EDF Energy and penalties...

thetriggerhappypwner

Hello MSE fans!

I was hoping to get some advice here.

I have been with EDF Energy since around February 2016, and despite getting a reasonable deal of around 11p per kWh, that has jumpped to more than 17p now. I have discovered that they offer cheaper deals, but ONLY if you hand over your bank details so they can take whatever they want when they want.

My point is this, they have a deal for 14.(something)p per kWh, but only if you pay by direct debit, but charge what I feel is a penalty for not giving your bank details.

What I am being charged has slowly increased and it is now on the border of having to sacrifice my heating to keep my bills down. I have done everything to try and reduce my consumption, this includes, converting all of my lights and lamps to LED, turning off everything that I dont use, only leaving on my low consumption entertainment center, in standby, with everything on, it draws around 10 to 15 watts...

I will never know why my bills keep going up despite making these changes to cut back, like converting my lights to LED.

Why does it appear that energy companies are allowed to charge a penalty for not handing over your bank details to them to effectively take out what they want when they want?

I am on a fixed income, I cannot do DD, because, I cannot garuntee the payment. I have paid every 2 weeks a specific amount, and since joining them in February 2016, I have never ended up owing them any money, it has always been them that have owed me money like they do now, at close to £200!

That was the feeble excuse thay came up with as well. "If you dont pay by direct debit, we cannot garuntee the payment", and that gives them the right to charge more for energy? This is a penalty and I am sure it is unlawful.

Anyone?

wavelets

thetriggerhappypwner wrote: »

Hello MSE fans!

I was hoping to get some advice here.

I have been with EDF Energy since around February 2016, and despite getting a reasonable deal of around 11p per kWh, that has jumpped to 17p now. I have discovered that they offer cheaper deals, but ONLY if you hand over your bank details so they can take whatever they want when they want.

My point is this, they have a deal for 14.(something)p per kWh, but only if you pay by direct debit, but charge what I feel is a penalty for not giving your bank details.

What I am being charged has slowly increased and it is now on the border of having to sacrifice my heating to keep my bills down. I have done everything to try and reduce my consumption, this includes, converting all of my lights and lamps to LED, turning off everything that I dont use, only leaving on my low consumption entertainment center, in standby, with everything on, it draws around 10 to 20 watts...

I will never know why my bills keep going up despite making these changes to cut back, like converting my lights to LED.

Why does it appear that energy companies are allowed to charge a penalty for not handing over your bank details to them to effectively take out what they want when they want?

I am on a fixed income, I cannot do DD, because, I cannot garuntee the payment. I have paid every 2 weeks a specific amount, and since joining them in February 2016, I have never ended up owing them any money, it has always been them that have owed me money like they do now, at close to £200!

That was the feeble excuse thay came up with as well. "If you dont pay by direct debit, we cannot garuntee the payment", and that gives them the right to charge more for energy? This is a penalty and I am sure it is unlawful.

Anyone?

I am sure your are, at best, misguided

thetriggerhappypwner

3p on EVERY kWh adds up to a lot of money.

Please explain your reasoning wavelets.

wavelets

thetriggerhappypwner wrote: »

3p on EVERY kWh adds up to a lot of money.

Please explain your reasoning wavelets.

Paying by monthly direct debit can cut bills by up to £90 each year... So if you can do this, go for it.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity/

MSE would not engage in encouraging any unlawful activity.

AndyPK

Martin encouraged us to ask for credit back in April/May?
Put it in your bank, and then don't spend it!
Then go onto DD.

Would that work for you ?

thetriggerhappypwner

At no time have I asked MSE to engage in any kind of unlawful activity. I am accusing EDF Energy of this, by charging a penalty as described above.

@AndyPK, that is not the issue here. Please read my first post again, more carefully.

Anthorn

thetriggerhappypwner wrote: »

Hello MSE fans!

I was hoping to get some advice here.

I have been with EDF Energy since around February 2016, and despite getting a reasonable deal of around 11p per kWh, that has jumpped to more than 17p now. I have discovered that they offer cheaper deals, but ONLY if you hand over your bank details so they can take whatever they want when they want.

My point is this, they have a deal for 14.(something)p per kWh, but only if you pay by direct debit, but charge what I feel is a penalty for not giving your bank details.

What I am being charged has slowly increased and it is now on the border of having to sacrifice my heating to keep my bills down. I have done everything to try and reduce my consumption, this includes, converting all of my lights and lamps to LED, turning off everything that I dont use, only leaving on my low consumption entertainment center, in standby, with everything on, it draws around 10 to 15 watts...

I will never know why my bills keep going up despite making these changes to cut back, like converting my lights to LED.

Why does it appear that energy companies are allowed to charge a penalty for not handing over your bank details to them to effectively take out what they want when they want?

I am on a fixed income, I cannot do DD, because, I cannot garuntee the payment. I have paid every 2 weeks a specific amount, and since joining them in February 2016, I have never ended up owing them any money, it has always been them that have owed me money like they do now, at close to £200!

That was the feeble excuse thay came up with as well. "If you dont pay by direct debit, we cannot garuntee the payment", and that gives them the right to charge more for energy? This is a penalty and I am sure it is unlawful.

Anyone?

Much the same as most energy suppliers in that the cheapest tariffs are only available if you pay by Direct Debit and perhaps also if you have a smart meter fitted by them and may in addition have other attached conditions.

My own tariff with EDF is the Exclusive Easy Online Dec 19 which specifies Direct Debit, smart meter and only online chat for support. If I fail to do that the penalty is to be transferred to their default variable tariff and pay exit fees of £35 per fuel.

Btw if anyone is considering an EDF Easy Online tariff now you missed the boat: The current Easy Online Feb 20 on my consumption is £89 p.a. more.

antrobus

thetriggerhappypwner wrote: »

...

My point is this, they have a deal for 14.(something)p per kWh, but only if you pay by direct debit, but charge what I feel is a penalty for not giving your bank details...

I don't understand. If you want to pay by direct debit, you have to supply your bank details. If you don't want to supply your bank details, you can't pay by DD, and thus any DD only tariff is unavailable to you.

Robin9

thetriggerhappypwner wrote: »

This is a penalty and I am sure it is unlawful.

Anyone?

No it's the other way around. The DD is a reward for reducing the amount of the suppliers costs.

The_Fat_Controller

Move to Direct Debit (Whole Amount) Monthly and you can access the cheaper tariffs.

You (or EDF) read the meter once a month as requested, they bill you every month in arrears for the ACTUAL amount of energy you have used.

My last bill was generated on 19 December, payment date 9 January, so over 2 weeks to plan on having the money in the right place.

It works well with my smart meters, but they were not compulsory when I moved to this billing method.

If you can cope with the seasonal variations of bills it is a great way to pay.

thetriggerhappypwner

I cannot garantee the payment, this is why I am not keen on handing over my bank details to them. EDF Energy seem to be incapable of understanding this, and probably see the "£" sign rolling in thier eyes knowing they can get more money out of me through some policy they made up about being allowed to hammer people who dont pay by "direct debit".

I am not sure how many times I have to explain this...

The excuse they fabricated to justify this higher price was that they "cannot garantee the payment", which to me, translates to "you don't pay your bills" when in fact I have been in constant credit since I joined them in February 2016, and in April 2017, I was in credit by the better part of £500. How they can justify this is beyond me. I am reasonably sure that they are doing somthing illegal here. Could it be fraud because they are unjustly enriching themselves, or maybe extortion?

I am unsure what word I should use to justify this except "penalty" which to my understanding, energy companies like EDF Energy are NOT allowed to charge, except when and IF I ever fall behind with my bills, which I never ever have.

When I can't pay, I usually phone them up, and tell them, and double up the next time, to cover the previous payment. So why they are targeting me, and probably everyone else who won't give them bank details is beyond me, what law gives them the right to get away with what is effectively extortion?

When I first joined EDF, my kWh rate was around 11p, how in just 3 years has that gone up to 17p? I honestly don't know.

Perhaps I can get them for mis selling or something similar?