EDF demand 4 fold D/D increase

selbygeoff

Dear All


wondering if anyone can help on this? I'll give a brief outline and history.


We moved into our property 11 years ago and our supplier was SSE, for both Gas and Electric. Our problems started when we tried to move our energy supplier and we have been having problems ever since! Every time we moved we had to go through same rigmarole and problems.


Every time we changed supplier it happened again! we were getting billed for Electric but not Gas. We contacted the supplier time and time again but nothing was ever sorted out. Any way in 2011 we moved to EDF, and yes you guessed it, we were back to square one.


Anyway its all culminated, earlier this year, in a demand from EDF for £9000!!!!!! Yes £9000!!!!! Obviously we contacted them and they suddenly reduced it by £7400 straight away!


My problem now is that having monitored our consumption over the last few months, and allowing for increase in use through the winter, I feel that we should have been back billed no more that £880! On top of this they are now saying that we are not paying enough on our Direct Debit to pay for our next 12 months usage which they estimate at (wait for it) 48000 kWh!!!!! and £2000!!! We must be heating all our neighbours houses as well!!!!


As you can imagine I'm furious and have decided, having read through some older posts on here, to contact exsoserve to see what the current registration details are for our property, and guess what, its never been registered by any of the energy companies!


Where do I go from here?????

CashStrapped

Hold on.....to clarify...are you saying that after your initial switch 11 years ago, your gas account "got lost" mid-switch and has never been picked up till now?

Is that where the £9000 (or £7400) you owe came from? If not, where has that amount come from? What is the back billed amount (£880) you mention and where has it come from?

What have your previous annual figures for gas in kwh been? What has your last few months (especially the last month) in kwh been? (remember to look if your meter is m3 or ft3 and convert to kwh accordingly)

They maybe adding what you owe and your current usage to the same bill. So you are paying outsanding usage and current usage at the same time. So the amount you pay may be double the normal amount.

Anyway, clarify this £7400 and where the outstanding amounts came from (and for how long). Also give your your kwh usage. We can then have a closer look.

selbygeoff

Hi Cashstrapped


The property was a new build when we moved in and we have had different suppliers throughout this time. Including Atlantic, SSE, N Power and EDF. Our usage has been consistent throughout this time and we have paid the various energy companies by direct debit over the years.


I've looked over the paperwork from EDF and the problem seems to be that in 2011, after the house had been built for 8 years, they have put a start meter reading on the account of 700 and we are now at23832. so they are trying to back bill for 23100 units over 3 years!!!!! Hence the £9000 bill which was then reduced to £1600, after we questioned it, which is still double what our usage actually is! They must therefore be basing our next twelve months usage on the original £9000 which was subsequently reduced to £1600 which should be around £800-880! Their estimates suggest that we will munch our way through £2005 worth of gas, and a month direct debit figure of £346 which is ridiculous!!

CashStrapped

So do you/did you have an actual read for the meter when you switched to EDF?

Surely you have a "closing reading" from the supplier you had prior to switching to EDF.

If you can locate an accurate closing/opening reading, edf will then be able to work out what you have used since being with them.

Tom_Brine

Hi There

Sorry to hear about your situation, but it has made me post, and I haven't done that in a long time.

I work in the energy industry and have worked for EDF, I will also be starting at Xoserve in 3 weeks time for a new job.

The problems you are having are due to systems working things out such as your predicted future usage based on data available without adjusting for the situation. Followed up by speaking with advisors' who may not fully understand the issue and go by the systems data.

Here is what I would do to resolve the issue.

Step One.
Instruct EDF energy to raise a complaint, in their system this is known as a "cear", and request the reference number for the complaint. This turns your query into something which must be dealt with in a set time and will mean the regulator gets visibility.

Step Two.
Take regular meter readings and record them WITH PHOTOS (Out of interest how far back do your meter readings go?). Due to your situation I would take these weekly for 6 months, and then monthly from then on, forever as its good practice (The amount of issues that would be quickly and simply solved if people took and recorded their own meter readings is huge)

The taking of readings will build up your actual usage profile and the more you have over a longer period of time the more accurately you and EDF can estimate your usage.

Step Three.
Ask EDF Energy to look for any D0010 flows against your meter. If they do not have any on their system as the MPRN is not registered. Request that they contact the Data Collector or MOP to see if they have any of these. D0010 flows are how the industry communicates meter readings. Someone has read that meter over the past 11 years.

Step Four.
Do not close the Cear until you are satisfied, however do not be unreasonable, the person on the phone wants to help you and 90% of people who work in the industry genuinely care.

It may be that there is a period of higher DD amounts but your taking of regular readings will enable your supplier to resolve the issue into the future.

And whatever you do do not switch suppliers untill it is sorted, you may think sod them but the problem wont go away. Work with EDF to resolve the problem.

Have you paid for gas with your previous suppliers? If so how have they worked out your consumption? I would look back to your old invoices if you have them.

I have purposely not gone into mega detail as I could ramble on for reams about what to do. The above steps will help, and make EDF realise you know what you are talking about. But get that Cear reference number ASAP. Hope that helps.

System

Not a nice situation for the OP. Notwithstanding the helpful advice from the industry poster, I would have thought that looking back to the closing reads given to EDF (as reflected in the final bill from the previous supplier) would be my first line of attack.

footyguy

selbygeoff wrote: »

Dear All


wondering if anyone can help on this? I'll give a brief outline and history.


We moved into our property 11 years ago and our supplier was SSE, for both Gas and Electric. Our problems started when we tried to move our energy supplier and we have been having problems ever since! Every time we moved we had to go through same rigmarole and problems.


Every time we changed supplier it happened again! we were getting billed for Electric but not Gas. We contacted the supplier time and time again but nothing was ever sorted out. Any way in 2011 we moved to EDF, and yes you guessed it, we were back to square one.


Anyway its all culminated, earlier this year, in a demand from EDF for £9000!!!!!! Yes £9000!!!!! Obviously we contacted them and they suddenly reduced it by £7400 straight away!


My problem now is that having monitored our consumption over the last few months, and allowing for increase in use through the winter, I feel that we should have been back billed no more that £880! On top of this they are now saying that we are not paying enough on our Direct Debit to pay for our next 12 months usage which they estimate at (wait for it) 48000 kWh!!!!! and £2000!!! We must be heating all our neighbours houses as well!!!!


As you can imagine I'm furious and have decided, having read through some older posts on here, to contact exsoserve to see what the current registration details are for our property, and guess what, its never been registered by any of the energy companies!


Where do I go from here?????

1 Calm down
2. Get your thoughts about the situation clear in your own mind
3. Give EDF a call

The automated setting/establishment of monthly DD amounts by EDF is a complete mystery to me , but a quick call with a reasoned argument soon gets them to manually adjust it the way you would reasonably expect ... until they try and automatically change it again in a few months time, when you need to go through the same routine