EDF Energy: upping direct debits by random, huge & unnecessary amounts

melbury

I have say in their defence that my problem with a vastly increased DD was resolved very easily and quickly.

I was totally prepared for this happening after what I have read on this site about the computer system working it out and so as soon as I read it on my bills contacted them immediately.

They were trying to put the gas up from £71 per month to £100 per month and the electricity from £43 to £59. Very nice man, very apologetic and changed it back straightaway and emailed confirmation letters within a couple of days.

Still no Thank Yous received yet though.

candygirl

My dd's are meant to be £84 a month, yet last month they took £125 out, and the month before £271!!!How bloody random!!I have had numerous phone convos with them, letters etc, and await this months fiasco with bated breath:mad::mad::mad:

jalexa

candygirl wrote: »

My dd's are meant to be £84 a month, yet last month they took £125 out, and the month before £271!!!

Are you paying attention any bill produced and/or payment scheme advice either by letter or online document advised by email? There must be advance notice of any change to the amount of a Direct Debit. Whatever the failures of the Edf billing system I have not personally experienced lack of notice.

But more to the point, most posters point out that if you ask nicely and firmly it is not difficult to get the previous payment restored, unlike (apparently) with E.ON.

matt_james27

Hi all,

I was with scottish power before and they always emailed me when a meter reading was required,
now am with EDF and they haven't asked for a reading apart from once last summer, how often am I supposed to enter them online? I'm on the : Online S@ver v8. They have a December actual reading for my gas, but nothing for my electricity since July.

Should I wait until the gas price cut comes into effect on Feb 7th? then enter my readings? and how often should I be entering them anyway?

Thanks!

jalexa

matt_james27 wrote: »

now am with EDF and they haven't asked for a reading apart from once last summer, how often am I supposed to enter them online?

Answer 1:

Edf only self-generate a bill once a year, on the occasion of your "annual review". You are not *required* to enter readings online, but you *may* be asked prior to your "annual review".

Answer 2:

If your account is migrated to the new MyAccount billing system, you will get a bill if you submit a meter reading more than 28 days after a previous meter reading (which generated a bill). You will also get a Direct Debit recalculation* if you enter a meter reading which generates a bill.

* refer to the thread Subject and be warned.

victor2

Note what Jalexa has said.
If you are comfortable with your DD amount, then wait until they ask for a reading, or a meter reader turns up.
If you have old bills going back at least a year then take a meter reading yourself now and work out your annual usage for both gas and electricity. Cost it at your current tariff, not forgetting to convert your gas units read to kWh, and if 1/12 of that is close to your DD, you should be covered, so long as you aren't also paying off any debt in your bills.
Bit of work involved, but it beats letting EDF come up with a figure that bears no relationship to your actual usage that they can tell us about!

brewerdave

In view of the current,ongoing mild Winter,I wonder how EDF's "system" will cope with the huge numbers of customers who will have significant credit balances by the time of the Spring/Summer/annual review??
Suspect that it won't !!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Walaboobah

A complete joke of a company

I was paying £79.00 per month for gas and £107.00 per month for electricity but had received no electricity bill for as long as I could remember, despite submitting numerous online meter readings!

My account was showing as over £2000 in credit. Numerous emails but still not resolved. Yesterday I sent an Email informing them that unless I received an immediate bill based on the readings submitted today then I would be switching to another company.

Had a reply within the hour and based on my latest readings, the correct monthly amounts are now £77 for gas and £9 for electricity! The amount of electricity used in the 11 month billing period was £105 which was less than I had been paying per month!!!

I still have £1400 worth of credit in the account and they had the cheek to ask me if I wanted a refund!!!

The word cowboys come to mind but how the government allow these companies to get away with this is beyond me!

My advice to anyone is complain complain complain and once resolved, get out of town!

matt_james27

thanks jalexa and victor2

fluffy123

Just had a similar issue with them too.

Been with them for 3 months and have submitted a meter reading every month since online...I usually pay £45 per month direct debit. Worked out that I'd paid them £135 so far, but used £180 worth of Electricity in the three months after reading bills, fair enough.

However, they'd seen fit to increase my direct debit to £120 per month from £45! Got onto the phone to an agent who gave me a long explanation going on winter use etc etc, which quite frankly made no sense but then asked me how much I'd like to pay! I argued it down to £60 per month (just in case for winter) and will monitor it even more regularly than I do already.

Sadly, the £120 has gone out of my account so I'll have to tighten the belts a little more this month but at least there's a nice credit in my account!! (Joy!)