EDF billing only annually?

snowcat53

My mother is with EDF on online version7, as am I. However while i have had bills quarterly, my mother has only has one for electricity to 1 march, and no gas one at all. Her account shows over £900 in credit. When i queried this for her they implied they only send a bill annually

"Your payment method is Monthly Direct Debit, so you will receive a request to provide a read every six months, to enable us to recalculate your Direct Debit amount if necessary.
You will also receive an annual invoice. In between the 6 monthly reviews the account will always be in credit , if you would like us to complete a review on your account please provide us with up to date meter reads and it can be completed "

This seems completely ridiculous to me. If they know your usage to recalculate your DD why dont they issue a bill ( should be statement really) . And why different for 2 of us on the same tariff?

Anyone else had this problem?

jalexa

snowcat53 wrote: »

This seems completely ridiculous to me. If they know your usage to recalculate your DD why dont they issue a bill...

If a "review" is "provoked" it will likely just result in an unsubstantiated (and therefore possibly wrong) Direct Debit recalculation. What you should do really depends on what you want to achieve and why, in particular whether you want to be subjected to an unsubstantiated and possibly wrong Direct Debit recalculation.

If it is just knowledge of an up to date account balance then there may be another way to achieve that. I have been informed that if a meter reading is submitted by phone or by email with a request to update the account balance but not to perform a review then the balance will be updated but the DD payment will not be reviewed. BTW, not yet proved that is accurate advice.

Alternatively (possibly better) is to self-manage the account balance by entering your consumption details into a comparison website and then noting the annual cost and comparing that with payments made.

While (techically) adviser and email responses "speak for the company", there is no guarantee what is said is accurate. Something I suspect which applies to the detail of what you have been told.

Anyway does OS7 not mature at the end of the year? Problem solved?

snowcat53

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to speak to edf on the phone when i have the ensergy and time....

BTW they already tried to increase the DD after the sole electric bill, and i had to inisist they cancelled this as they had no good evidence to show an increase was required.
Also both meters have been read regularly.

Given the major problems I (and many others ) have had with billing and being put on the wrong tariffs with edf I dont think 'self managing' is a good solution - i want to see their calculations. And it simply should not be necessary.

victor2

It's an ongoing issue with EDF. The short answer is to not use their online system at all, except if they ask you to submit a reading. When they do, and you provide a reading, expect a DD recalculation followed by the need to phone them up and straighten it out.
They have told me that for new customers, meter readings are required every quarter, then every 6 months after 1 year. Each reading you give results in a bill being generated along with the recalculation.
The best way to track your own usage and cost, is to keep your own notes of meter readings on something like a monthly basis and calculate what the bill will be from those. It's easily done if you can create a simple spreadsheet, especially for electricity where the meter shows kWh used. You have to apply a formula to the gas meter figures to convert the volume measured to kWh. This involves the calorific value of the gas although you can just use the multiplying factor from your last bill and be very close. I asked EDF how they establish the CV figure to use a number of weeks back, and am still waiting for them to get back to me on that.

snowcat53

[QUOTE=victor2;48870919Each_reading_you_give_results_in_a_bill_being_generated_along_with_the_recalculation.[/QUOTE]

But this is the point -submitted meter readings have not resulted in a bill and they say they only do it annually.

victor2

snowcat53 wrote: »

But this is the point -submitted meter readings have not resulted in a bill and they say they only do it annually.

It's well known that EDF's "system" is totally dysfunctional. Sometimes you'll generate a bill when you enter a reading and sometimes you won't. Try waiting a month between readings and then see what that does. Alternatively, try phoning them with a reading and ask them to force a bill. It will also generate a DD recalculation though, so be prepared for an impossible to justify increase in that as well, and another phone call!