EDF Owner/Occupier Bill - Too High

mikaelf

Hi Everyone 
I have received a bill from EDF Energy for Electricty and Gas of £120 for the period of 24 October to 9 November.  I became responsible for the house from 24 October when I bought it but did not move in until 6 November (I submitted meter readings to my new supplier, Octopus Energy on 5 November). 
The previous reading they have used to calculate the start of the usage is only estimated as the previous owner did not submit a final reading. 
I was wondering if I have any methods I can use to get them to reduce the requested payments as £120 would be excessive for the full period of time the bill is for never mind that we only resided in the house for three days. 
Can you also let me know if I am ok to withhold payment while the matter is in dispute?
Thanks in advance.

Gerry1

Unfortunately, failing to register with the existing supplier and give an opening meter reading is the classic mistake, as shown by many threads on this forum.  Worst of all, you might still be with EDF on an expensive deemed tariff.

Start by confirming who is really supplying you.

Find My Electricity Supplier

Find My Gas Supplier

It would be better to calculate what you think you owe EDF and pay that immediately.

Hasbeen

You became responsible for energy use from the 24th October.
You would be on a deemed tariff with existing energy supplier from that date.

That would be when you contacted them, registered and gave your first meter readings.

Once that was done you are free to switch to an other supplier.

You then pay Bill's from the 24th October until the day you actually are switched and registered with new.

Robin9

@mikaelf I think you may have got off very lightly with £120   - 

Just wondering who has got the bill up to 24th October.

matelodave

 You are responsible to the existing supplier on what is called a deemed contract for any standing charges or energy from the date you became responsible for the property, not the day that you moved in..

Your problem could be that the previous occupier my not have given an accurate or any reading at all when they left, that is why you must read the meter and open an account in your own name with the existing supplier on the very first day. You cannot swap suppliers until you have done that.
As Gerry says you really need to check who your supplier is just in case you are still a deemed customer of EDF.

There are thousands of posts from other who have had the same problem and it's very difficult to get it sorted out especially if the previous customer has failed to close their account or give a forwarding address. To a degree you are lucky as it's come to light quite quickly, some people end up trying to sort the mess out months or even years later and find that they are still on an expensive deemed tariff with the previous supplier because their transfer did not get completed

Hasbeen

OP. Did you actually do any or all the must do points as above posts??

You seem to have acquired  Octupus energy very quickly

You might end up with this change to octupus cancelled until you are in the clear with your existing supplier.

Gerry1

You're lucky that you're a homeowner rather than a renter: presumably you have the previous owner's name and new address so it's more likely to be an honest omission on their part (rather like yours) rather than any deliberate attempt to underpay.

An unknown renter could have given a very low reading and then disappeared without trace, and that would have been very difficult to resolve (especially if the problem did not become apparent for several months).

Are the EDF meter readings the same as those you gave to Octopus, or are they estimates?  It would be helpful to post screen shots of the meter readings (redact personal info) and to think in terms of kWh not ££; deemed tariffs are always hideously expensive so it's harder to work out what amount is reasonable.

You also need to make sure that the gas meter has been billed correctly (i.e. no imperial / metric mix up) and that you sent a gas reading volume (m3 or hundreds of cubic feet) reading, not kWh.  Again, screenshots of meters would be helpful.

mikaelf

Thanks for the replied everyone. 
It's my first time being responsible for the utilities and I applied for to use Octopus straight away but they couldn't switcvh on until 10 November.  The account with EDF has been closed, the above figure is the total closing bill for the 17 days on the deemed contract.  In hindsight I should have contacted them straight away and sorted it out.

The meter readings for the end period of the seven days are the one's I provided to Octopus but the start of the period (cited as previous reading) are estimates and what I disagree with.

I have made a formal complaint and they took a reading from me today and have agreed to call me back and take one on 4 December to see whether what they have charged me is excessive in relation to my use. 

Unfortunately this won't reflect the period I was charged for given I wasn't living in the house for most of that but should at least reduce it a bit as what they have calculated for the gas usage is around 180kwh a day and my smart meter on Octopus hasn't been above 50kwh in a single day. 

From you advice and what I've read elsewhere I think that this is probably the best I can hope for and chalk it down to an error on my part and just pay up (hopefully less than first billed though!)

Gerry1

mikaelf said:

my smart meter on Octopus hasn't been above 50kwh in a single day.

Was the smart meter already installed when you took possession of the property?

If so, it will have stored a year's worth of usage information at half hourly intervals, even it had previously gone dumb.  It may require a physical visit, but your opening reading needs to be extracted from it.  You should then get an accurate opening bill from EDF, and the previous occupier should get an accurate closing bill.

mikaelf

Gerry1 said:

mikaelf said:

my smart meter on Octopus hasn't been above 50kwh in a single day.

Was the smart meter already installed when you took possession of the property?

If so, it will have stored a year's worth of usage information at half hourly intervals, even it had previously gone dumb.  It may require a physical visit, but your opening reading needs to be extracted from it.  You should then get an accurate opening bill from EDF, and the previous occupier should get an accurate closing bill.

The smart meter was already installed.  I will raise that with them, thanks very much for that 

Gerry1

Don't forget to come back and tell us how you got on !  Sadly, many people don't bother, which means that posters and 'lurkers' won't know whether the advice given did the trick.