EDF and their dodgy twice a year billing rule.

BronteLad

Just discovered tonight that EDF now only bill you twice a year when you pay by monthly direct debit, which effectively stops you from calculating your usage, even if you have a smart meter. They call it Budget Direct Debit. So who benefits? They do as it makes it harder to know how much youve used before you switch. And if you are on a year fix, you will have to rely on guess work. Naught naughty EDF!

MWT

How does that stop you calculating your use?

You have the meter and you probably have the In-Home Device (IHD) as well, so taking your own meter readings and calculating your usage and your bill is not tricky...

dogshome

EDF's 6 monthly billing obviously has financial advantages for EDF, but seriously dis-advantages the customer.

When checking my daughters EDF billing last year, I found that it did not include one of the monthly D/Debits taken over the billing period - Further checks showed it had left her bank and deeper digging on EDF's website found it listed as received by EDF, which meant that the final figure on the Statement/Bill, ( A legal document ), was pure fiction

The first response to a Complaint letter was " The terms of the tariff are 6 monthly billing and we can't re-issue an adjusted bill" - It took a second Complaint letter for EDF to scrap the the 1st bill and issue another with a later End Reading that included all the D/D payments.

Apart from billing errors, 6 monthly billing has a permanent dis-advantage for customers in that calculating the number of Kwh used a day is pointless, whereas with Quarterly, and even better Monthly billing, a check on Kwh per day is a very useful tool in pointing up failing appliances and children who don't seem to realise that every switch has an OFF position     

MWT

dogshome said:

Apart from billing errors, 6 monthly billing has a permanent dis-advantage for customers in that calculating the number of Kwh used a day is pointless, whereas with Quarterly, and even better Monthly billing, a check on Kwh per day is a very useful tool in pointing up failing appliances and children who don't seem to realise that every switch has an OFF position     

Help me out here, why does it become 'pointless' due to 6 monthly billing?

It doesn't matter how often you are billed, if you read your own meter you can calculate your own bill in a matter of moments...

Daily, weekly, monthly... whatever you want.

matelodave

When I was with SSE and their smart meter they did quarterly billing but it didn't stop me from doing my own meter readings and making my own calculations. Even with monthlty billing I still maintain my own records to ensure that I know what I'm using,I know what it's costing and I know whether my DD is on target to pay my annual energy bill.

It's not rocket science and it makes sure that you know what is going on rather than throwing you hands up in horror when a bill comes in and then blaming everyone else for your own shortcomings.

Just look at the hundreds of posts on this forum from people who cant believe what they've used, cant believe what its cost them and are blaming others or even worse trying to get compensation because they think it's unfair

GunJack

I was with EDF for around 6-7 years until April 2018, 6-month billing was never an issue when, as stated above, you read your meters every month (or two) and calculate your useage in kwh AND £....

Highland76

I recently joined EDF (have smart meters) and was a bit surprised they issue bills every 6 months for monthly direct debit customers. However when I called them to query this, they said they can issue bills more frequently provided I ring them up and request a bill to be generated - they will take meter reads remotely for the new bill. So whilst its not ideal having to call them up, at least they can issue bills more frequently. I plan to get bills issued every 2-3 months, so not the end of the world.

tempus_fugit

MWT said:

dogshome said:

Apart from billing errors, 6 monthly billing has a permanent dis-advantage for customers in that calculating the number of Kwh used a day is pointless, whereas with Quarterly, and even better Monthly billing, a check on Kwh per day is a very useful tool in pointing up failing appliances and children who don't seem to realise that every switch has an OFF position     

Help me out here, why does it become 'pointless' due to 6 monthly billing?

It doesn't matter how often you are billed, if you read your own meter you can calculate your own bill in a matter of moments...

Daily, weekly, monthly... whatever you want.

You can, but it helps to be able to double check it against what the energy company are claiming that you are using as it is not guaranteed to be the same, even when regularly submitting readings. I like monthly statements and will always try and use a company that will provide that, or at least some way of seeing your usage online.

MWT

The metered amount is not something there can be a debate about, that is the point about having a meter...

No doubt that monthly is best, but as long as you read the meter it really isn't subject to interpretation.

badmemory

When they are doing it 6 monthly how do they decide what calorific value to use for the gas?

harz99

tempus_fugit said:

MWT said:

dogshome said:

Apart from billing errors, 6 monthly billing has a permanent dis-advantage for customers in that calculating the number of Kwh used a day is pointless, whereas with Quarterly, and even better Monthly billing, a check on Kwh per day is a very useful tool in pointing up failing appliances and children who don't seem to realise that every switch has an OFF position     

Help me out here, why does it become 'pointless' due to 6 monthly billing?

It doesn't matter how often you are billed, if you read your own meter you can calculate your own bill in a matter of moments...

Daily, weekly, monthly... whatever you want.

You can, but it helps to be able to double check it against what the energy company are claiming that you are using as it is not guaranteed to be the same, even when regularly submitting readings. I like monthly statements and will always try and use a company that will provide that, or at least some way of seeing your usage online.

And OVO fits that bill completely when a smart meter is in use IMHO.