Challenging EDF bill

Lisa_27

My parents are with EDF and they pay a set DD every month; however I have found they swapped from pre paid meter to DD before they changed to gas central heating.

In the summer their DD was £35 and in Dec it went up to a whopping £81, despite them being £90 in credit at the end of the summer when they received the statement. I understand the bills do go up in the winter due to heating but they do not use electricity for heating so I am guessing they are being massively overcharged.

I am going to get them to contact EDF to grant me permission to deal with their account; however I have never had to do this before myself.

What details do I need so I can proceed with getting the bill checked?
Any tips on what to say to possibly get a lower price? they are living on ESA and DLA.

Wywth

Lisa_27 wrote: »

My parents are with EDF and they pay a set DD every month; however I have found they swapped from pre paid meter to DD before they changed to gas central heating.

In the summer their DD was £35 and in Dec it went up to a whopping £81, despite them being £90 in credit at the end of the summer when they received the statement. I understand the bills do go up in the winter due to heating but they do not use electricity for heating so I am guessing they are being massively overcharged.

I am going to get them to contact EDF to grant me permission to deal with their account; however I have never had to do this before myself.

What details do I need so I can proceed with getting the bill checked?
Any tips on what to say to possibly get a lower price? they are living on ESA and DLA.

No need to guess, just take a look at the electricity statement

If your parents have an online account with EDF, they can input a meter reading and get an immediate update of their account balance

They may wish to do a comparison to see if they can get cheaper energy on another tariff or with another supplier
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

but chances are if they have an EDF Blue tariff from last summer, then there will be nothing currently available that can beat it.

Voyager2002

You need some meter readings, so you can see how much they use each month. Above all, read the meter now so that you can demonstrate what they have used over winter. Then explain that since they are now using gas for heating, they will use roughly as much electricity in winter as in summer, so there is no need to pay now to cover the winter bill.

dogshome

"...before they changed to Gas Central heating " ?
Were they an all electric house before the change to Gas CH ?

If so it's likely that their Elec supply was through an ECO7 meter with Day and Night tariffs, and unless the ECO7 meter has been swapped for a Standard one or EDF have agreed to charge Standard Elec meter rates, your parents are not getting the benifit of ECO7's cheap Night rates, but will be paying it's very high Day rates

Look at a recent bill - If it quotes Day & Night tariffs, your first step is either get the meter changed or have EDF agree to chargeing Standard meter rates
by adding the ECO7's Day & Night consumptions together

macman

Do not EDF require a meter change to do this (which would be chargeable-though still worthwhile)?

Fire_Fox

Lisa_27 wrote: »

My parents are with EDF and they pay a set DD every month; however I have found they swapped from pre paid meter to DD before they changed to gas central heating.

In the summer their DD was £35 and in Dec it went up to a whopping £81, despite them being £90 in credit at the end of the summer when they received the statement. I understand the bills do go up in the winter due to heating but they do not use electricity for heating so I am guessing they are being massively overcharged.

I am going to get them to contact EDF to grant me permission to deal with their account; however I have never had to do this before myself.

What details do I need so I can proceed with getting the bill checked?
Any tips on what to say to possibly get a lower price? they are living on ESA and DLA.

Check the bills are based on actual incoming and outgoing readings, not estimates. If they are based on estimates the 'credit' is likely not real, they have been underpaying for some time.

If £35 a month is for both electric and gas it was never going to cover year round usage, it's too low. Bills should not increase substantially in the winter unless prices per unit go up, DDs are supposed to put you in credit in the summer to partially cover the winter use.

If they want to pay less they need to ensure they are on the correct tariff and then use less energy - insulate the property, shorter showers, dry laundry outdoors not in a tumble dryer, turn the heating down a little, wear more clothing, electric underblanket on the bed and overblanket on the sofa.

Wywth

macman wrote: »

Do not EDF require a meter change to do this (which would be chargeable-though still worthwhile)?

Indeed they would, but I don't think EDF charge for such a meter change

However... such a change would mean the OP's parents possibly losing out on the deal they agreed to last summer.

e.g. for the Eastern Region

EDF Energy - Blue +Price Promise April 2014 (available last summer)

Economy 7 tariff:
Daily standing charge: 18.90p
Day Rate: 12.338p / kWh
Low Rate: 6.405p / kWh

EDF Energy - Blue +Price Promise June 2014 (available today)

Single rate tariff:
Daily standing charge: 18.90p
Unit Rate: 12.537p / kWh



All above prices include VAT but exclude applicable discounts (which remained the same)

Lisa_27

Sorry for the delay, I have been tied up with appointments all day but I will try and answer all questions now.

I will look for the statement received late last year and check the details on there, they don't have an online account but I can set that up for them.

EDF are only charging for Electric as gas is not mains gas so EDF have nothing to do with gas. No tumble dryer used and it is just cooking and lighting etc.

The were an all Electric house prior the gas central heating.

Lisa_27

Update**

Last bill was 26/03/12 to 16/10/12
Charge = £201
£91 credit

Just submitted a meter reading online but the only information it is giving me is account balance £198

Is this balance from the 16/10/12?
If so since 01/11/2012 they have paid a total of £278.

Lisa_27

Received this email in reply -

Thank you for your email dated 21 February 2013



I have checked your account and you will receive a bill shortly through the post detailing the meter read which you have provided for your Electricity.



I can advise at the moment there is currently £198.29 outstanding on your account so I would not suggest that your Direct Debit is amended.



When you receive your statement please feel free to contact us if you have any further enquiries.

No mention of a refund or anything? where do we go from here? £198 outstanding but £243 paid so far.

If they are planning on keeping it at £81 a month it would be cheaper to go back to prepaid as that was £80 a month with electric central heating.

jalexa

Lisa_27 wrote: »

If they are planning on keeping it at £81 a month it would be cheaper to go back to prepaid as that was £80 a month with electric central heating.

It is never cheaper to be on pre-pay and you should be using significantly less electric now you have gas heating. In saying that I am assuming that the householder has switched off unnecessary electric heating, including water heating.

You need to understand that accurate billing is a different issue than accurate DD setting. For starters you need to scrutinise the bill for accuracy, specifically that your customer readings are recorded as you submitted them and that all payments made are recorded. I suspect use of an estimate or a reading error.

A debit balance of £198 having had payments increased to £81 for several months after a credit balance does not seem right. By now the bill may be accessible online.