EDF - Automatic Credit refund

cairn809

I have discovered I am currently in credit with my gas and electricity account, to the sum of £399. My account is with EDF and I pay by Direct Debit on a monthly basis. "My Yearly Review" by EDF happened in February and it showed a account balance of £297 in credit. I phoned them up yesterday (10th April), as I am aware of their "promise" of immediately refunding any account that is in credit to a sum of £150 or more, to the customer's bank account. So I assumed that I would be able to request the £297 as stated on my Yearly Review Bill. I was told that I would not get the £297 back , as they needed to have the most reccent meter readings (10th April) so they could calculate the new account balance.

Since my "Yearly Review" EDF has changed my DD from £75 per month down to £51 to take in to account my lower usage. Since that review, I have paid 2 monthly DD payments of £51.

I gave them the meter readings for both gas and electricity and they said I was now only had £174 in credit on my account. They are saying I have used £110 in gas since the start of Feb. I was out of the country for a week in March and I reduced my heating during this time. The new bill arrived this morning (11th April) and still they haven't automatically/immediately refunded me the £174 credit.

I am confused as to why they deducted the cost of the gas and electricity from the amount they said I had in credit from essentially a different bill period (March 2011 - Feb 2012). As I understand the idea of DD monthly instalments is to allow for fluctuations in usage throughout the year.

Any help/advice would be gratefully received.

jalexa

cairn809 wrote: »

"My Yearly Review" by EDF happened in February and it showed a account balance of £297 in credit.

Any help/advice would be gratefully received.

Did you get email or letter notification of the 'annual review' billing window? Did you provide customer readings within the billing window?

What to do next depends on the answers.

Welcome to the forum BTW.

dogshome

I'm afraid that you cannot trust EDF's 'Annual Review' figures for many reasons, only one of which is that it may well have been based on Estimated readings

However your new bill based on your Actual Readings is a different story, and the lower credit value is probably due to earlier Estimated Readings which have been corrected by a true meter reading.

However, for you to have built up a Credit of £174 at this time of year when you were paying £900 a year in D/D's, shows that your D/D's were set £14.50 a month too high - The correct figure should be, say £61
If you allow EDF to change the D/D to £57 you will have a debt of £60 at this time next year.

In the end the best solution is to go thro' the years bills and establish for yourself what your true annual consumptions of Gas and Elec Kwh actually are, then apply these to your tariff for the true cost - Armed with these figures you can argue with EDF from a position of strength

cairn809

Thanks for the replies.

The last meter reading before the "Yearly Review" were on actual readings.

EDF do adjust my DD's at least once more during the year or have done in the past, so I am not been in debit with them before.

jalexa

cairn809 wrote: »

The last meter reading before the "Yearly Review" were on actual readings.

You need to answer the exact question I asked.

cairn809

I get an email telling me when a bill is ready and also telling me of the "Yearly Review"

The "Yearly Billing Review" takes place every Feb. During the period March 2011-Feb 2012, I did give at least one set of customer readings, but had at least 4-5 sets of readings done by a bloke who came to read them. The very last set of meter readings in Jan/Feb 2012 were done by a bloke who came to read the meters. So the readings were as accurate as they possibly could be, before the "Yearly Review" and the readings had an "A" next to the readings on the bill.

Back in Nov 2011, I phoned EDF up to ask about the refund as I was in credit then, but they suggested to wait until the "Yearly Review" after the winter months, as my usage would probably go up and it would be a better time to ask for any credit to be refunded.

jalexa

cairn809 wrote: »

I get an email telling me ... of the "Yearly Review"

...The very last set of meter readings in Jan/Feb 2012 were done by a bloke who came to read the meters. So the readings were as accurate as they possibly could be, before the "Yearly Review"...

The reason for asking a very precise question is so that you have stronger grounds for complaining that Edf did not stick to their own rules.

I don't know what your email says but mine says this...

"We want to make sure your Direct Debit payment is set at the right amount for the coming year. ... we are now asking you for your Gas and Electricity meter reading(s).... You can submit your meter reading(s) online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week using your secure online service ... or call our free meter reading service ...

...As long as we receive a valid reading(s) by <your review date>, we will use this with your readings for the last year and other information about your property to forecast your next year’s usage. We’ll then work out how much this will cost and divide it into equal monthly payments to make sure you are paying the right amount for your energy, so that you do not build up unnecessary credit or owe us
money"

I think you are saying the email asked you to take readings but you didn't bother:(. OK, not fatal but you are now on the back foot.

I'll edit in notes about credit refund later.

cairn809

My email would say this:

"Subject: EDF Energy: Your gas meter reading is now due


=====================================================================

EDF ENERGY
Gas account number: ***************

Your gas meter reading is now due

======================================================================

It’s time to send us your latest gas meter reading(s). This is
to help make sure you’re only charged for the energy you actually use.

Please submit your gas readings within the next 7 days by
clicking on the link below (or pasting it into your browser)

*relevant web link*

---

What happens once you’ve sent us your reading(s)?

---

One of two processes will be followed:

For a valid gas reading:
We'll send you a bill using the reading(s) you've just provided


For an invalid gas reading:
Sorry, we'll need a bit more information to process your reading.
We’ll call you shortly to explain what we need."

jalexa

cairn809 wrote: »

Study this link....

http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/direct-debit/direct-debit-existing-direct-debit-customers.shtml

If you do not think they complied with the "automatic refund" you need to raise that issue with Edf. Stick to that issue only.

If you are not 100% satisfied with the response escalate the issue as a formal complaint alleging their non-compliance with their own published process. The Edf complaints procedure is quite easily found online. If they have not addressed the issue after 8 weeks you can then approach the Energy Ombudsman.

cairn809

Many thanks.

It is the issue of the refund that has started this all off. I just want my money back and not in their bank account making them interest.