No bill in years from EDF

Booangel1109

I have a smart meter and green deal with EDF. I get no annual bill and despite repeatedly contacting them about the issue where they ask me to send meter readings and create a bill these too disappear from my account.
I have contacted them again and they have again asked for meter readings.
can I ask for a breakdown of my usage going back years and what can I do about the fact I never get a bill.
according to my account I am £1000 in credit but I have no idea!!!
thanks in advance

heather

inspectorperez

This is very similar to my own experience after joining them earlier in the year on a 2 year fixed deal.

I have created my own spreadsheet and measure my monthly usage for dual fuel against the direct debits I am paying. Have already made a one off extra payment to ensure I don't end up with a large catch up bill.

I know this doesn't quite answer your 2 questions, but it might provide a small degree of reassurance that you are not the only one.

Just wondering if this situation is because they are still very busy taking new customers on board as SOLR for failed companies courtesy of OFGEM?

IanC_IB

When they do finally issue a bill it can only be for the last 12 months, so you stand a chance of coming out well ahead if you do nothing.

If they do send one it may initially be for all the missed years, and hence very high.  But don't panic, remind them of the industry back-billing regulations and they should adjust it to 1 year, which will still be high but more manageable.  Personally I'd put an amount per month into something like Premium Bonds that you can cash in if / when they finally send a bill.

There should be a button you can press on the smart meter to get a reading and work out a sensible amount to try and put aside for 12 months of energy use.

Curiousgirl1

Back billing only really applies if your bill shows a debit balance when it is produced. If you are £1000 in credit, I assume you pay by direct debit so if you are still in credit when the bill is produced, billing code will not apply 

IanC_IB

Curiousgirl1 said:

Back billing only really applies if your bill shows a debit balance when it is produced. If you are £1000 in credit, I assume you pay by direct debit so if you are still in credit when the bill is produced, billing code will not apply 

Why would back billing regulations not apply if you are in credit?  I've never seen any references to that sort of treatment - do you have any (that's a friendly Q, not a challenge ).

The regulations limit how much "new" debit they can apply to the account irrespective of whether it was in credit or debit at the time.

It could well be in credit because the correct estimated dual-fuel usage had been paid by DD for 18 months, but only one part (eg gas / electricity) has been appearing on bills.  The supplier should still only try to collect the 12m of recent usage, and write off the other 6 months.

clearancer

I’m with EDF and have smart meters. Been with them 12 months, only ever had estimated bills. I send them a reading every 4 weeks. When I chat with them on WhatsApp they tell me it’s a glitch they are sorting. I can’t find a cheaper tariff so I’m putting up with it.

IanC_IB

Curiousgirl1 said:

Back billing only really applies if your bill shows a debit balance when it is produced. If you are £1000 in credit, I assume you pay by direct debit so if you are still in credit when the bill is produced, billing code will not apply 

Your comments made me read more on that, as I hadn't seen that interpretation before.  I found a few cases on mSE where it had been applied.

I can see how it might have been valid when the Code of Conduct was in place, but think the Supplier Licence Conditions should clarify and lead to different events:

SLC 21BA.1 said:

...where the licensee or any Representative Issues a Bill to a Domestic Customer ... they must only do so in respect of: [the last 12 months]

That's pretty clear to me: the bill is valid only if it ignores anything before the 12 months. Once the bill is valid it can be applied to the account.

Gerry1

IanC_IB said:

Curiousgirl1 said:

Back billing only really applies if your bill shows a debit balance when it is produced. If you are £1000 in credit, I assume you pay by direct debit so if you are still in credit when the bill is produced, billing code will not apply 

Why would back billing regulations not apply if you are in credit?  I've never seen any references to that sort of treatment - do you have any (that's a friendly Q, not a challenge ).

Unfortunately it's true. 

Adverse Back-Billing decision

Curiousgirl1

IanC_IB I’m new to commenting & don’t know yet how to reply to just you so bear with me. 

If the bill is for gas & electricity & only one fuel has been billed then back billing code may apply to the other fuel only. 

However it’s not as straight forward as just writing off anything prior to 12 months regardless. 

It was introduced to stop energy companies trying to make customers pay for years worth of under paid bills. 

If a bill hasn’t been produced for over a year, for whatever reason & there is a huge catch up bill then it’s worked out what the balance would have been only using the last 12 months usage, minus any payments made & that is what the bill will be - anything additional is removed. If a bill is in credit, there is no catch up to pay therefore billing code does not apply. 

I used to work in the Billing dept of one of the ‘Big 6’ & used to do these on a daily basis 

IanC_IB

Gerry1 said:

Unfortunately it's true. 

Adverse Back-Billing decision

Yes, I read that but I think Ombudsman is mistakenly continuing to apply the "can’t seek additional payment" test from the old CoC.  The revised SLC don't say the same so the same test should not be applied.  I quoted the relevant part above.  A bill is not valid if it includes charges over 12m old.

Until someone tests that the strict wording of SLC applies rather than fuzzy words of CoC Ombudsman will presumably continue to use outdated behaviour.

IanC_IB

Curiousgirl1 said:

... it’s worked out what the balance would have been only using the last 12 months usage, minus any payments made & that is what the bill will be - anything additional is removed. If a bill is in credit, there is no catch up to pay therefore billing code does not apply.

Thanks, and I appreciate the clarity you bring. It's still wrong though. I won't try and contrive an example here, but that is saying that if the credit you had built up at the 12m cut-off is a bigger number (eg £600) than the amount previously unbilled (eg £500) AND you ask them to apply BB rules they'd write off the remaining credit (£100) that should be used against the last 12m of bills.