Backbilling question - do i qualify

Wywth

moneysavingmatt wrote: »

I was. But wether I was paying cash on delivery or direct debit I should be getting a bill at least every twelve months. Correct?

You should be being billed every 12 months, but the fact you were not does not mean you get the energy supplied over 12 months ago for free.

As you wrote:

moneysavingmatt wrote: »

Now i'm questioning my sanity..

I've read this:

"Under the Code, from 1 July 2007, where the suppliers are at fault in not billing a domestic
customer, they will not send a bill which includes unbilled energy consumed more than 1 year
previous to the bill being issued.
This clause confirms the suppliers’ commitment to bill customers regularly and accurately, and
imposes limitations on the circumstances where customers can be billed for previously unbilled
energy that is more than 12 months old. Where suppliers issue a bill which has these principles
applied, they will credit the account with the value of the unbilled energy consumed over
12 months ago, taking into consideration any payments already made by the customer or credits
applied to the account, so that the customer is not required to pay any additional sums towards
this previously unbilled energy consumption."

Yet I am to accept that It took 20 months to receive a bill?

My highlighting of the effective clause.

moneysavingmatt

Wywth wrote: »

You should be being billed every 12 months, but the fact you were not does not mean you get the energy supplied over 12 months ago for free.

As you wrote:



My highlighting of the effective clause.

So basically if I was paying for the bill on receipt I could have applied the code but because dd I cant?

Wywth

moneysavingmatt wrote: »

So basically if I was paying for the bill on receipt I could have applied the code but because dd I cant?

The code applies in all instances, i.e. you will not have to pay any additional sums towards previously unbilled energy consumption.

But if you have already paid some or all of the amount of energy you consumed, you cannot reclaim it just because the supplier hadn't billed you.

HappyMJ

moneysavingmatt wrote: »

So basically if I was paying for the bill on receipt I could have applied the code but because dd I cant?

You can still apply the code but there would have had to have been a very big mistake such as them setting the direct debit to £10 a month when it should have been £100 a month based on the usage that you provided when you joined.

moneysavingmatt

Well the actual cost of electricity was £187 more than what was actually in my account. Can I push for this to be absorbed. J

HappyMJ

moneysavingmatt wrote: »

Well the actual cost of electricity was £187 more than what was actually in my account. Can I push for this to be absorbed. J

At most you could get back the unbilled excess over 12 months ago. So £187 divide by 20 then multiply by 8. A possible credit of £75. It depends on exactly when they read the meters and when they recalculated the direct debit. Did they ever attempt to read the meter over the last 20 months? As you failed to provide a meter reading in April I would find it unlikely.

Wywth

moneysavingmatt wrote: »

Well the actual cost of electricity was £187 more than what was actually in my account. Can I push for this to be absorbed. J

Yes you can ask that the code is applied so that you do not have to pay any additional sums for a period in excess of 12 months that you were not billed.

Did EDF not even provide any estmated bills during this period?
Have you evidence that you asked for a bill (and provided a meter reading if required) at the time?

moneysavingmatt

HappyMJ wrote: »

At most you could get back the unbilled excess over 12 months ago. So £187 divide by 20 then multiply by 8. A possible credit of £75. It depends on exactly when they read the meters and when they recalculated the direct debit. Did they ever attempt to read the meter over the last 20 months?

Never read the meter until Monday. Only ever received one email in April to submit a reading and their site crashed out at every attempt. DD was recalculated last month when they were putting up their prices.

moneysavingmatt

Wywth wrote: »

Yes you can ask that the code is applied so that you do not have to pay any additional sums for a period in excess of 12 months that you were not billed.

Did EDF not even provide any estmated bills during this period?
Have you evidence that you asked for a bill (and provided a meter reading if required) at the time?

Have all the emails and dates of phone calls with reference numbers. I am not generally trying to get a freebie and have money to pay it I'm just very anal about budgeting and my complaint to edf has been I have no visibility of my useage. My online account only shows one bill since account was. Created.

jalexa

Wywth wrote: »

My highlighting of the effective clause.

No you didn't highlight the "effective clause", you highlighted the "Background Guidance". The effective clause is much simpler thus...

5.1 If your supplier is at fault, they will not seek additional payment for unbilled energy accrued more than one year prior to the bill being issued.

I was quite surprised at your (repeated in several posts) interpretation starting with the unqualified "no, because you were paying EDF by direct debit" if only because it is not an interpretation I had previously considered.

On reflection I can see that the "effective clause" includes the weasel-word "additional" which the "Background Guidance" goes on to amplify without (IMO) any sound grounds. IMO the problem with your interpretation is that it allocates the customer credits first to the oldest unbilled energy when I believe it would be allocated first to the most recent billed (or unbilled) energy, bearing in mind that there is always liability to pay the most recent 12 months of energy consumed.

In practice, and in most cases, it is likely that all unbilled energy supplied more than 12 months prior would be subject to back-billing relief. Anyway it is up to the supplier to propose a remedy, subject always to challenge via the complaints process and potentially through Energy Ombudsman referral.

BTW I haven't (yet) formed an opinion on the OP's case.