EDF account balance confusion

sevenredpoppies

I am with EDF and I pay by direct debit on the 1st of every month. I put in a reading each month also around 3rd / 4th after finding myself in arrears last year when I wasn't putting in regular meter readings - my fault there and lesson learned.

My arrears have been coming down as expected since my direct debit was increased.

My account was in debit of £193.78 at the start of January and my DD was increased from £216 to £290 per month which I was informed on 6 January and would take effect from my February payment (I live in a very old and draughty house - costs approx £100 pm elec in summer and stupid amounts in winter).

A man came round to take a meter reading on the 24th January. and my account jumped from being in debit, to being in credit of £98. It also stated that the last payment made was for £290 which was incorrect as the last payment was £216 which was taken on 2 January.

I queried this with EDF and the reply back was;

"Having reviewed your account I can see the last bill for the period 04 January 2015 - 04 February 2015 was based on actual meter readings provided by you. I would like to inform you that the balance on your last bill (3 January 2015) was £193.78 in debit and your charges for this period (including VAT) is £282.59 and you paid us £290.00 in credit (1 payment of £290.00), therefore your account balance is £282.59 + £193.78 - £290.00 =£186.37 in debit
The summary of the bill for the period 04 January 2015 - 04 February 2015 is as follows :
Charges for this bill
Electricity charges for this bill £ 269.13
Plus VAT at 5% £ 13.46
Total for this bill £ 282.59
New account balance £ 186.37 in debit
Your current Direct Debit monthly payment is £290.00, your next payment date is on 02March 2015 and your annual review is on 29 July 2015."

4th February and my account was indeed back in debit again of approx £186.37

26th February I log in again - account is in credit of £103.63

12 March - account is in credit of £243 (meter reading submitted 3rd March)

17 March - account in debit of £86.95 (meter reading submitted 17 March)

28 March - account in credit of £203.45

Does anyone have any clue how EDF work out their balances because I'm stumped? I've kept screenshots of the pages since February as there is nothing on the account information or bills to give even a hint of why the balance seems to go up and down in such extremes. Is their system just inherently flawed?

footyguy

sevenredpoppies wrote: »

I am with EDF and I pay by direct debit on the 1st of every month. I put in a reading each month also around 3rd / 4th after finding myself in arrears last year when I wasn't putting in regular meter readings - my fault there and lesson learned.

My arrears have been coming down as expected since my direct debit was increased.

My account was in debit of £193.78 at the start of January and my DD was increased from £216 to £290 per month which I was informed on 6 January and would take effect from my February payment (I live in a very old and draughty house - costs approx £100 pm elec in summer and stupid amounts in winter).

A man came round to take a meter reading on the 24th January. and my account jumped from being in debit, to being in credit of £98. It also stated that the last payment made was for £290 which was incorrect as the last payment was £216 which was taken on 2 January.

I queried this with EDF and the reply back was;

"Having reviewed your account I can see the last bill for the period 04 January 2015 - 04 February 2015 was based on actual meter readings provided by you. I would like to inform you that the balance on your last bill (3 January 2015) was £193.78 in debit and your charges for this period (including VAT) is £282.59 and you paid us £290.00 in credit (1 payment of £290.00), therefore your account balance is £282.59 + £193.78 - £290.00 =£186.37 in debit
The summary of the bill for the period 04 January 2015 - 04 February 2015 is as follows :
Charges for this bill
Electricity charges for this bill £ 269.13
Plus VAT at 5% £ 13.46
Total for this bill £ 282.59
New account balance £ 186.37 in debit
Your current Direct Debit monthly payment is £290.00, your next payment date is on 02March 2015 and your annual review is on 29 July 2015."

4th February and my account was indeed back in debit again of approx £186.37

26th February I log in again - account is in credit of £103.63

12 March - account is in credit of £243 (meter reading submitted 3rd March)

17 March - account in debit of £86.95 (meter reading submitted 17 March)

28 March - account in credit of £203.45

Does anyone have any clue how EDF work out their balances because I'm stumped? I've kept screenshots of the pages since February as there is nothing on the account information or bills to give even a hint of why the balance seems to go up and down in such extremes. Is their system just inherently flawed?

Refer to your actual bills (available through your online account). This shows detailed calculations and account balances.

The online account shows credits as received, and deductions only when you submit meter readings so a new calculation of consumption can be made.

SoletraderSteve

What was the date the January bill was issued/printed (top left hand corner of your bill) If you pay on the 2nd of each month, the Direct Debit is requested from your bank 3 working days in advance, so if a meter reader took readings on January 24th it would likely have taken a few ays to filter through and generate a bill at EDF Energy by the date the bill was printed I am guessing the paymet had been requested therefore reflected in your account balance, although it was yet to be seen on your bank statement as a debit.

sevenredpoppies

footyguy wrote: »

Refer to your actual bills (available through your online account). This shows detailed calculations and account balances.

The online account shows credits as received, and deductions only when you submit meter readings so a new calculation of consumption can be made.

Thank you for your reply. That is why I'm confused because the balance of credit on the account doesn't match what has been paid in and seems to change randomly throughout the month. The bills don't show any of these fluctuations, only what has been used and what has been paid. Why then would a system that works on energy used and energy paid for change the balance randomly in the middle of the month when all I've done was log in? Meter readings given at the start of the month as well as payment taken, 2 or three days later a bill is generated then two weeks (give or take a few days) later the account is in credit of a completely random amount?

footyguy

sevenredpoppies wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. That is why I'm confused because the balance of credit on the account doesn't match what has been paid in and seems to change randomly throughout the month. The bills don't show any of these fluctuations, only what has been used and what has been paid. Why then would a system that works on energy used and energy paid for change the balance randomly in the middle of the month when all I've done was log in? Meter readings given at the start of the month as well as payment taken, 2 or three days later a bill is generated then two weeks (give or take a few days) later the account is in credit of a completely random amount?

I can't remember precisely, as it's been a few years since I was with EDF - they are way too expensive for me nowadays.

But as far as I do recall, I'm sure the online balance only changed when you either (a) provided a meter reading ... or the supplier obtained their own, and (b) whenever a payment was received.

If the balance is changing otherwise nowadays, then they must be using some kind of estimated consumption to give you a more up to date estimated balance.

I think Ovo could do something like this (on specific request). Perhaps EDF have done something similar in the meantime?

sevenredpoppies

SoletraderSteve wrote: »

What was the date the January bill was issued/printed (top left hand corner of your bill) If you pay on the 2nd of each month, the Direct Debit is requested from your bank 3 working days in advance, so if a meter reader took readings on January 24th it would likely have taken a few ays to filter through and generate a bill at EDF Energy by the date the bill was printed I am guessing the paymet had been requested therefore reflected in your account balance, although it was yet to be seen on your bank statement as a debit.

Thanks for the reply. The January bill was issued on the 3rd. The account updated 3 or 4 days after the meter reading to show a credit (no bill issued) and stated the account was in credit of £98 and the previous amount paid was £290 which it wasn't - the January payment was £216 as was the month before that.

I put my usual reading in on the fourth of February, bill was generated and back to the expected £186.37 in debit which took the February payment into account also.

I logged in again on the 26th February - the account balance shows as £103.63 in credit - no new meter readings or payments since the start of the month.

12 March - account is in credit of £243.63 when I logged in to put in a reading - without a reading since the start of February but assuming this took into account the March payment of £290 ..... how?

17 March - account was updated to £86.95 in debit.

28 March - account balance now £203.05 in credit - no readings given but an extra payment was made of £140. I'm no maths whizz but without a meter reading the only thing that should have changed was the result of adding £140 to minus £86.95 (which is £53.05 in credit according to my calculator)

I am genuinely curious as to how the account is managed in EDF system world because I don't see any logic in it whatsoever. When I queried it with EDF I got the standard reply back as to how my bill is broken down. I'm not daft (well not all the time) - I know how paying for usage works and that wasn't my question. I just want to know why the account balance goes up randomly throughout the month when no other variables (meter readings or payments) have been added.

....... aaaaand their website is having technical errors again so I'm unable to log in for the latest installment.