EDF muddle, can you help please?

LouiseTopp

I wonder if anyone could advise me on what I should do please? I have mild learning disabilities and I am calclexic which means it’s the number opposite of Dyslexia. I am not very good with figures of numbers as I get confused and in a muddle.

I pay my energy bills gas and electric through EDF by direct debit, and recently they have sent me estimated bills. The reason I couldn’t give them a metered reading was because when the man last came to look at my dial’s he burrowed the triangular key from me and never bought it back, and I didn’t know where to get another one.

I am now in Debt to EDF gas at £94! :eek:

I usually pay £31 a month for my gas. I admit that during the winter, my gas boiler is on a timer and comes on from 6pm until 9pm in the winter because the timer is wrong, and i don't know how to correct that, so when I got up during the colder month’s I override it and had it on for an hour more before turning it off. I suspect this is why I got such a high bill.

EDF paid me back £45.3p back into my account for some electrick which they owed me, but it’s the gas bill I am worried about. My parents say something is not right as I should challenge it.

I also have £11 for an electrick bill coming out of my account on Saturday 29th March, my next gas bill is April 7 for £31.

I rang them up at 6.45 last night and was on hold until 7.15 which was frustrating. I couldn’t get the automated system to recognise my numbers I had taken of the dial’s, so I was relieved to speak to a human voice. One number on the back of the letter wasn’t recognised even through I had dialled it in correctly.

I have tried finding a social worker to help me because I am worried I am ending up in a mess. The woman on the phone said I could clear the debt in instalments but I’m not agreeing to anything until I speak to an advocate. It’s very hard trying to find support to help me because they say there all too busy, or some excuse they can’t help me. There’s too many obstacles and red tape to get through.

Can you please advise me what I should do please?

Many thanks and hope you can advise me. I’m really depressed at the moment because I don’t want to be cut off.

Nada666

Why don't you want to repay the money by instalments? Why did you not ask how many instalments? The easiest thing is to contact EDF and ask them to revise the direct debit - they will tell you what it will be bumped up to.

If your balance is £94 this will be claimed back over six or twelve months. If over six months your debit will be doubled to more than £60 per month (because you have to pay both the £16 you underpaid each month plus that extra £16 for ongoing usage.)

So new payment will be £63 if over six months or £47 if over twelve months.

Alternatively you more sensibly could contact them and offer to pay a new debit of about £40 per month plus pay them a lump sum of £50 or £60 if you prefer.

But you have to contact them to discuss the range of new payments they can offer if you do not want to do the sums yourself. A lump sum to pay the difference and a small increase to the debit is probably the best solution. Try going for that first.

JimmyTheWig

The good news is that it doesn't really matter if your repayments are set too high. All that would happen is that you would end up with them owing you money and they would give it to you (like they did with your electric) or reduce your future payments.
So you could do a lot worse than agreeing to the repayments that they are asking for. Though obviously if you can't afford what they are asking for then you've got a problem.

What you really need is for someone to sit down with you, your bills and your readings and (a) work out if it is correct and (b) explain it to you.
Good thinking with trying to find a social worker to help, but if they aren't able to then how about CAB? Do you have children? If so you could ask your health visitor if they could help or if they know someone who can help? Or ask at your local children's centre?
Or how about a friend or relative. You mention your parents. Could they help look at the bills with you? It might help if they were there with you when you next phone EDF.

LouiseTopp

Thanks for your replay. i am keen to clear the debt asap but I would like to discuss it with someone first before I make another huge mistake. She told me not to worry, but that's alright for her to say. I am worried sick this will spiral out of control before I've had a chance to do anything. :eek:

LouiseTopp

Thanks for your replay. i am keen to clear the debt asap but I would like to discuss it with someone first before I make another huge mistake. She told me not to worry, but that's alright for her to say. I am worried sick this will spiral out of control before I've had a chance to do anything. :eek:

What you really need is for someone to sit down with you, your bills and your readings and (a) work out if it is correct and (b) explain it to you.

Correct there, so at 10am I am going to ring up my advocate and see what they say. I have a number to ring EDF back on, only problem is they keep you on hold for most of the day (it seems) or I can't get past that stupid automated crap to speak to a human voice. :mad:

So £47 if over twelve months instead of £31 a month would clear the debt?

Nada666

LouiseTopp wrote: »

So £47 if over twelve months instead of £31 a month would clear the debt?

Yes.

£94 divided by 12 is £7.83.

You need to pay an extra £16 per month - £8 to clear the debt and £8 because you were averaging a use of £39 per month not £31.

By the time you sort it out don't forget there may be another month or two underspend to pay!

LouiseTopp

You need to pay an extra £16 per month

On top of the £31 I'm already paying?

By the time you sort it out don't forget there may be another month or two underspend to pay!

So after all that I'll owe them even more money?

JimmyTheWig

LouiseTopp wrote: »

On top of the £31 I'm already paying?

Yes. £16 on top of £31 is £47.
So £47 a month would clear it.

So after all that I'll owe them even more money?

Possibly. Each month you leave it paying £31 a month you will owe them another £8.

But don't get concerned about the specific amounts at this stage. If you've got the money then let them increase the DD to £47 as that should clear it. You won't lose out by paying them an increased amount.
If you don't have that money each month then you need to find out how much you actually owe them. No-one knows that right now as you have been given a bill based on an estimated reading.
So you could speak to them and ask them to do a reading.
Or you could get yourself a key (A quick google found these. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003A5IBLC/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B007JHHR8U&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0FS5CFKN5GXBAZY5X01P. Not necessarily the best buy, but gives you an idea of the cost) and read the meter yourself / get your advocate to read the meter for you.

Nada666

LouiseTopp wrote: »

On top of the £31 I'm already paying?

Yes. You were paying £31 but spending £39. So you have to pay the £39 you were actually spending plus £8 to repay the debt.

LouiseTopp wrote: »

So after all that I'll owe them even more money?

No - I just mean the repayment amount will be set a pound or two above the £47.

LouiseTopp

get your advocate to read the meter for you

I cant even get anyone to help me with a simple letter etc. I'm fed up to the back teeth of trying to get support, it's one stupid negetive excuse after another. I feel like jumping in front of a train sometimes because no one obviously cares about me.

SorryI don't mean to talk stupid. I'm scared this debts going to get worse and it's my own fault, I'm trying to save up for other things but it's not working. I cannot work out figures or numbers, I never have done now it's really landed me in it.

I don't know how I'm ever going to sort this out.

JimmyTheWig

LouiseTopp wrote: »

I cant even get anyone to help me with a simple letter etc. I'm fed up to the back teeth of trying to get support
...
I don't know how I'm ever going to sort this out.

I can appreciate how frustrating that must feel.
The good news is that you've got people on here who can help.
So if the easiest way for you to get the meter read is to take a photo and link to it on here then someone on here can read it for you.

It strikes me that your options are...
1. Allow EDF to put your DD up to what they think. This might mean you end up overpaying for a while, but that will just mean that you pay less in the future so isn't a problem if you can afford it.
2. Get EDF to come and read the meter. If they make a fuss about doing this remind them that (a) you cannot read it yourself due to being calclexic (I believe they would have to make reasonable allowances for this) and (b) their meter reader took your key.
3. Buy or borrow a key and get someone to read it for you.
4. Buy or borrow a key, take a photo of the meter and post a link to the photo on here.

I can understand that you wouldn't want to do option 1 if money is tight from one month to the next. Not worth making yourself go without just to pay a bill that didn't need paying.
I can understand that option 3 might not be possible if you don't have anyone who can help.
I can understand that borrowing a key might not be possible if you don't get along with your neighbours, etc.
But whatever happens, option 2 and option 4 (where you buy a key for £1) should be possible.