EDF - pleasant surprise!

melbury

Just checked my gas bill online as the meter was read a couple of days ago and they are dropping my monthly direct debit for gas from £75 to £56 per month.

Haven't got the electricity one on there yet, but I am expecting that to go up a bit.

So, just goes to show, EDF can do things properly sometimes;)

snowcat53

The fact they have reduced it does not necessarily mean it is right though. Did they give you figures/a detailed calculation showing how they have worked out the new amount ?

melbury

snowcat53 wrote: »

The fact they have reduced it does not necessarily mean it is right though. Did they give you figures/a detailed calculation showing how they have worked out the new amount ?

Yes they did. It will probably end up being increased again over the winter months though.

backfoot

How long have you been a customer of EDF? (on this contract).

Could you provide us with the calculation showing how the reduced amount was derived,please ?

Did you ask for the information or did it accompany the Direct Debit revision?

Many thanks.

melbury

backfoot wrote: »

How long have you been a customer of EDF? (on this contract).

Could you provide us with the calculation showing how the reduced amount was derived,please ?

Did you ask for the information or did it accompany the Direct Debit revision?

Many thanks.

I have been with EDF since last September on their price fix 2014 plan.

The calculation they show on the bill is based on average daily usage and then reduced by the amount still in credit divided by 12.

I didn't ask for the information; the bill consisted of three pages, one of which was the direct debit revision.

All in all I have to say I am quite pleased with EDF so far:)

victor2

melbury wrote: »

I have been with EDF since last September on their price fix 2014 plan.

The calculation they show on the bill is based on average daily usage and then reduced by the amount still in credit divided by 12.

I didn't ask for the information; the bill consisted of three pages, one of which was the direct debit revision.

All in all I have to say I am quite pleased with EDF so far:)

Good for you! That sounds far too logical for EDF though, especially as you haven't even been with them for a full year.
If they've based your average on usage from September to June, it will likely be a little high (even better for you), as your summer usage of gas (i.e. from now until next September) is probably considerably less than your winter usage.
I've been with them just over a year and have stopped giving them readings as they've tried to adjust my DD upwards on every one of the 5 times they've had them, and I've had to phone them to get it put back where it was. What I'm paying works out to be sufficient to do just a bit more than cover my annual usage.
It's worth calculating your own average usage and costing that out to see if their figures are correct.

backfoot

Thank you Melbury.

This is an interesting development in a number of ways. For EDF customers and followers, DD revisions were being made previously without any supporting explanation.

This seems to be first evidence that, perhaps, they have changed their procedures.

Indeed, in direct contradiction, to your experience, EDF actually refused to provide such information to me when it was requested on several occasions.

Finally,their astonishing refusal resulted in them stating this as their deadlock position after the formal complaint was not resolved.

They have argued that such data was not compulsory due to the regulation of SLC31A, suggesting 'bogusly' that such information was not required for customers of less than one year.

Therefore,your evidence turns their defence completely on its head, as they have now supplied it at the time of the change, to a customer of less than a year.

Once we get to this stage, a customer can check out the basis of the calculation. In your case,although you are happy with it, it is flawed due to reasons explained by victor. It also appears that they have effectively brought forward your annual review date by around 3 months. I agree with victor that you may wish to do your own calculation if you have consumption data for the missing three months.

At least two EDF customers are taking out cases with the Energy Ombudsman regarding not being given information.

Would it be possible for you to scan in the details of the bill/DD revision onto the Forum as it could be valuable evidence to present to the EO. Obviously,you would need to remove any identifying detail.

Thanks in anticipation

melbury

I always monitor my usage for gas and electricity anyway, so I am aware of what it is costing per week.

Also, I have never given them a meter reading, I wait until the man calls to read the meter. I had heard so many horror stories to the effect that as soon as you give them a reading your DD shoots up because the computer system assumes that this is your usage all the time.

A useful tip: If you want t speak to them without spending ages on hold, phone first thing in the morning. I phoned them to complain about my last bill when they were trying to put my DD up by an exorbitant amount and got straight through to customers services without any delay - that was about 8.40am.

Have just checked the bills; the information on usage is at the very bottom of page 3, it is in box (quite small). Funnily enough on working them out the electricity is spot on, I multiplied the daily usage by the unit cost, added the standing charge per day and x 365/12 and it came out at exactly the figure they are stating. However, they appear to have under-estimated the gas over the forthcoming year based on their daily usage figure, so have reduced the DD by too much - never mind will catch up at some point.

shortchanged_2

melbury wrote: »

Yes they did. It will probably end up being increased again over the winter months though.

This is right so be careful you are prepared for a large increase over the winter months particularly if we have a very cold one.

The general idea of paying by DD is that you overpay in the summer months to make up for the increased costs over the winter. Doing it that way you can generally keep your monthly cost the same throughout the year. I 've actually found EDF to be a bit of a pain for doing this and I would like the facility to be able to change the level of my DD online instead of waiting for ages on the phone to do it..

Some people don't like this while it suits others. Personally I prefer to keep the monthly costs roughly the same throughout the year, but each to their own.

melbury

shortchanged wrote: »

This is right so be careful you are prepared for a large increase over the winter months particularly if we have a very cold one.

The general idea of paying by DD is that you overpay in the summer months to make up for the increased costs over the winter. Doing it that way you can generally keep your monthly cost the same throughout the year. I 've actually found EDF to be a bit of a pain for doing this and I would like the facility to be able to change the level of my DD online instead of waiting for ages on the phone to do it..

Some people don't like this while it suits others. Personally I prefer to keep the monthly costs roughly the same throughout the year, but each to their own.

When I started with them I had the DD for gas set quite high and we had a new boiler put in last autumn which has probably helped cut usage.

jalexa

backfoot wrote: »

It also appears that they have effectively brought forward your annual review date by around 3 months.

I'm not convinced this is much more than "random" luck. The stated procedure is "we review your monthly payments twice a year, looking at your current balance, and based on previous usage we will estimate the amount of energy we think you’ll use during the year" so this *could* just be the "interim" review. The essential difference between the interim and "annual" review is that the £150 collection/recalculation mechanism does not operated for the interim review.

The Edf DD description includes the weasel words "based on previous usage". For my (our?) period of custom that was annual consumption provided by the previous supplier subsequent to agreement at switch time of the fixed regular DD payment. For my first short year the consumption assumption was excessive and evidently little modified by regular customer readings. Melbury reports "average daily usage" but as Victor point out that is winter consumption not applicable (unless weighted) for the summer period.

I think something may have changed but I will not be convinced until I receive my "annual statement" after 12 months custom. Less than a month now so I am reserving judgement.

While my consumption assumption was little modified by my regular customer reads, on the point of EO referral it was manually set to numbers I provided and insisted on as the calculation basis and the first (and only) subsequent recalculation was correct. I also accepted a settlement on short first year detriment.

With luck I am set until 2014. Unless anybody knows anything to the contrary.