EDF overcharging?

MKen

Hi!

Me and my boyfriend changed energy providers to EDF around Jan/Feb this year as they were cheaper.
We payed a fix amount for electricity in our 1 bed flat in Sheffield. The fixed amount was around £51.
When our tenancy was over and we moved out in July, we received a final bill of £800 from EDF, on top the the fixed bill we had been paying.
We thought this was odd as we didn’t use an unusual amount of electricity as we both work and for around 6 months of electricity use this seemed much more than a family would use in a house.

So we disputed this with them. They agreed to look into this but still took £800 out of my boyfriends account. We called them about this and they paused the bills until the dispute had been resolved and put the £800 back in his account.

For months they were unable to tell us if the dispute had been resolved, they would leave online chats as well as my boyfriend not being able to get through to them on the phone.

However, the reason they claim we owe them £800 is because we very stupidly didn’t give a meter reading until we moved out. Which is just our fault. So they £800 is an estimate reading as we could not provide one from Jan/Feb.

We continued to dispute/try to understand this and didn’t hear from them for months. We have now after not hearing from them received a letter today saying this is a final warning and legal action will be taken - you must pay this bill. (Debt collectors, credit rating etc)

My boyfriend has been trying to deal with them for months and getting no where and is causing him huge amounts of stress and worry so he would like to pay the £800 in instalments.
However I want to check to see if this is right or if there is anything we can do or what people think.
Is it just our fault for not checking the meter properly and they have the right to charge us for an ‘estimate.’

I have just graduated from university and living on our own for the first time I really don’t understand how this works and help/advice would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post!

Thanks!

JJ_Egan

Its not a fixed amount for all you use .
Its a monthly payment towards your estimated total costs .

Meter readings start meter readings end = what you used . multiplied by unit cost and daily standing charge .

Neil_Jones

And this is why you should be providing meter readings on a regular basis, otherwise all your bills are estimated and you get a massive bill at some point.


Its very simple: What you pay per month is TOWARDS your energy bill, it is not a case of "pay us £51 a month and you can eat all the gas and electricity you want". If that was the case we wouldn't have meters.

Your utilities are billed on usage through your meter, so if you don't provide any meter readings at all for six months, all EDF can do is guess what they are, and their guess will be as good as anybody else's. It sounds like you didn't give them any readings when you moved in either, which complicates the matter.

What you probably should have done, because hindsight is a wonderful thing, was let them have the £800 they took in the first place because it sounds like that's what you owe them. If you want to pay it in installments you will have to speak to EDF and hopefully they agree to this, otherwise the alternative is "Can't Pay Won't Pay" come knocking on your door.

Mr.Everready

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Meter readings start meter readings end = what you used . multiplied by unit cost and daily standing charge .

What was your end meter reading ?
What was your start meter reading ?
How much were you paying per unit ?

Takmon

Energy companies must get really fed up with this kinds of disputes/complaints.

OP you are basically saying that bill is too much so it's wrong and i want to make a complaint. But yet you have no understanding of how energy billing works and don't even have any meter readings yet you continue to say it's wrong.
How exactly do you expect them to sort this out when you can't even tell them how it's wrong.

There is plenty of information available online about how energy billing works so it's your fault you didn't know about providing meter readings.

RelievedSheff

As you cant prove that you have not used this energy I would take it as a lesson learned, pay the bill and make sure you take regular meter readings in future to ensure your Bill's are accurate.

Kowman

MKen wrote: »

Hi!

Me and my boyfriend changed energy providers to EDF around Jan/Feb this year as they were cheaper.
We payed a fix amount for electricity in our 1 bed flat in Sheffield. The fixed amount was around £51.
When our tenancy was over and we moved out in July, we received a final bill of £800 from EDF, on top the the fixed bill we had been paying.
We thought this was odd as we didn’t use an unusual amount of electricity as we both work and for around 6 months of electricity use this seemed much more than a family would use in a house.

So we disputed this with them. They agreed to look into this but still took £800 out of my boyfriends account. We called them about this and they paused the bills until the dispute had been resolved and put the £800 back in his account.

For months they were unable to tell us if the dispute had been resolved, they would leave online chats as well as my boyfriend not being able to get through to them on the phone.

However, the reason they claim we owe them £800 is because we very stupidly didn’t give a meter reading until we moved out. Which is just our fault. So they £800 is an estimate reading as we could not provide one from Jan/Feb.

We continued to dispute/try to understand this and didn’t hear from them for months. We have now after not hearing from them received a letter today saying this is a final warning and legal action will be taken - you must pay this bill. (Debt collectors, credit rating etc)

My boyfriend has been trying to deal with them for months and getting no where and is causing him huge amounts of stress and worry so he would like to pay the £800 in instalments.
However I want to check to see if this is right or if there is anything we can do or what people think.
Is it just our fault for not checking the meter properly and they have the right to charge us for an ‘estimate.’

I have just graduated from university and living on our own for the first time I really don’t understand how this works and help/advice would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post!

Thanks!

You can get a copy of all readings from the property, you may have to do a subject access request if they will not play ball. These readings are anonymous on a 3rd party shared database so there is no GDPR reason not to provide them

I suggest you get an energy tracker App, I have one, you take a photo of your meter and it records the meter reading, giving you predictions etc. You can put in your contract rate and it will tell you the costs.

Only you will know if you were foolish with the home temperature, boiler or heating settings, but you will learn from this, I pay under half that £800 per annum. The idea that the £800 is the EXTRA should have you questioning the meter etc, but difficult to do now you have gone.

Maybe go explain to new tenant/owner and have them check it.

Gerry1

Sounds like you didn't have gas and had to rely on electricity for heating. That's always very expensive, especially if you're using full price electricity (panel radiators, electric fires, fan heaters etc). Electric power showers are also very expensive, especially if you have lots of leisurely showers.

So what heating did you use?

The lack of an opening meter reading also means that you may be paying for the previous tenants' use.

The best you can hope for is time to pay, and possibly a modest compensation sum if EDF didn't treat you fairly when you sought a payment plan. See Citizens Advice.