EDF - Parents just £21 in debt - want to increase their DD from £91 to £187!

rachyrach_2

EDF constantly try this tactic to get you to pay them more money. In the past 3 months I've had to phone them twice after they have told me they are increasing my direct debit amount, almost doubling it.

It's ridiculous as I am usually in credit or have a small balance on the account, plus it costs to phone them and I am usually held in a queue for ages before I get to speak to someone. I did try sending them messages from my online account before, but never got any replies so have given up going down that route.

I have found that if you phone EDF and ask why your d/d amount is increasing (usually they say it's because of a 'regular' or 'automatic' review) and then tell them you cannot afford for the payments to go up, then they will change it back to the original amount for you. Obviously you don't want your payment to be so low that you then owe lots at the end of the year, but if you feel they are increasing an already fair amount just for the sake of it, you can ask them to keep it the same.

Someone above mentioned that this is EDF's annual review, however this seems to happen to me every few months, they keep trying it to increase it to some ridiculous amount even when I've actually been in credit!

The other thing I've done before is phoned them to say because they keep trying to increase my d/d amount I want to move from monthly d/d to paying my bills quarterly, this soon makes them decrease your d/d amount as it is easier for them if you pay this way.

I switched to EDF to get a better and cheaper deal for dual fuel, but with the amount of time, money and hassle it has cost me to keep having to phone them to request the d/d changes back, I would rather go somewhere else where they treat their customers a bit more fairly. When my fixed tarriff ends later this year, I will be moving.

I do hope the Ombudsman are investigating.

Ignite

I must be the only one not to have an issue with EDF. I joined them in August and was paying £99 a month. After the first bill they reduced this to £85. I've just had my latest bill and I'm about £20 in credit so they've got this right for once.

victor2

rachyrach wrote: »

It's ridiculous as I am usually in credit or have a small balance on the account, plus it costs to phone them and I am usually held in a queue for ages before I get to speak to someone. I did try sending them messages from my online account before, but never got any replies so have given up going down that route.

It is well known that they do indeed have a ridiculous system of adjusting direct debits.
However, I would point out that it costs nothing but your time to call them as they have a freephone 0800 number. In addition, they have answered the phone very promptly for at least a few months now, as they hired extra customer service staff.
Not the answer to the problem and I will probably be one of the many to leave them at the end of my contract. I went to EDF because they had a very competitive tariff which met my needs. The headache of constantly getting my direct debit put back to what it should be has made me accept that I'll pay a little more for trouble-free billing.

DonnySaver

I constantly have issues with EDF and my direct debits everytime my meter is read. Most times they want to put it up (even when I've been £200 in credit). I've even had an occasion when they've told me they're reducing it to just £1 a month !! Everytime I have to ring them up, sit in the queue, and tell them to leave it exactly as it is. It's SO annoying. I hate EDF with a passion - as soon as my fixed deal is up in October I'm OFF!

jalexa

victor2 wrote: »

The headache of constantly getting my direct debit put back to what it should be has made me accept that I'll pay a little more for trouble-free billing.

That is an interesting point. I've been an advovcate of fixed regular direct debit for service provision but if in energy supply it can mean a "sudden excessive hike" of several hundred pounds at 10 days notice then I may not continue using the DD payment mechanism for energy supply.

Some forum posts on the issue have been really alarming. The most recent one was for nearly £1000:(.

I heard Consumer Focus today. Funny that they choose what and when to speak (when there is some kudos?), but are silent on "sudden excessive hike" syndrome. Just for the record, the "E.ON spring alignmement" issue they passed on to Ofgem is 'spring alignment', not "sudden exessive hike" which can equally occur with 'anniversary' alignment or any 'interim review'. The single most common explanation is supplier failure to accurately operate their own review process.

Why is consumer representation so facile?

victor2

You would think the suppliers could handle the fairly simple concept of spreading the annual cost over 12 months, when it has predictable seasonal variances. E.On seem to have got a grip of it, but try to bias it in their favour. EDF just don't seem to know which way is up.

undaunted

Agree with Norman Castle, ask them to justify it! If they can't tell them to go & take a running jump.

jalexa

victor2 wrote: »

You would think the suppliers could handle the fairly simple concept of spreading the annual cost over 12 months, when it has predictable seasonal variances. E.On seem to have got a grip of it, but try to bias it in their favour. EDF just don't seem to know which way is up.

Have you studied iMeasure? Apparently with weather (temperature) data, annual consumption can be predicted to 10% accuracy with only 2 months worth of records.

victor2

jalexa wrote: »

Have you studied iMeasure? Apparently with weather (temperature) data, annual consumption can be predicted to 10% accuracy with only 2 months worth of records.

Had a quick look at it some time ago, but it needed too much information from me. I already put my daily meter readings into a spreadsheet and have over 2 years of history. A bit sad some may say, but it interests me and I can see what trends my usage follows. Energy demands are so heavily dependant upon the weather that I can make fairly accurate long term predictions based on average usage and past history, but wouldn't like to rely upon the met office for shorter term forecasts.