EDF chasing after final bill paid! Help!

Jamesletherbarrow

Hi all, long time lurker and your advice has always proved very helpful in past so thanks.

So between April 2017 and September 2018 I was living in a tenancy and paying for EDF energy, around £40 a month. I tried to set up my account over the phone when I loved in, I was told I needed to do it online. I said I couldn't do it online as I had no internet access (no internet in flat and phone reception not good enough). They therefore set me up on a tariff, didn't ask for meter reads.

In July 2017 I submitted a read and from that point I was then billed an extra £10 a month, so £50 in total. Fair enough. This continues until I left the property. I informed EDF I was moving and needed to close the account, submitted final reads, and was given a £650 final bill. I questioned this as it was at least double the average amount for a property of that size. I said I wanted to settle the account but felt that this was not the correct amount as it was very unlikely I had used double the energy of the average user.

EDF responded by sending me a bill based entirely on estimates for the whole period, which left an outstanding amount of £51. I confirmed via live text that if I paid the £51 my account would be closed and they said yes. Naturally, I paid it and moved on with my life. This was in October 2018.

Move forward to late December 2018 and EDF have sent me post to my new address (I didn't provide this so not sure how they got it) stating I owed them £650 and needed to pay them urgently. Since December I have been going back and forth via email with them. I have been told that:
-my meter reads submitted were wrong so they changed it to an estimate
-that I hadn't submitted meter reads at all so they used estimates (I didn't)
-that the next user had submitted significantly higher opening reads so they changed my end reads as they just have been wrong (they weren't)
-I was told that if I wanted to question the opening estimate I needed to contact the previous TENANTS as well as the letting agency and ask them to contact EDF
-I was also told that EDF would contact them for me

The list goes on but essentially every time I spoke to an advisor there was a different reason that contradicted the previous advisor. My questions were almost always ignored.

I asked for this to be turned until an official complaint and to stop sending bills (by mid Jan they had turned to threat of bailiff and court action). I said I wasn't going to pay whilst I was debating a bill and I shouldn't be asked for payment whilst a dispute was outstanding.

I finally had an actual complaint opened in middle of January. It explained that whoever sent me an estimated final bill should not have done so, so I now owed them the extra £650. I was told if I didn't reply to them within 3 days they would consider it resolved, and would expect payment. I responded the same day to the email stating that it's not my fault that an EDF agent has made a mistake. I said that I questioned the bill and the EDF response was to send me a new bill that I then paid in good faith.

I did not get a response for just under a month until I received another bill saying if I don't pay with 3 days, they will take me to court.

This time I rang their complaints team (I had previously done everything via email for records). I was told they hadn't received my response to their email (it was sent on same day to the correct address). I was told they would look into it.

I received an email the next day again saying that EDF should not have sent out a final bill based on estimates and rebilled me from the £650. She said that she had contacted the letting agency who provided her with the meter readings from my check in. Interestingly and as an aside, I have never received those readings. When I moved in I did not receive a check in inventory, I asked for these for 18 months and was always told they were looking for them.

Naturally I emailed the letting agency and asked for these reads myself. I was told they had sent them to EDF and wouldn't therefore send them to me...

This is extremely frustrating, I paid 40/50 every single month and I have never tried to avoid paying a bill. All I did was question the high usage of the bill as I suspect I am being billed for a previous tenants usage. It is not my fault EDF made a mistake and I paid my bill in good faith. It is almost 6 months on from my leaving the property and I wanted this dealt with in September, not February of the following year.

Any advice please??

MovingForwards

Can I just clarify something?

You never gave them a meter reading when you moved in but you have them one when you left?

Did you give them any other readings for the time you were there?

Was it has? Electric? Or both?

Bigphil1474

OP, the question you really aren't answering is whether they are billing you for energy you actually used or not. Forget what you were paying, it's what you used that is important. If they have a start reading and an end reading, they know what energy you used and how much that cost. That total, minus what you paid, is what you owe. Sounds like either the start or end readings aren't what you expect, and if you didn't provide a first reading (from you) until July, then you would have no idea how much energy you used between April and July. Check all your bills. Did you get one in July, does it have a start reading. It's a bit late now, but really you should have provided a meter reading when you set the account up, and then on a regular basis after that, until the final reading when you left. Don't rely on letting agents or energy companies to do things properly, they often don't. Only thing you can do now is review your bills, see if you can work out what the cost should be.
The bit about you paying an amount at the end based on an estimated is really irrelevant. They would always going to adjust it once they got the new reading for the new tenants if it was massively different to what they had used for the estimate.
Hopefully, where you live now, you have taken meter readings from the start? If you can, it's usually better to have access to an online account - even if you don't have internet at home, you can obviously get online elsewhere - That way you can see if your payments are matching your usage so you don't end up with a big final bill again.

Cardew

She said that she had contacted the letting agency who provided her with the meter readings from my check in. Interestingly and as an aside, I have never received those readings. When I moved in I did not receive a check in inventory, I asked for these for 18 months and was always told they were looking for them.

Naturally I emailed the letting agency and asked for these reads myself. I was told they had sent them to EDF and wouldn't therefore send them to me...

Welcome to the forum.



EDF will give you those readings, and, as you suspect, it is probable you are paying for the previous occupant's electricity. That would be why they increased your DD by £10 a month after only 3 months. You can roughly check this by calculating 'your' consumption for the 3 month period between the readings given by the letting agent for April 17 and the actual reading you gave in July 17. As it was for Spring/Summer it should not be high consumption.


You should ask EDF if those opening readings are the same as the final readings for the previous occupant.

that the next user had submitted significantly higher opening reads so they changed my end reads as they just have been wrong (they weren't)

Have the letting agents confirmed your closing readings were correct? or are they supporting the new occupant's opening readings?


The bottom line is that EDF can expect to be paid from the final meter readings of the occupant before yourself, to the opening readings of the occupant after you had vacated.


So IMHO the main fault lies with the letting agent, who appears to landed you with the cost of energy consumption for the whole period.



Unfortunately you are also at fault by not reading your meters on the day you occupied the property and ensured that both the Letting agent and EDF had those figures.



Personally I would write to the Letting Agent requesting compensation and, when they inevitably refuse, take them to the Small Claims Court.

martinlewisjunior

To keep things simple.

You should have made a note of the meter readings when you moved in. AND when you moved out. (Ideally with a photo)

Doesn’t matter of what happened in between. If you failed to do this. Then there isn’t much that can be done apart from try and find those readings somehow.

Jamesletherbarrow

Hi all,

To clarify, I took the final meter read, supported by photos that have been sent to EDF. In some emails they sent me they told me these were wrong, in other emails they said they were estimate reads and in others they said I didn't send them at all. They now accept these figures are in actuality correct.

I did not, unfortunately, get a meter read at the beginning. I know I should have, but it slipped my mind, and when I rang EDF to start the contract they did not ask for readings, which I admit I did think was odd at time.

My landlords did not give me an induction pack on start. It was in my contract that they should have provided all utility readings, provided a professional clean, an inventory etc etc. The flat was not clean and there were several defects which led me to believe no check out with precious tenants was ever done. I asked for this information periodically throughout my tenancy but was not given it.

The issue is that EDF are using meter reads provided by the letting agency (the letting agency are now refusing to provide this information to me directly themselves). I have it well documented that for two years my agents could not find this information for me so it is strange they managed to find it for EDF within one day.

I am questioning the accuracy of the opening reads. I received a bill yesterday, again, this one stated I submitted a read in July 2017. This read is 5000 units higher than the estimate that EDF were billing me on (about £1000 worth).

To be clear, if it can be proven that their opening read, or estimate, is accurate, or as close to accurate as can reasonably be expected, I am happy enough to pay. However, I do have so, so many emails from EDF contradicting themselves I am not currently prepared to accept that they haven't made another mistake with how they came to the opening read.

This is also what I asked for in September/October of last year. They responded to this by giving me a final bill based on estimates that they confirmed in writing would close my account should I pay it. Which I did.

As an aside, I have been given until 14th Feb to pay, else they are threatening court. When I responded to their email I had an automated response saying I will have a response in 5 days. That doesn't give much room for dialogue! Feels like I'm being pressured to pay somewhat.

Hope that clears things up as much as possible!

Thanks

James

Cardew

It is pretty clear that the error is because you are paying for the previous occupant's consumption. There is no way you could have used that amount of electricity in 3 months between April and July 2007.


That error is down to the letting agent and yourself not reading the meter when you moved in to the property.


Personally I would submit a claim to the letting agent and when they reject your claim, take them to the Small Claims Court.


It would help if EDF would provide you with the last meter readings, and date, they have for the previous occupant.

Jamesletherbarrow

Cardew wrote: »

It is pretty clear that the error is because you are paying for the previous occupant's consumption. There is no way you could have used that amount of electricity in 3 months between April and July 2007.


That error is down to the letting agent and yourself not reading the meter when you moved in to the property.


Personally I would submit a claim to the letting agent and when they reject your claim, take them to the Small Claims Court.


It would help if EDF would provide you with the last meter readings, and date, they have for the previous occupant.

I have asked EDF for this information and they have refused to do so, stating data protection of the previous occupants as the reason!

alfie1950

The point is that you can't prove what the meter readings were on the day you moved in. This was your error.
You are most likely paying for some of the previous tennant's supply.
As has been advised you should sue the letting agent for at least some of the outstanding amount however if you leave this debt outstanding in the meantime it could ruin your credit history which could be an even bigger issue than just paying it yourself.

HampshireH

Ok. Whilst you cannot prove the opening reading from your tenure.

Can you prove your readings were submitted in subsequent months?

I ask as you could then evidence real readings contradict their "opening reading"

To be clear what are the following

April 2017 opening reading they claim to have been given

July 2017 reading you gave

Regular readings you gave up to when you left? & when was that?

Did you receive an annual statement at any time? An account review? What do EDF ts and Cs say about reviews etc?

Piecing all these together you should be able to work out your usage to be able to support your complaint

Cardew

Cardew wrote: »

That error is down to the letting agent and yourself not reading the meter when you moved in to the property.


Personally I would submit a claim to the letting agent and when they reject your claim, take them to the Small Claims Court.

I have asked EDF for this information and they have refused to do so, stating data protection of the previous occupants as the reason!

That is nonsense; without knowing the previous occupant's start reading, you would have no idea of their consumption; not that it is of any import.

If you go back through many threads on this forum there are lots of cases of Letting agents failing to carry out their responsibility, to read meters at the start and end of a tenancy; and leaving a tenant paying for another occupant's consumption.



If you took them to the small claims court, they would have to state, on oath, what readings they gave EDF at the end of the previous occupants tenancy, and the start and end readings of the your tenancy.



Whilst you obviously should have done this yourself, anticipating the letting agent's incompetance, it is the responsibility of the letting agent to carry out that task; you could have 'fiddled' your reading and the letting agent woukld have picked this up.


If you did sue I would be almost certain that the letting agent would settle out of court as they haven't a defence.