning, to change it again back to £60 as we agreed, and to keen an eye that noone fiddles about with the account any more. If anyone is interested, I spent an angry 12 minutes on hold this morning to get through to them.

Time to stop procrastinating and find a new supplier...

Ooh but on a positive note I got my credit refund today