EDF - Saying I owe £1400

dellboy19832013

Hi all,

EDF are claiming I owe them approx. £1400.

Back in March 2012 My partner and I set up a joint bank account where our bills are paid from. We phoned EDF and had them switch over our direct debit payment to EDF to this new account (as we did with all of our other bills also)

We do not monitor this new bank account, money goes in for bills. The bills are paid.

Now 18 months on I have had a bill through the post from EDF (we don't receive paper bills normally) saying we owe £1400.

I have initially queried this via email and they have come back to me and said:

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Dear Mr XXXXXXX

Thank you for your email.

I apologise for the delay in our reply but I can confirm although you have direct debit as your payment method your bank had cancelled the payment plan back in February we have not had a payment on your account since then. If you contact customer services we can set up your direct debit again and a payment plan if you’re unable to pay the full balance in one payment.

Customer services telephone number is 0800 096 9000.

Kind regards
Lee

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I feel somewhat hard done by as they havn't been banging our door down informing us they hadn't been receiving payment.

Do I have a leg to stand on in trying to get them to waive all (or part) of the outstanding bill seeing as clearly there has been some issue with the direct debit and not my fault per se. I would have thought they should have been straight on to me to rectify the problem back in last year.

Any advice most welcome.

Thanks guys

DUTR

You don't check your account? Why?
Personally I don't think you have a defence, the bills were not paid due to a failed DD, if you are not checking the balance then the amount should be in the account ready to pay what was due anyway?

sax11

I think they should have got in contact when they cannot have taken the DD. Most companies will write to you now saying they have been unable to collect it. They may be at fault here if they have not been in contact with you previously. Check with the bank too and see if / when and who it was cancelled by.

Buzby

Just be lucky they've not been charging you bounced DD fees. Ask your bank for info on the cancellation. However, the fact remains you ultimately remain responsible to ensure your bills are paid and on time.

A DD is not accepted as giving the supplier the means, you still have to pay if they don't take it.

Have you checked your credit file? EDF report late and non payments, so whilst compensation will not be offered - you might get them to zero the non payments in your report IF the bank blame EDF for the cancellation.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

As above, if the money is going into the joint account and hasn't gone out - surely it'll be there to pay off the balance??

StuC75

Keep a closer eye on Bank Account, and surely the money for the Uncollected payments is still in that account?

Or did you infact see the money wasn't going out of that account, and not then continue to put the money in there?

18 months is well within the back billing timescales - heck people go with estimated readings for far longer than that...

dellboy19832013

Indeed we absolutely should have been keeping a closer eye on the bank account, but while I work away for long periods of time I believed my wife would have been keeping an eye on proceedings. Alas she wasn't.

Not all of the money is present in the bank account. Certainly not £1400. The monthly amount we pay by 'direct debit' works out at less than this total over the 18 months. So not sure what's happened. Increased usage? Increased energy costs etc.

I understand ultimately we are unlikely to have this completely waived as we are partly to blame. I was just wondering if I have grounds at all to kick up a bit of a fuss due to them not getting in touch earlier.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

dellboy19832013

Regarding 'Back Billing' ? am I right in thinking the energy company cannot charge you for energy used more than 12 months ago ?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Back billing applies if there's been no attempt to bill you, for instance.

You are expected to keep an eye on your bills and meter readings to ensure things are in order. I can't see that back billing would apply in this case, sorry.

bargainbetty

Check your meter and that you have been receiving the best tariff. You may find that this cuts the cost a bit. However, you are responsible for paying the pay, and will have to find the funds. As they failed to chase you until now, you may be able to work out a repayment plan. You should also increase your monthly contributions to the household account to cover your increased monthly payment (the basic one) plus enough to start building up a cushion for when an unexpected bill strikes.

Sadly, this is your debt, and you will have to pay it. You've used the electricity, why should you not?

macman

What are you actually querying-the amount, or whether you should have to pay part or all of it?
Assuming that the billing is correct and not estimated (you should be supplying reads at least every 3 months, since the supplier only has to read every two years), then the most you will get is a small goodwill discount-and you should be haggling for a repayment period of around 18 months. So in effect you've already been given 18m free credit, and now further free credit for another 18 months or so. So I'm puzzled as to why you would expect any more discount?