EDF direct debit manipulation

victor2

Just a little update on how EDF have recalculated my DD payments now I've given meter readings as of May 1, with May being my "annual review"...
Their forecasted annual usage is exactly what it was for the last 12 months. My account currently has a £204 debit balance.
My tracking and their cost estimate for the coming 12 months is indicated as £1410.80, which works out at £117.57 per month.
They have adjusted my monthly payments to £126, which consists of £109 for gas/electricity usage and £17 for the debt. So they have under priced the monthly usage and spread the current debit balance over 12 months to theoretically give a zero balance this time next year.
I can live with that as I was planning to make a single payment this month to zero the balance anyway, which I won't bother with now.
Will be interesting to see if they adjust the DD again should I give readings next month....

Wywth

victor2 wrote: »

Just a little update on how EDF have recalculated my DD payments now I've given meter readings as of May 1, with May being my "annual review"...
Their forecasted annual usage is exactly what it was for the last 12 months. My account currently has a £204 debit balance.
My tracking and their cost estimate for the coming 12 months is indicated as £1410.80, which works out at £117.57 per month.
They have adjusted my monthly payments to £126, which consists of £109 for gas/electricity usage and £17 for the debt. So they have under priced the monthly usage and spread the current debit balance over 12 months to theoretically give a zero balance this time next year.
I can live with that as I was planning to make a single payment this month to zero the balance anyway, which I won't bother with now.
Will be interesting to see if they adjust the DD again should I give readings next month....

You shouldn't receive any revision to your DD next month.
My understanding is EDF review the monthly DD payments every 6 months.

livalicious

Hi,

I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I saw EDF increased my monthly DD from £54 to £157!! I know there would be high consumption over the winter months (which ended last week obvs ) but that is a massive jump especially since they say on my EDF account that this will be what my new DD amount will be each month!!! How can that be? I spoke to an advisor and he said I should give monthly readings, which I admit I haven't done, it completely slipped my mind. I just thought I would get monthly or quarterly reminders to my email to give readings, which I haven't, so I just forgot. Silly me, now this bill. Can anyone tell me if this is right, I can understand paying extra for higher usage but not by triple the amount each month!!!

victor2

livalicious wrote: »

Hi,

I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I saw EDF increased my monthly DD from £54 to £157!! I know there would be high consumption over the winter months (which ended last week obvs ) but that is a massive jump especially since they say on my EDF account that this will be what my new DD amount will be each month!!! How can that be? I spoke to an advisor and he said I should give monthly readings, which I admit I haven't done, it completely slipped my mind. I just thought I would get monthly or quarterly reminders to my email to give readings, which I haven't, so I just forgot. Silly me, now this bill. Can anyone tell me if this is right, I can understand paying extra for higher usage but not by triple the amount each month!!!

Were you paying less than your average monthly usage (taken over a year) equates to? If so, you would not only have to pay for the actual usage, but would also have a considerable debit balance to clear. EDF will only generate a bill on the anniversary of your account (or after 6 months in some cases), unless you give more frequent readings. So, you were probably using more than you were paying for over the year and now have to cover the debt. Unfortunate, but it sounds like EDF are just recovering the cost you incurred.

spidereyes

Well I simply do not understand EDF's crazy direct debit estimations!

When I signed up last summer I started on dual fuel DD of £65 a month.
Every month despite being in credit they would increase my DD payments - they ended up raising it to £122 p/m (with £240 credit on account). I ended up making several complaints and each time they blamed it on "system error" and it was each time reverted back to the £65.

I got fed up of this process every month so stopped giving them meter readings last November and its only been updated once since when the meter man came.

They've now "reviewed" the account and reduced my DD to £46 pm, based on my own calculations is way too low even taking into account the credit leftover on the account.

Ive simply no idea how they estimate usage as it doesnt seem to follow any logical reasoning!

victor2

Logic went out of the window a long time ago for EDF.
The best approach with them seems to be to track your annual usage yourself and make sure your monthly payments will cover it over the year. They don't seem to mind if you want to adjust your DD up or down to something reasonable.
Then, as you have found, don't give them readings unless they ask for one or the meter reader turns up.
You end up doing their job for them, but assuming you are on one of their tariffs that currently can't be beaten, a bit of effort saves you money.