EDF - Setting up direct debit - what's reasonable???

bevally

Thanks for reading!

Moved in to a new house last July that had prepay meters, we got these switched to standard ones & this was eventually sorted by Nov/Dec. Both gas & elec with EDF.

We've just had our first bill for both & i ideally want to set up future payment by direct debit, so was looking for some advice on what would be a reasonable monthly figure as the gas bill covers Dec-March, so obviously the coldest part of the year and not representative of the rest of the year.

Have read lots of threads on here about rediculously high DD's being set & obviously want to avoid this. Having only had the meters since Nov have no 'previous years' figures to go by.

Info from bills -
Gas - billing date 7Dec to 5 March £249.83; average daily usage 64.05kWh per day.
Electricity - billing date 15 Nov to 05 March £132.70; average daily usage 7.96 kWh per day.
Both are calculated using accurate reads.

Any advice gratefully recieved. Was also previously used to reading meters monthly & submitting reads regularly to ensure accurate bills but have heard EDF struggles to cope with this & it tends to increase your DD's - any thoughts????

Many thanks for any help

dogshome

With such a short period of billing to go on it's all got to be guesswork
GAS
Your £249 bill covers just over half of a Winters billing, so doubling it up should cover the entire winter at a cost of £498
The rule of thumb is that in Summer your gas use will be only 20% of that in Winter, say £100 - TOTAL for year, say £600 for 15,000 Kwh

ELEC
The rule of thumb is that your Elec billing in Summer will be only 20% less than that in Winter, so:
Doubleing up your winter bill so far gives an entire Winter cost of £265, less 20% for Summer, (£212), TOTAL for year £477 for 3,700 Kwh

bevally

Thanks for the reply Dogshome!

I obviously knew that my gas usage would not be the same all year round but had no idea what was considered to be 'normal' change for summer usage, so many thanks for that info.

Would people consider my usage to be 'average'???

Have always been fairly 'MSE' but this is an area that i'm probably not so good at & i want to change this!!!

Once again, thanks for any advice/help :beer:

lithopsian

I would estimate 70-80 pounds as a good starting point for your direct debit. You will certainly build up a credit balance over the summer which will decrease over winter. If it decreases into a debit by next spring then your direct debit payment will be increased. If you are the sort of person that panics about such things, then you could set your payment at say 90 pounds and be fairly confident that at worst you'll have only a very small debit at the end of winter. EDF will probably have an estimate based on the property size, location, and perhaps similar properties in your area, but don't feel forced to accept their first guess.

What is average depends on information you haven't supplied. Your consumption appears a little below the national average for all households, but could be either high or low for a household of your type.

bevally

Thanks Lithopsian, from Dogshomes post i'd figured around £80 per month would be reasonable.

I realised my 'average' question earlier was a little tricky to answer with no further info but had posted & had to run out the door so no time to add the info!
House is a 1930's 3 bed semi; gas central heating; electric oven with gas hob. 2 young children & home (although in & out) every day. Tv on lots (unfortunately) i am strict with turning it off when not in use, same for other things & lights. Washing machine on daily, but no dishwasher (yet... on the wanted list!). Some loft insulation, boiler approx 3 yrs old (combi); part double glazed.

Thanks again for your time :beer:

suesiq

Hi - my advice would be beware EDF when they recalculate your direct debit - which they will.
I had been with them for 16 weeks (since October when I got my first bill). They recalculated my direct debit and doubled the original amount. When I checked this out, not only had they set me up on the wrong (more expensive)tariff in the first place, they also routinely use your first bill to calculate the rest of the year. As my first bill was the heaviest winter quarter, they calculated I would use the same amount for the rest of the year!
I asked why they do this as it clearly does not make sense, but they had no answer, just that they would reduce the direct debit back to what I had originally agreed.!

bevally

Thanks for the warning suesiq, will watch out for this!