Beware EDF billing

dogshome

Like most of the regulars on this site I monitor the Gas/Elec bills of friends and neighbors, and today have gone through a really strange bill from EDF.

It's all OK for the readings & charges which total £181.04 - This then has the correct 6% discount applied ( £10.86 ), leaving £170.17 for VAT to be added - ( As usual the £170.17 sub-total isn't shown on the bill )

However the bill states the total for VAT to be £181.44, then charges VAT at £8.51, which is the correct VAT for £170.17 and then ends up with a total charges figure of £189.95, when it should be £178.68

Bearing in mind that that bills are generated by a computer and untouched by human hand, there is a high possibility that thousands of recent bills have been issued with these errors

Aquamania

dogshome wrote: »

Like most of the regulars on this site I monitor the Gas/Elec bills of friends and neighbors, and today have gone through a really strange bill from EDF.

It's all OK for the readings & charges which total £181.04 - This then has the correct 6% discount applied ( £10.86 ), leaving £170.17 for VAT to be added - ( As usual the £170.17 sub-total isn't shown on the bill )

However the bill states the total for VAT to be £181.04, then charges VAT at £8.51, which is the correct VAT for £170.17 and then ends up with a total charges figure of £189.95, when it should be £178.68

Bearing in mind that that bills are generated by a computer and untouched by human hand, there is a high possibility that thousands of recent bills have been issued with these errors

Just checked my latest bill which was dated 31 March ( I always try to submit meter reading on the last day of the month) and it is calculated as:

Cost of consumption & standing charges (less vat) for electricity
Cost of consumption & standing charges (less vat) for gas
less 6% discount of (sum of above 2 values - this value is given)
subtotal
vat @ 5% on subtotal
Total (=subtotal +vat)

so it must be a very recent error

Edit: Btw I have corrected your post which was presumably a typo on your part

bondy01

I thought the dd discount had been removed because of simplyfing bills and replaced by a one off payment in December or am I getting confused (again). My bill for march does show one though but is as clear as mud.

dogshome

The Bill I've posted about is dated April 2nd - Maybe a computer update from the 1st of the month ?

D/Debit discounts have been barred by Ofgem, but only on supply contracts issued after their decision - Those customers on existing contracts such as EDF's Blue, have the discount written into the contract terms and it will continue to apply till the contracts end

Conversely Duel Fuel discounts , ( A small sum off the gas bill ), have also been barred by Ofgem, but they are also written into EDF Blue contracts.
EDF now deal with this by not itemising the D/Fuel discount on the bill, but by listing a totally unexplained credit at the top of the bill

pooch

dogshome wrote: »

...Conversely Duel Fuel discounts , ( A small sum off the gas bill ), have also been barred by Ofgem, but they are also written into EDF Blue contracts.
EDF now deal with this by not itemising the D/Fuel discount on the bill, but by listing a totally unexplained credit at the top of the bill

That's not exactly right.

Customers were notified by letter in December 2013 that Ofgem had banned a dual fuel discount, so this was removed w.e.f. 31st December 2013.

Existing customers were not disadvantaged though, as they received a one off rebate mid December (applied to first bill thereafter) of the full remaining discount of their contract.
So for Blue+ Price Promise April 2014 duel fuel tariff customers, this was £2.79 ... which was shown on bills as "Dual Fuel Discount - one off rebate - £2.66 credit" - difference is due to effect of vat

Looks like your "friend/neighbour" has quite a wierd bill. They don't seem to have told you much either, so perhaps they forgot to mention they have recently contacted EDF about something that could have generated a manually produced bill, hence you if differs from the norm and has an apparent error in the calculation?

dogshome

POOCH Thanks for the heads up on EDF and D/Fuel discount - I did not have access to the letter when checking the previous bill, so just checked the the Dual Fuel discount was listed on the bill

The customer certainly has not contacted EDF with a query that would generate a manual bill - I've been monitoring this account since it started and in fact advised them to go onto EDF Blue - I remind the customer of the dates they should give meter readings and have the customers passwords to pull down each bill as it's issued

The erroneous April bill in question has more problems than the one posted.
Page 2 giving the useage and costs, is headed by a totally unexplained credit for £11.36 entitled "Refund 2 April 2014", which is then is not included in the final billing calculations
Even excluding this item, this phantom bill has managed to 'lose' a £10+ credit
belonging to a Low Income family

Obviously, letter of Complaint is on it's way

pooch

dogshome wrote: »

POOCH Thanks for the heads up on EDF and D/Fuel discount - I did not have access to the letter when checking the previous bill, so just checked the the Dual Fuel discount was listed on the bill

The customer certainly has not contacted EDF with a query that would generate a manual bill - I've been monitoring this account since it started and in fact advised them to go onto EDF Blue - I remind the customer of the dates they should give meter readings and have the customers passwords to pull down each bill as it's issued

The erroneous April bill in question has more problems than the one posted.
Page 2 giving the useage and costs, is headed by a totally unexplained credit for £11.36 entitled "Refund 2 April 2014", which is then is not included in the final billing calculations
Even excluding this item, this phantom bill has managed to 'lose' a £10+ credit
belonging to a Low Income family

Obviously, letter of Complaint is on it's way

Probably quicker just to give them a call and get an explanation. The account holder will probably need to make that call, which I understand is not you. EDF may then explain to you on the account holder's approval ... or if they want to be arkward, just put them on a speakerphone so you can hear the conversation

As nothing you have said has tallied with my experience of EDF billing, I really can't help further, sorry. If you find out what the refund was for, do let me know as I haven't had one

What dates do you advise the customer to provide meter readings? The customer can provide them as often as they want (maximum once per day), and the more the better, I would suggest.
If a meter reading has been provided, and more than 28 days have expired since the last bill, the customer should get a new bill -I try to provide one at every month end.
Seems like your 'advice' has not been to supply such frequent meter readings for some reason :huh:

pooch

bondy01 wrote: »

I thought the dd discount had been removed because of simplyfing bills and replaced by a one off payment in December or am I getting confused (again). My bill for march does show one though but is as clear as mud.

How would you propose they make it any clearer? :huh:

bondy01

pooch wrote: »

How would you propose they make it any clearer? :huh:

The comment was slightly tongue in cheek. I feel these charges of a couple of £ clutter up the bill. EDF have sent me an email telling that they are actually making it clearer except the link to the video and website with info won't open but that maybe to do with IE on my pc. You may have received it.

dogshome

Pooch, if it's your choice to provide EDF with monthly meter readings for monthly bills, then that is your choice - Keeping in mind that I montior the bills of 5 other households plus my own, I choose to have the readings reported on Quarter days to which EDF have always, with the exception of this last bill, responded with a correct bill, which gives me a very accurate figure of the annual consumption and seasonal variations from year to year.

So far as an immediate letter of Complaint is concerned, past experience has taught me that the telephone is useless in these particular circumstances, and going for the jugular immediately will get the quickest result

I'll report back on 'Refund April 2" credit when I know the answer.

Aquamania

dogshome wrote: »

...I'll report back on 'Refund April 2" credit when I know the answer.

Any answer yet?

Well I've had my next and final EDF bill now and whilst I do have issues with the bill (see https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4778683 ) I can confirm that the VAT is correctly calculated.

Looks like it was just a very short term blip, possibly just affecting dogshome's friend/neighbour. :cool: