EDF - Been charges incorrectly for over 4 years!

emilyk

Hi, I have just found out today that EDF have been charging me incorrectly for the over 4 years!
I am on a economoy 7 meter, which I have never had a clue about until today, my neighbour was telling me about hers the other week which was when I first heard of it!
Anyway, once i understood the difference between economy 7 and the standard tarrif i realised that it would be cheaper for me to change over.
So I rang EDF and asked for my meter to be changed, they have now arranged for that to be done in a few weeks, I was also told on the phone that i have been on the wrong tarrif and therefore they have been charging me incorrectly! - The good thing is that they say they have been overcharging me! They said that when my meter gets its final reading before changing it over they will work out how much ive been overcharged and credit my elec account.
The thing is - this has been going on for over 4 years! They said if they owe me a lot of money then they will credit it into my bank account.

Although this is all good, i am worried in case it turns out the other way - and i end up owing them money! Does anyone know how i work it out by looking at my bill how much i should have been getting charged???

This happened with my next door neighbour and EDF owed them over £200 (that was just from being with them 6 months!)

emilyk

hi, ok, this whole meter thing has gone from being a little worrying to panic!
I rang energy watch who have told me that EDF have been billing me for their standard tarrif all along and not economy 7 (despite the fact that my meter is an economy 7 one!). This is not good for me as it means that yes they have incorrectly charged me - but they have UNDER charged me!
I do not have storage heaters, and definatly do not use 40% of my elec at night, therfore it would have been more expensive for me to be using economy 7, they haven't been billing me for this though - they have billed me the cheaper standard rate so therfore this means that i am going to owe them money!

I feel so sick! Energy watch said that they should have picked up that it wasnt a standard meter before now when they have done their meter readings, however, im pretty sure that all my bills have been estimated - apart from when ive given my own meter readings.
What am I going to do? I have no idea how much money im going to owe them but i do know that there's no way i can afford to pay any more than what im paying now! This is going to seriously cause us alot of hardship!

Some of you may think tha i should have realised myself that it was the wrong meter - but i didnt have a clue! It was only because my neighbour mentioned something about hers that i queried mine, i just assumed that they were billing me for the correct amount. I dont want the economy 7 meter and had i known anything about it i would've got it changed straight away!

What should i do? I know i have to just sit and wait now to see what they say but in the meantime ive just got to sit and panic!

EDF told me that ive been getting overcharged but it definatly looking the other way now....

olly300

First calm down.

Second put things down on paper.

Third write a letter to the complaints department at EDF from your notes and sent it via recorded delivery. At the end of the letter state if the matter isn't sorted out in 30 days you will take it further.

Fourth wait until your meter is changed and wait 2 weeks for the credit. (Whether it's past the 30 days or not.) If it goes over 2 weeks write to EDF (again use recorded delivery) give them 14 days to credit you the money and provide you with written information on how they calculated the amount owed to you, otherwise you will report them to energy watch.

If they don't credit you with sufficient funds and/or refuse to provide any documentation to support their calculations, report them to energywatch without further recourse to EDF.

If you don't write to utility companies they ignore you so don't waste time phoning them, and use recorded delivery so they can't deny getting your letters.

emilyk

hi, thanks ollie for your reply,

EDF have now said that they have been charging us at the standard rate all along, however - because the meter has been on economy 7 it means that we should have been charged the economy 7 rate - which for us would work out more expensive as we do not use 40% of our elec at night. They said they will probably be updating all our previous bills but cannot say at this moment how much i am going to owe them.

Ive rang and asked for a copy of all my previous bills to be sent out to me (just in case i have any missing) - mainly because i want to see if they have ever done a meter reading - the lady i just spoke to said they havent actually ever sent someone to read it!! - if this is right then i dont think they can recover any money from me as they have failed in their duty of care - if they had read the meter at some point then they would have seen then that i have an economy 7 meter!

Anyway, once i get the copy of the bills then i will write to them and then contact energy watch if necessary.

Thanks so much for your advice - it really does help!!

olly300

If you owe them money don't write a formal complaint until July 2007. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=471461

emilyk

thank you!

stewie_griffin

I don't understand why you're getting so worked up about this, it is perfectly normal for someone to have an E7 meter but be charged on a standard tariff. All that happens is that the two rates are added together and you are charged like you have a single rate meter. Have a look at your bills and see if there are 2 sets of readings, if there are then the bills are fine and you haven't been under or over charged. I also don't understand why EDF have agreed to change the meter as they are clearly able to bill a 2 rate meter on a standard tariff, so this is just an added cost to them which won't benefit you.

I think the only thing you need to worry about is the fact your bills may have been estimated for 4 years. Check the readings on your latest bill and see how they compare with the readings on your meter. If there is a big difference then you may have something to worry about, although they have already said they haven't attempted to read your meter and if this is the case then the can't rebill the whole 4 year period as it is a breach of the billing code.