Visit from EDF rep without prior knowledge - Charging me £50 for the visit

mjfunk

Hi, I came home from the school run yesterday to a letter from EDF energy. A final notice before legal action. I owe under £400 on my electricity bill. I have been in contact and have been paying what I can each month. I was paying £100 a month until I lost my job 3 months ago and since losing my job I have been paying £50 a month. I know this does not cover the back log but I have no spare money and have been struggling to live. Should they be allowed to charge me for any visits when I had no prior knowledge that they were planning to visit.

JJ_Egan

Why are they visiting ??

welshmoneylover

Yes they can if you have debt and not paying enough for your usage. 

Arrange for a pre payment meter to be fitted to avoid any further debt or charges.
sorry you lost your job but you can’t pay what you can afford; you have to cover usage plus arrears.

dogshome

So apparently you had debt and EDF  imposed or accepted a repayment plan of £100 a month, which you kept to until loss of employment when you reduced it to £50 a month, thus breaking the agreement and EDF have set the dogs loose.

When notified of the debt, it was your right to negotiate a re-payment plan that you could afford

( though I suspect that you just accepted what EDF demanded) - WRITE to EDF advising them of your new circumstances with the offer of continued repayments at £50

welshmoneylover

No one has a right to demand a repayment plan they can afford, they have to cover their ongoing usage other wise the debt keeps building up.
i am sure it is against the suppliers licence condition that they are not allowed to keep a customer in debt, it has to be paid off.
you wouldn’t go to Waitrose and do a weekly shop of £150 and offer £75 at the till as that’s all you can afford. Imagine the scene if you attempted to leave with a trolley that has not been paid for? Unfortunately, there are repercussions for not paying enough.
try ringing stepchange if you need any financial budgeting tips and look at energy advice to reduce your consumption 

Gerry1

welshmoneylover said:

No one has a right to demand a repayment plan they can afford

Ofgem may not agree with you.

"If you are struggling to pay for your gas and electricity bills or you get into debt, contact your energy supplier as soon as you can. They must work with you to agree a payment plan you can afford."

Carrot007

Gerry1 said:

welshmoneylover said:

No one has a right to demand a repayment plan they can afford

Ofgem may not agree with you.

"If you are struggling to pay for your gas and electricity bills or you get into debt, contact your energy supplier as soon as you can. They must work with you to agree a payment plan you can afford."

Nice word semantics. I would however say that not covering current usage and debt repayment (even if just £1) is not affordable.

Though a short term break may have been agreed now I suspect OP's only option now is a prepay meter.

These things not just magically occur, they will havce been in contact. I suspect it was more a head in the sand thing. (and however understandable it never works out well, companies prefer to be told you can't pay and be updated on that monthly).

macman

Did you contact EDF when you could no longer afford £100 and agree to £50? If not, then that was the wrong move, because you breached the repayment schedule without contacting them. Once you do that, PPM's are the likely result.
We don't know what your normal DD would be without the arrears, but £50pm is unlikely to even cover ongoing usage, let alone reduce your debt.
You should contact them without delay and see if you can arrange a compromise.