EDF Increased DD

zulubabe

I have been paying £81 a month direct debit which INCLUDES a £21 a month installment plan with EDF. I was informed by EDF on my latest bill that my direct debit would be increasing from £81 a month to £94 a month. In the breakdown it included a line "£25.00 for your gas debt" which I assumed was my installment plan (after all my installment plan was included in the £81 a month so surely it would be included in the £94 month I was now supposed to pay?)

I've checked my bank account today to find out that I've been charged £115. I called up EDF & they said the extra £21 is my installment plan. I'm not sure there is anything that I can do but if there is please let me know. Although £21 a month might not seem like much to most people to me it is. Thanks

Nada666

If there are any charges to your bank accounts for missed payments and the wording was definitely not clear then you can claim the debit back under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

However you do not mention this so that is probably not necessary (though you are £21 short for a while.). What you have to determine is whether or not the new payment is reasonable.

It seems your ongoing usage payment is going up from £60 to £96 and your debt portion is £21.

What was your usage over the last twelve months? Is £96 a reasonable amount to pay for it? Is there a catch-up payment in the extra £36 that is not incuded in the already arranged £21 payment? Or has your debt payment gone up by £4 to recover an additional underpayment or is that a change in repayment rate?

Anyway, the first thing to determine is what is the cost of your current usage - once you have that baseline you can investigate whether or not the new payment is reasonable.

zulubabe

I worked out the usage for my past year

Electricity: 2045 kWh at a current cost of £0.1351 per kwh = £276.2795
Standing Charge: 365 days at £0.18 = 65.7
Total Cost: 341.9795

Gas: 12751 kWh at a current cost of £0.04042 per kwh = £515.39542
Standing Charge: 365 days @ £0.25 = 91.25
Total Cost: £606.64542

Gross Cost: 948.63 / 12 = £79.05 per month

I haven't included the VAT as this is more than covered by my DD & Double Fuel Discount. So I'm not sure if £96 per month is a reasonable amount?

NigeWick

EDF sent me a letter saying they were increasing my DD. I phoned them up (using say no to 0870) and pointed out that even in the depths of winter my usage did not come to that amount. I then told the rep that I submit readings every month and pay any excess. He agreed with me and put the DD back down to the original.

Nada666

So by your estimate you were using £79 per month but only paying £60 per month. Plus £21 for previous arrears. That means they are asking for an extra £15 per month to claw back an underpayment of £19 per month. Seems not unreasonable.

Fire_Fox

zulubabe wrote: »

I worked out the usage for my past year

Electricity: 2045 kWh at a current cost of £0.1351 per kwh = £276.2795
Standing Charge: 365 days at £0.18 = 65.7
Total Cost: 341.9795

Gas: 12751 kWh at a current cost of £0.04042 per kwh = £515.39542
Standing Charge: 365 days @ £0.25 = 91.25
Total Cost: £606.64542

Gross Cost: 948.63 / 12 = £79.05 per month

I haven't included the VAT as this is more than covered by my DD & Double Fuel Discount. So I'm not sure if £96 per month is a reasonable amount?

Reasonable, otherwise you won't be paying off the debt let alone in credit by next winter. If you are struggling financially unfortunately you may have to start cutting back hard on your usage, also read the meters monthly and give the readings to your supplier, that helps them keep your DD in line with what you use, not massively overpaying or getting into debt.