Challenging EDF bill

victor2

Lisa_27 wrote: »

Fingers crossed, they said they will look at it within 24 hours so will see what happens. I have set them up an online account, how often is it best to submit readings to avoid these issues in future.

Hopefully they will sort it out for you.
Ideally, you could submit readings once a month to keep on top of everything. But in the case of EDF, they have always recalculated the DD amount when they get a reading, and always increased it unnecessarily upwards in my case. They acknowledged the problem last year and said it would be fixed in the new year. Since we're well into the New Year now, it should be fixed. :rotfl:
The theory is that they will only recalculate the DD on your annual review, I might test that next month, but I've stopped giving them monthly readings as I track my usage myself and make sure my monthly paymernts will cover it.

Ecodave

I give edf readings every quarter, but like victor, I think taking the readings yourself more regularly is the right approach. No need to get carried away, once a month is probably about right, unless something significant changes.

jalexa

Lisa_27 wrote: »

no mention of changing the DD but I assume this will be done automatically with the new calculations?

Maybe but don't bank on it. Ideally the DD should by 1/12 of annual cost. You are entitled to ask for a credit balance to be refunded (in whole or in part) at any time. The supplier *must* agree or explain why not.

There is another issue to address. If electric space and water heating has been discontinued there is little benefit in continuing with E7. Ask to be switched to a single rate tariff. Some suppliers aggregate the registers, other suppliers replace the meter. Will be worth that even if there is a charge.

Keep on top of Edf until you are 100% satisfied. The billing error you have experienced is not uncommon (and not unique to Edf).

Lisa_27

jalexa wrote: »

Maybe but don't bank on it. Ideally the DD should by 1/12 of annual cost. You are entitled to ask for a credit balance to be refunded (in whole or in part) at any time. The supplier *must* agree or explain why not.

There is another issue to address. If electric space and water heating has been discontinued there is little benefit in continuing with E7. Ask to be switched to a single rate tariff. Some suppliers aggregate the registers, other suppliers replace the meter. Will be worth that even if there is a charge.

Keep on top of Edf until you are 100% satisfied. The billing error you have experienced is not uncommon (and not unique to Edf).

How is best to calculate what the annual cost should be? to ensure they are charging correctly, if they don't refund I assume they will take it off DD monthly which is OK as long as they do this correctly as the rent has gone up so any taken off the monthly DD will cover the rent increase to certain extent.

victor2

They should take your anticipated annual usage, price it at the tariff you're on and aim to have a zero account balance at the time of your annual review - usually the anniversary of when you joined them.
The figures may be shown on the last bill, but probably easier to talk to customer services and see what they say - it will have to be the account holder who initiates the call though. You need to find out the annual review date and using the last 12 month's usage should be a pointer to what is expected.
Ask customer services to work it out and explain what usage they have used. In my experience they are helpful even if they blame the "system" for things that don't add up.
They have the ability to change the DD amount to something more realistic if necessary.

Lisa_27

I think the review date is 26th March as that is when the first bill is dated from.

Looked at the online bill today and is showing £223 in credit but nobody has amended the DD to the more realistic amount, they still plan on taking £81 on 1/3 :mad:

So if I do not get any joy with them updating the DD I will ask for a refund of the credit amount to cover the bills until I can get it sorted. The amount spent since 17/10 is £147 which works out at approx £36 a month, so currently they are charging £45 too much per month.

victor2

Don't wait for them to tell you you are paying too much and reduce the DD - it won't happen.
The review date is coming up, so it might be worth holding out until then and seeing what they do. They told me that they look for a zero balance on review date, so give them a reading just before it's due. They should either reduce your DD because of the credit you have, or reimburse you and still reduce the DD, assuming it is more than your annual usage would cost at the current rate.
Either way, you'll almost certainly have to contact customer services to sort it out - they are very helpful on the phone and it's a free call.

Lisa_27

I have nobody who can grant permission to talk to them so I am using live chat.

Stupid woman has looked at the bill of £147 over 4 months and insists if I reduce the DD to £36.75 I may end up in debt and they can not refund the credit amount as I may end up in debt. :mad:

I have given her the calculations £147 x 3 = £441 per year, over 12 months is £36.75. Without taking in account the credit amount.

The woman insists the amount should be £67 a month, so unless I am missing something?

also refusing to refund my credit amount as it can be used if the account goes into debit.

victor2

You can't take a fraction of a year and assume it represents the annual usage, as a shorter period won't take into account the seasons. Certainly if it was the last 4 months then winter usage is typically higher than summer. Having said that though, you have said heating is by a different means, so the seasonal variance won't be so noticeable.

Ask them exactly how they've deduced that your payment should be £67, in particular how many kWh per year they are assuming you will use. If you have a credit balance of more than £150, they should pay it back to you. This is from their own website at http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/direct-debit/direct-debit-existing-direct-debit-customers.shtml (I've highlighted the credit bit).

If your balance gets too big, we’ll need to clear it. At your yearly review, if you end up owing us more than £150, we’ll ask your bank or building society for it so that your debt doesn’t get too large. (We will, of course, let you know before we do that.) And if you’ve got a credit balance of more than £150, we’ll pay that back to you automatically.

Edit:
Keep copies of the live chat conversations.
Even though you are obviously concerned about the money, you have to think in kWh then cost it accordingly.

Lisa_27

victor2 wrote: »

You can't take a fraction of a year and assume it represents the annual usage, as a shorter period won't take into account the seasons. Certainly if it was the last 4 months then winter usage is typically higher than summer. Having said that though, you have said heating is by a different means, so the seasonal variance won't be so noticeable.

Ask them exactly how they've deduced that your payment should be £67, in particular how many kWh per year they are assuming you will use. If you have a credit balance of more than £150, they should pay it back to you. This is from their own website at http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/direct-debit/direct-debit-existing-direct-debit-customers.shtml (I've highlighted the credit bit).

Started a new thread regarding the credit amount as it is a different issue.

As heating is by lpg gas the amount used through the year should remain roughly the same (water is heated by gas too, shower is electric) The amount used over last summer was only slightly less than the last few months but even then the account ended up in credit.

I'd expect an increase if heating was Electric but with my Mums bad eyesight lighting is used during the day in the summer too.