Gas and Elec monthly payment scheme, big bill - HELP!

gillywoo

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can give a little advice...

I switched my gas and electricity in August 2011 from Eon to EDF. EDF took my meter readings and set me up on a paperless monthly direct debit payment scheme and I've not thought too much about it since. That was until I needed a copy utility bill for ID purposes a couple of weeks ago.

I logged on to the EDF site and clicked to "View Bill" only to find that a bill has never been produced and the account was in credit for a few hundred pounds that I have paid up to date. It was telling me to enter meter readings and a bill would be available within 48 hours. I hadn't given further meter readings a thought; for one, Eon used to send someone round to take meter readings, and two, if they couldn't take readings they would prompt me by card through the door or by email for readings.

I haven't had any emails from EDF since their initial one confirming the set-up of the payment scheme.

I, of course, took meter readings and my bill has been produced. The bill states that I don't need to do anything as I am on Direct Debit and £240 will be taken from my account on 03 Feb 2012.

Can they do this? I thought on a payment scheme the monthly payments would be adjusted up or down to cover the costs and that a scheme would stop any shock bills.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Gill

HappyMJ

You need to provide more regular meter readings to avoid big shocks like that. You can ring them and ask them to recover the £240 over the next 6 months if that is going to cause you hardship. Personally, I wouldn't do that as it may prevent you from switching suppliers if you find a better deal. I would just pay the amount and find the best deal you can find.

brewerdave

If you read thru' the other threads on here about EDF and their DD "recalculations" you will realise that the last thing that you want to do,is enter regular meter readings!!! You need to make sure that your monthly DD covers your annual usage (or more accurately one twelfth) and then stick with it.

dogshome

EDF's accounting has been a mess since they upgraded the computer and changed the billing from seperate bills for Gas & Elec, to a single bill for both

What is supposed to happen, but doesn't, is that they Email you every 90 days or so asking you to enter your meter readings into your Online account - Best to to forget the request that doesn't come and put a note in your diary to Email them the readings every 3 months

macman

gillywoo wrote: »

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can give a little advice...

I switched my gas and electricity in August 2011 from Eon to EDF. EDF took my meter readings and set me up on a paperless monthly direct debit payment scheme and I've not thought too much about it since. That was until I needed a copy utility bill for ID purposes a couple of weeks ago.

I logged on to the EDF site and clicked to "View Bill" only to find that a bill has never been produced and the account was in credit for a few hundred pounds that I have paid up to date. It was telling me to enter meter readings and a bill would be available within 48 hours. I hadn't given further meter readings a thought; for one, Eon used to send someone round to take meter readings, and two, if they couldn't take readings they would prompt me by card through the door or by email for readings.

I haven't had any emails from EDF since their initial one confirming the set-up of the payment scheme.

I, of course, took meter readings and my bill has been produced. The bill states that I don't need to do anything as I am on Direct Debit and £240 will be taken from my account on 03 Feb 2012.

Can they do this? I thought on a payment scheme the monthly payments would be adjusted up or down to cover the costs and that a scheme would stop any shock bills.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Gill

But if you don't bother sending meter readings,how can they know what the actual consumption (and costs) are?
You need to supply readings at least ever 3 months in order to regulate your DD correctly. The supplier is only required to read your meter once every two years.
It appears that your initial DD was set far too low to cover your ongoing consmption. What is your currrent monthly DD vs your actual monthly consumption/spend?
Once the arrears are cleared, your DD will fall to cover ongoing consumption only.