EDF Fail Ofgem Direct Debit Rules

backfoot

welshee wrote: »

You must give them a reading and make sure you get an acknowledgement they have received it.
And don't let the bad comments frighten you as as i have never had a problem (well one small one with EDF)
this thread is about a particular problem that they seem to be sorting out eventually...:rotfl:

This still remains very bad advice.

I would only give them a reading say at most once a quarter and would suggest once every six months. If you enter readings more frequently, EDF have been issuing revised random changes to your Direct Debit amount.To make matters worse they refuse to explain the changes they have made.

EDF have many problems which persist and they aren't certainly sorting out the information problem. I have had to ask for an adjudication by the Energy Ombudsman in order to force them to abide by their obligations.

Keep a track of your consumption on a spreadsheet or other means to compare with previous years.

See what the other posters recommend and form your own strategy based on balanced opinions.

victor2

littlemoney wrote: »

I have just switched to EDF. The only readings I have provided so afr are the one to make final payment to my old gas and electric suppliers.

I am confused by the comments. Is it better to submit meter readings or not.

Please forgive the stupid questions I have never changed supplier before and previously was on quarterly bill paid on receipt of the bill so I have no expereince of managing gas and electricity online and these comments are starting to frighten me.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

If EDF have set up direct debits which reflect your historic annual usage and their current charges, you shouldn't be too far off paying for what you use over a year.
The problem has been that when they had a reading, they recalculated the direct debit amount according to a formula they would not explain, and would not make sense to anyone who analysed the figures. However, there are reports now that they don't make these adjustments every time they have a reading.
If you know your previous annual usage (perhaps from your previous supplier's bills) in kWh, then you can calculate from that what the same annual usage would cost on your current tariff. Divide it by 12 and you should get a realistic monthly amount to pay.
As it is summer (supposedly), you should be paying for more than you are using at the moment, but it would even out over winter.

I haven't provided EDF with a reading for many months now, but I do monitor my usage and have proven to myself that I am paying enough to cover the annual cost.

If you know your annual usage, put the figures into a comparison site, along with the details of the tariff you are currently on. That should then tell you what your annual cost would be. If that corresponds to what you are paying, you're probably in good shape. You could even give EDF a reading then, and see if they adjust your payment. If they do, just phone them up and ask them to put it back where it was, assuming that is sufficient, which they readily do in my experience.

jalexa

littlemoney wrote: »

I have just switched to EDF. The only readings I have provided so afr are the one to make final payment to my old gas and electric suppliers.

I am confused by the comments. Is it better to submit meter readings or not.

I'm slightly confused too. I hope you provided the reading (only) to the gaining supplier (Edf) who send the reading to the losing supplier.

Your initial DD should be set according to the annual consumption specified in the switching quote. Has that hapenned? Do you know your annual consumption? Are you registered for Edf Myaccount?

welshee

littlemoney wrote: »

I have just switched to EDF. The only readings I have provided so afr are the one to make final payment to my old gas and electric suppliers.

I am confused by the comments. Is it better to submit meter readings or not.

Please forgive the stupid questions I have never changed supplier before and previously was on quarterly bill paid on receipt of the bill so I have no expereince of managing gas and electricity online and these comments are starting to frighten me.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

The question was "I have just switched to EDF. The only readings I have provided so afr are the one to make final payment to my old gas and electric suppliers.
I am confused by the comments. Is it better to submit meter readings or not."

Of course you must give a reading when starting with EDF regardless of backfoots reply !

Toxteth_OGrady

littlemoney wrote: »

I am confused by the comments. Is it better to submit meter readings or not.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

welshee wrote: »

You must give them a reading and make sure you get an acknowledgement they have received it.

victor2 wrote: »

The problem has been that when they had a reading, they recalculated the direct debit amount according to a formula they would not explain, and would not make sense to anyone who analysed the figures. However, there are reports now that they don't make these adjustments every time they have a reading.

I switched to EDF on their Fixed Saver V2 tariff last summer and I have been closely following this thread from the outset. Because of the issue of EDF's inability to set DD amounts correctly I avoided providing any customer readings other than the initial switch readings.

As I reported here I experienced the problem first hand when a bill based on figures provided by a meter reader in April proposed to drop my DD by a ridiculous two-thirds, which I managed to re-negotiate to a sensible amount on the phone.

Owing to this thread I continued to avoid providing my own readings until I was asked to do so by EDF for their Annual Review. Although reluctant and expecting the worst I bit the bullet and submitted readings yesterday, the latest possible date, after 11 months' of electricity and 10 months' of gas supply.

I got my bill today and I was pleasantly surprised. The monthly DD had been adjusted to exactly the amount I was expecting based on my annual kWh figures. The online Midata forecast annual costs had also been updated and were exactly the same as I was getting from comparison site calculations.

Initially I thought they had significantly underestimated the annual gas. When I rounded up my 10 months' September to July actual usage I got a much higher amount. However having had actual readings for September to April (winter) and then April to July (summer), I smoothed my calculation to only extrapolate the 3 summer months (April to July) to the missing 2 months (August and September this year). This gave bang on the same forecast that EDF had come up with so their appears to be a degree of sophistication in their algorithms.

All in all a positive outcome for me. The only downside is that the Midata forecast annual spend, and hence new DD, is based on my current Fixed Saver V2 tariff (btw the forecast also appears to include the 6% discount when I run my annual kWh through the comparison sites). What is the point of EDF providing me with a forecast for the next 12 months based on the price of a tariff that they know will expire in 2 months? It would have been more accurate to have provided a forecast based on their Standard Variable tariff, which is what I will be automatically changed to in September. The point is moot however as I will almost certainly be switching away from EDF in September.

:cool:

TOG

victor2

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

All in all a positive outcome for me. The only downside is that the Midata forecast annual spend, and hence new DD, is based on my current Fixed Saver V2 tariff (btw the forecast also appears to include the 6% discount when I run my annual kWh through the comparison sites). What is the point of EDF providing me with a forecast for the next 12 months based on the price of a tariff that they know will expire in 2 months? It would have been more accurate to have provided a forecast based on their Standard Variable tariff, which is what I will be automatically changed to in September. The point is moot however as I will almost certainly be switching away from EDF in September.

:cool:

TOG

Getting picky now! Good that it appears to be working though. On my account, Midata is fairly accurate (after they had readings covering a year, thanks to a meter reader) and the predicted costs excluded the 6% DD discount.
I too complete my contract in September, but as EDF currently come top for me on the comparison sites, I could actually stay with them on the principle of "better the devil you know!"
Very tempted to go back to E.On who I was with before. They had a good system that I provided monthly readings for and it all ran smoothly. This is MSE though, and E.On are not the cheapest. Think I'll worry about it closer to September.

backfoot

welshee wrote: »

The question was "I have just switched to EDF. The only readings I have provided so afr are the one to make final payment to my old gas and electric suppliers.
I am confused by the comments. Is it better to submit meter readings or not."

Of course you must give a reading when starting with EDF regardless of backfoots reply !

The poster was obviously asking about the input of future meter readings. They had already given their opening reading on the switch. They wouldn't have been able to switch properly without doing so.

The thread, which I started, is about the non explanation of Direct Debit changes. Those changes arose because many customers like to give regular meter readings and under normal circumstances such a practice would be very sensible. However, with EDF, doing so produced lots of problems with Direct Debits. Nearly all the posters had experienced this problem and the consensus was that it was wise not to input meter readings. Of course, if you had actually read the thread instead of writing your previous childish comments (all removed by MSE), then you may have understood.

There is some anectdotal evidence from some customers, that after a year, EDF's system seems to be stabilising and that can only be good news.

However,Littlemoney is a new customer and therefore the best advice for them is to input fewer readings rather than more. Indeed,I think Jalexa may confirm, that EDF actually advised this themselves.

It is also clear from my own experience that the system is still operating randomly. On the 5th July, I input meter readings as the anniversary of the account was imminent. I also wanted to test the results. I can report that no DD change was generated, which given the balance was correct. However,yesterday, the 16/7, EDf have sent an e mail requesting meter readings!

littlemoney

jalexa wrote: »

I'm slightly confused too. I hope you provided the reading (only) to the gaining supplier (Edf) who send the reading to the losing supplier.

I provided both gas and electricity readings to EDF when requested and have received final bills from my old suppliers.

jalexa wrote: »

Your initial DD should be set according to the annual consumption specified in the switching quote. Has that hapenned?

My Direct Debit was set up based on the previous 12 months consumption specified in the switching quote

jalexa wrote: »

Do you know your annual consumption?

I found out the figures when I was seeking to change and can get them again as I have bills going back more than one year

jalexa wrote: »

Are you registered for Edf Myaccount?

I have registered but for the last two days I have been unable to log in, the page just keeps loading and never succeeds. I dont' know if this is my computer or EDF.

Is anyone else having problems with using EDF Myaccount and can anyone advise who I should contact at EDF about access. I am using firefox and my computer seems to work OK on other web sites.

I will start a spreadsheet and take regular readings but only give them to EDF if asked.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, it's good to have somewhere to go when you are new to switching. I know I should have done it before but I found it rather difficult to grasp but at least with everyones help here I will be able to get through it. I apologise if I ask any more silly questions but if you don't know, you just don't know.

backfoot

littlemoney wrote: »

I have registered but for the last two days I have been unable to log in, the page just keeps loading and never succeeds. I dont' know if this is my computer or EDF.

Is anyone else having problems with using EDF Myaccount and can anyone advise who I should contact at EDF about access. I am using firefox and my computer seems to work OK on other web sites.

I will start a spreadsheet and take regular readings but only give them to EDF if asked.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, it's good to have somewhere to go when you are new to switching. I know I should have done it before but I found it rather difficult to grasp but at least with everyones help here I will be able to get through it. I apologise if I ask any more silly questions but if you don't know, you just don't know.

I have just checked and MyAccount is working and loading correctly.

The questions aren't silly at all and posters are happy to help.:)

Please keep us posted of your experiences,both positive and negative because it keeps the regulars up to date with progress and developments, so that up to date advice can be offered.

victor2

littlemoney wrote: »

Is anyone else having problems with using EDF Myaccount and can anyone advise who I should contact at EDF about access. I am using firefox and my computer seems to work OK on other web sites.

It might be that you've got Javascript disabled in Firefox, which the MyAccount page requires. But I'd expect you to have problems elsewhere too if that was the case.
You probably also have Internet Explorer on the same computer, so try that. If you can, try a different computer too.

If all that fails, then call EDF on their freephone number and somebody should be able to help.