EDF giant final bill estimated, no meter reading available

r2theb

Hi All,

Hope you can help.

I used to live in a flat in London but moved to Manchester 3 years ago. I have rented my flat out in London privately up until October 2010. Then I put it on the market and it was unoccupied from that point until completion in August 2011.

The problem is I don't have any meter readings for the electricity at the flat so EDF energy have used been using estimated billing during this unoccupied time.

Stupidly, I never asked for a meter reading from the estate agents when we completed (it slipped my mind amongst the million other things) and have recently received a whopping £1,000 final bill from EDF! I've called EDF but they say they need a meter reading before they can adjust anything.

The thing is that I used to get bills for approx £63/month but I never got a meter reading to get them.

I've tried getting in touch with the new owners via the estate agents to politely ask for an up-to-date meter reading but have not heard anything back from them as they're not interested because it won't make them any money. There may also be some reluctance for the new owners to help me out as the negotiations got quite tense at some stages (but nothing out of the ordinary I'd say) just you're usual.

It's really frustrating and I don't know what to do now. It seems crazy to me that I've already paid over the odds for electricity for an empty flat but to have to pay £1,000 on top is nothing short of ridiculous.

The last two bills are very different:

May to Aug 11 - £189 (750 units in 90 days)
Aug to Nov 11 - £1,006 (8116 units in 74 days!)

I'm not sure what else to do apart from appeal to EDF's common sense?

I can't get a meter reading myself from the flat now as it's got new security fobs etc and I can't access the block anymore, neither can the estate agents.

Any advice on a sensible way forward would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the a photo of the two bills in question:



and

macman

Sorry to state the obvious, but the problem can't be accurately resolved without a meter reading, either by yourself or by EDF.
It's not the EA's job to take closing readings. Your account, your bill, your responsibility.
But if you completed in August, why does your final bill say 6/11? Any usage after the completion date should be the responsibility of the new owners, who should have registered for a supply with EDF on moving-in day.
If you send proof of your exit date to EDF, they will rebill accordingly to that date. The new owners will then be billed from after that date, whether they have registered or not.

r2theb

Well I didn't inform EDF until November when they'd already generated the bill I guess.

Is there anything I can do about the giant bill though? I'm sure if they regenerate it to 12th August it'll still be OTT.

macman

It'll be based on your previous consumption, so not necessarily OTT. Get the bill first and see.
Surely though when you closed the account in November, you told them that you had moved out in August?
At present, you are paying for 4 months of usage by the new owners, who seem quite happy not to bother registering for a supply.
Without an actual closing reading in November, let alone August, you are not in a good negotiating position.
What have you done about it since November? You don't appear to have actually contacted the new owners.

david39

There will have been a "final" meter reading for EDF when the new owners switched supply, because the new suppliers will have asked for a start-reading. This will have been passed to EDF by the new supplier.

So, it depends when the new owners arranged the switch and that looks likely to be November, as it is the date on your final EDF bill.

If the bills you received before these dates were never checked against true meter readings but were based on estimates, then you may have been underpaying all the way through the period you were there, hence the size of the bill now.

macman

There's no evidence that the new occupiers have yet registered for an EDF supply or switched suppliers though.
The November final bill (estimated) was due to the OP finally remembering to close the account 3 months after selling.
The final bill is not a catch-up bill, because all the readings on both bills are estimated-both opening and closing, from May to November. It appears that the OP has not read the meter since prior to May 2011.
No one can ever know what the actual reading was in August, or in November.

r2theb

david39 wrote: »

There will have been a "final" meter reading for EDF when the new owners switched supply, because the new suppliers will have asked for a start-reading. This will have been passed to EDF by the new supplier.

So, it depends when the new owners arranged the switch and that looks likely to be November, as it is the date on your final EDF bill.

If the bills you received before these dates were never checked against true meter readings but were based on estimates, then you may have been underpaying all the way through the period you were there, hence the size of the bill now.

Thanks guys.

I was hoping that the above would be true re: suppliers passing on the final reading to the old one.

Tomorrow, I'll call the EA and try to get the new owners to get me the opening meter reading they started with. I'll probably end up offering them some money via paypal for their troubles.

Failing this I'll see what can be done with EDF's bill.

Thanks for your posts.

macman

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the EA. Why don't you just call the new owners?
If they they had taken an opening read and registered in August, then you would have received a closing bill from that date. You didn't, so clearly EDF were not aware of any change in occupier until November. Any read from November (if it exists) will still leave you with 3 months bill for their usage.
The first thing you need to do is to prove your exit in August.

r2theb

macman wrote: »

It has nothing whatsoever to do with the EA. Why don't you just call the new owners?
If they they had taken an opening read and registered in August, then you would have received a closing bill from that date. You didn't, so clearly EDF were not aware of any change in occupier until November. Any read from November (if it exists) will still leave you with 3 months bill for their usage.
The first thing you need to do is to prove your exit in August.

I don't have the new owner's contact details, hence I need to get them from the EA.

jd87

r2theb wrote: »

I don't have the new owner's contact details, hence I need to get them from the EA.

You know where they live don't you?

r2theb

jd87 wrote: »

You know where they live don't you?

Ha ha ... yeah, i've got a pretty good idea.