The edf DD lottery

bondy01

As an unpaid meter reader I sent them my readings the other day. I'm , lets call it £74 in credit after getting the bill. If I use the same in the next 12 months it will cost £1176. So how much should the DD be? I would guess at (1176-74)/12 which when I went to school was around £92. So what do you think edf want? The answer is £113. Can anyone explain how they have worked that out. Yes I will be attempting to call them after the switch to Blue+ 2014 goes through so the DD should be even less as I am on the standard rate since my fix ended some months ago.

backfoot

If they are changing a DD then they should have explained it to you.You shouldn't have to chase that explanation.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/FactSheets/Documents1/directdebitleaflet.pdf

Ask them what makes them feel they are exempt from the Regulations clearly explained above and the License Conditions (SLC27) from where these guidelines arise.

bondy01

They do backfoot. "We calculate your monthly payments using your current balance and what we expect you to use; we'll then divide this into equal payments" Obviously not by 12 though which is the bit I don't understand. Current dd is/was £82.

victor2

If the £1176 is the cost of your annual kWh usage at the new tariff rates, then your arithmetic looks fine. In my experience, phoning them up and explaining that gets a good response and they adjust the DD accordingly. Their present system does seem to adjust the DD if you give them a reading though, so the easy way out of that is not to.
There were some reports that it had changed, so after months of not giving readings, I gave them one one this month and my DD was adjusted (always upwards for some reason). One phone call got an apology and the DD back to where it had been, which was also more than sufficient to cover my annual usage.
They will not explain (possibly they don't even know) how it is calculated, but do readily accept it is screwed up.

bondy01

Cheers Victor , I will be calling them. Anyway I think I know how they calculate the dd amount. There are 9.75 months in a year!

victor2

bondy01 wrote: »

There are 9.75 months in a year!

Could well be on planet eDF.
Makes as much sense as any other theory I've had for their calculation. :rotfl:

jalexa

bondy01 wrote: »

"We calculate your monthly payments using your current balance and what we expect you to use; we'll then divide this into equal payments" Obviously not by 12 though which is the bit I don't understand.

As backfoot explained the supplier should explain the calculation. Clearly as you don't understand (the divide by 12 bit) Edf are not clearly explaining, which is the regulatory requirement.

First of all Edf don't operate a rolling 12 month calculation (unlike the system that the Scottish Power rep claims for Scottish Power), but a fixed 'annual review' date. So the divide by number is the number of payments to the next 'annual review'. The "we calculate your monthly payments using your current balance and what we expect you to use..." taken literally is IMO patent nonsense.

Regarding "what we expect you to use", this is your 'projected annual consumption' in kWhrs converted to a cost at the current tariff rates. For second year customers this appears on your 'annual statement', for "less than 12 months" customers Edf appear unable or unwilling to disclose the projection.

This is just my speculation but I believe the "formula" is similar to projected annual cost less payments made to date, less the fully billed account balance, all divided by the number of payments to the next 'annual review'.

As victor2 suggests, work out your own monthly payment and ask the adviser (nicely) to set your calculated monthly payment.

backfoot

bondy01 wrote: »

They do backfoot. "We calculate your monthly payments using your current balance and what we expect you to use; we'll then divide this into equal payments" Obviously not by 12 though which is the bit I don't understand. Current dd is/was £82.

I would call that a generic description of their process.

The missing detail is the ' what we expect you to use' in Kwh and, as you say, the dividing amount.

Otherwise it is just numbers plucked from the air which you are unable to verify or even consider.

I call an explanation something that makes sense of the issue for you. The Regulations and Ofgem's leaflet require an explanation. I was trying to give something which should force them to help you.

carlhenry

I have a problem with my meter it is an AMPY 2005 digital, I have a 1kw PV system my meter does not appear to allow excess power to the grid (not Bi directional) The house in the morning only uses about 90 watts of power but if it is a sunny day the PV generates more than what is being consumed, the meter cannot go backwards and the excess will not flow back through meter to the grid so it becomes a load.
On a really sunny day my usage increases by about 400watts even though I am only using 90 watts.
I found this out becouse i bought a energy monitor and could not understand what was being turned on in the house to increase the monitor usage until i realised it is the PV as it gets warmer my usage goes UP and not DOWN.

victor2

carlhenry wrote: »

I have a problem with my meter it is an AMPY 2005 digital...

Start a new thread with this topic, it is unlikely to get seen or answered here.