good news from EDF

northernsoul

Amongst all the bad news reported about the utility companies on here thought i would report some good news i have recieved.
My gas use over the past 12 months has been 20317kWh compared to the previous 12 months of 14656kWh.
My electricity over the last 12 months has been 5401kw compared to 5467kw.
Was paying for gas £58 + £13 underpayment (total £71), now paying £51 per month DD !
Was paying £60 for electricity, now paying £61 + £1 credit (ie paying £60 DD).
So now, a Direct Debit of £111 in total, compared to £131, £20 a month less!
Thought having used about 50% more gas it would have gone up a lot!
My account balance is only at present £14 in credit.
I do have thoughts that i may be getting undercharged, but with many people complaining they are getting overcharged, thought i would add my experience

MillicentBystander

Unfortunately, this isn't 'really' good news as a rough calculation gives just over £1600/yr for your consumption and £111/mth equates to just over £1300. Unless you reduce your consumption over the next 12 months i would expect a catch up bill at some stage.

PS I would also look at how your gas usage has increased so much. Yes, we have had a cold winter but that's a 40% year on year increase.

macman

As above. Indeed it should have gone up a lot. Your DD is simply a contribution. If you are using more than you are paying by DD, then at the next read you will have a big debit and a big hike in your DD to recover it and pay for ongoing usage.

northernsoul

I do realise i may be getting undercharged, and it probably is not as good as news as it seems, but conversely, if this is bad news, people paying more than neccesary could be said to have good news, to prevent them falling behind
Of course, ideally, we all should pay what we use over the year and end up with 0 credit. You could start now, the company end up with credit in 6 months during summer, which they can use, and then during the winter months you use more than you pay and end up with a zero balance next year.
Or, you might think that is wrong, and the company should not have money in credit from the consumer. So therefore, best to start in October, so in 6 months you owe them money and repay it back during the summer months ie they never have credit from your payments.
EDF last did a review last October so it looks like they review every 6 months. My gas during the last 6 months was 14012kWh, practically the same as the whole of the previous year.
The real problem though, concerning gas use, was last summer (April to October) we used 7910kWh, compared to the summer of 2011 of 2260kWh ! I have a lodger and she is always cold, and as she pays a sum including bills, she does not pay any extra for increased gas use.

northernsoul

Might even contact them to put it up!
Just saying that not always do EDF put up DD's too much (in this case too little!)