EDF estimated my usage before price increase

jaseuk

Hi,

Has anyone else with EDF had their meter reading estimated before they put up their prices last year? I received an unsually high bill yesterday at £625 for Oct to Jan :eek:. I had to actually ring them up too and let them know we hadn't had it as we were meant to get the bill in Jan, but a month later it still hadn't turned up so thought I'd better call as I didn't want a bill for 6 months turning up in April! So then they generated it and today the detailed PDF is available in our account area online. We're on a split rate, but to use the day rate as an example I see that they have estimated the reading for 05/10/2011 to 09/11/2011 as 974 units at 14.69p and then 10/11/2011 to 10/01/2012 as 2474 units at 15.24p. So anyway I think 974 units is actually lower than what we used, so part of the 2474 units should have been charged at the cheaper rate! Trouble is neither me or EDF know the actual reading so I've been overcharged! :mad:

I called them up, at first I was told basically there's nothing they or I could do about it and asked if I wanted to speak to customer services so I did. Customer services then went through in detail how they'd billed me and I told him I know how you've billed me, but it still doesn't answer the question why you estimated my usage to be much lower before the price increase therefore overcharging me. Apologies etc later and so anyway again the conclusion was there was nothing that could be done so I asked to speak to a manager. I waited a while and the same guy came back. He told me he'd spoken to a colleague and he said that they could re-estimate my usage and went off and did some calculations. He said with the new estimate it reduces your bill by £23, as a good will gesture we can credit your account with £25. So there's me thinking ok, saving £48 not bad, but it was either or. So in the end I accepted the £25 good will offer, but I'm still :mad: I don't suppose anything else can be done about it?

TIA,

Jason

jalexa

jaseuk wrote: »

I don't suppose anything else can be done about it?

Not now that you have accepted the goodwill offer:D. Case closed, no point in doing the calculations.

alleycat`

I would imagine, and i'm loathe to defend the suppliers, that most people use more gas and electric in the winter / colder months.

So on that basis I'd expect the estimate to be higher (in unit terms) on the more expensive rate.

They, EDF, should, be able to show that historically that the estimation is based on an average daily consumption for that time frame (based on your historical patterns of usage)
Or
If you are a new(ish) customer of theirs it is the average for a customer in a house like yours on a day per day (unit consumption) basis.

Your best defence is probably looking at your own historical bills to see if they have "got it wrong".
You'd need to use the last known "true reading" in the time frame and work out your average daily usage from there.
Even if your old bills are not from EDF i'd assume they would be a valid reference point if you can show historical / consistent behaviour.

Finally, and you might not like me saying this, part of the fault is your own for not supplying a reading when they informed you of the rise in prices.

I'd suggest starting with looking at historical behaviour and see if the average day consumption looks "fair".

Edit: I missed the acceptance of a goodwill payment.
On that basis you've probably stuffed yourself (depending on the language used).

spiro

Given that all suppliers announce price changes you could have submitted a meter reading on or around that date so they did not have to use an estimate - lesson for next time.

jaseuk

That's what I figured haha but worth a try!

jaseuk

Oh well! We've been with them for a few years, but last year we had a baby and we stopped using our Rayburn as the oil is so expensive now so we've been using more electric so I guess that's where their estimation went wrong but still I don't think it's right to estimate the day before the price increase. They should have requested a meter reading either from the customer or by an EDF guy reading it.

spiro

jaseuk wrote: »

or by an EDF guy reading it.

Read 100,000-200,000-300,000-500,000 meters on one day, I think not and why should they because it just pushes costs up as they are only required to read every 2 years.

jalexa

jaseuk wrote: »

We're on a split rate, but to use the day rate as an example I see that they have estimated the reading for 05/10/2011 to 09/11/2011 as 974 units at 14.69p and then 10/11/2011 to 10/01/2012 as 2474 units at 15.24p. So anyway I think 974 units is actually lower than what we used, so part of the 2474 units should have been charged at the cheaper rate!

As you say that's your day rate. How was the consumption apportioned across the price increase on the off-peak rate? I would have expected that to be more "wrong" in your eyes due to more pronounced seasonal weighting.