Electric cut off by EDF

POPPYOSCAR

My daughter recently moved to a  house.

After a few hours the electric went off. They contacted the electric company who said they were on a prepayment meter however when it was all looked into they said the account was a mess and it was not a prepayment meter.

Anyway after spending a few hours on the phone to them they put the electric back on and the next day she had to ring them again and sort it all out which she did and set up a direct debit.

Now a month later the electric ha s been cut off again today. They are saying because it has not been topped up!!!

This was supposed to have been all sorted out. They have told her that it could take several hours to get the electric back on again. She asked to speak to a supervisor and they refused. She also asked to lodge a formal complaint which they said they cannot do until the electric is back on.

Where does she stand what can she do? She works from home so cannot work without the electric and what about the food in the fridge and freezer?

Any advice would be welcome.

MWT

Which electricity supplier?

POPPYOSCAR

the company is edf

EssexHebridean

Tell her under no circumstances to open the freezer, and to avoid opening the fridge if possible too - that will prolong the life of what is inside. Modern freezers are good for up to 24 hours so she should be OK there. 

She can also check the meter - it may have an option in its settings to switch her to emergency credit for the immediate. Then I'd suggest she calls back on the supplier's general number - make sure she has details of her DD in front of her to. This should get her to customer service, and they should be able to get her sorted out. If it is a modern smart meter they can change it from prepayment to regular remotely - it sounds as though this part of the arrangement was missed first time round. It may take a few hours but there's no reason why she can't have power back later today.  

POPPYOSCAR

She has already spoken to customer service and they have passed it to their technical department to deal with.

Customer service have said that the meter has to be changed by them and It has not been done yet or the department was not notified.

Customer service have to send a form to their technical department they cannot speak to them apparently.

Nothing else they can do. No apology computer says no mentality!!

POPPYOSCAR

No not missed it has been exhausted from when they first moved in.Customer services also said there was nothing they could do to give them any electric until the technical department deal with it.

POPPYOSCAR

Daughter has contacted them again and had an almighty row with them

Why does it have to be like this!

Now gone from nothing they can do to E DF sending a payment which should reach the meter within an hour so hopefully they will have electric back soon.

Something tells me she will be changing suppliers when everything in the market settle s down.

slipthru

It sounds as though she currently has a key meter for the Electric? Until the meter is changed to a credit meter she will need to top up, but if EDF are willing to send payments to the meter until they change it then that sounds good. 

POPPYOSCAR

I do not know what a key meter is. All I know is they have a smart meter and they were told by E DF when they moved into the property that the account was a mess and it should not be on prepayment.

It was supposed to have all been sorted out a direct debit was set up and payment has been taken from it.

POPPYOSCAR

Well so much for being back on within the hour.

She still has no electric.

EDF you should be ashamed of yourselves

Leaving people with no electricity for hours on end through no fault of their own is disgraceful.

MWT

Ask your daughter if there is an IHD in the house? (small display screen that comes with the smart meter and is usually plugged into a socket somewhere in the house).

If she has that, and it is working, she can see if the meter is in pre-pay or credit mode which would at least let her see if it is eventually fixed correctly...