Is there a former Utility point Customer please?

Fred2712

The problems for suppliers is once you have cancelled your DD & the change of supplier is in progress they can’t then set up DD until that change of supplier has finalised which in total can take usually 6-7 weeks (3 weeks to change + another 3 or 4 weeks to go Live on their systems).

t0rt0ise

Ofcom's advice was that you can cancel the DD which is why I did, especially as I was already £260 in credit. I left EDF as soon as I could so will only cost me a couple of pounds but more for others in a similar position.

SickofEDF

I am in the same situation as others on here and think my experience may be informative, if not exactly helpful.

I'd been with Utility Point for several years and found them to be excellent at producing regular, accurate bills. When I learned that they had ceased trading I naturally cancelled my Direct Debit (£56.93) as I had built up almost £130 credit. My brother had lost a substantial amount of money when payments taken after the failure of one of his suppliers subsequently disappeared.

A day or two later I got the e-mail from EDF saying they were to take over my supply. Their e-mail stated ‘EDF started supplying your energy on 18 September. Your prices will be matched to Standard (Variable) to give you a guaranteed rate through winter, as well as protection from changing wholesale energy prices. These are our cheapest prices’

There were NO price details, which I found somewhat alarming, so I tried to find out about EDF’s ‘Standard (Variable)’ tariff, without success. In fact their statement contained a number of lies. I had NOT been put on on the Standard (Variable) but their ‘EDF Welcome_CC’ tariff which, far from being their cheapest, turns out to be the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM that Ofgem allow firms to charge CREDIT customers.

On 10 Nov, 7½ weeks later, I was told ‘You’re on our Welcome Variable tariff. Your prices are matched to Standard (Variable) and are guaranteed through this winter. You can find your prices here – enter your postcode and tariff name (Welcome Variable) then press enter’. That link did NOT work and I was NOT on the Welcome Variable tariff – more lies.

On 11 Nov I was told ‘Good news, we've nearly completed your switch and we'll be supplying your electricity by 8 November 2021’. Given the lack of ‘cooling off fortnight’ I’d expected everything to be sorted in 3 to 4 weeks. So who had been my supplier between 18 Sep and 8 Nov?

That e-mail gave an account number (as though one had been fully set up). However, when I tried to use it there were no options to:

a) Set up a new Direct Debit

b) Contact EDF via online chat

c) Supply the asked-for meter readings

d) Find details of my tariff

e) Change tariff

f) See bills

g) Find any help

In fact the account was completely unusable. I was tied into a firm I did not want on an exorbitant maximum tariff of their choosing which they repeatedly LIED about charging me. The following day EDF e-mailed to say ‘A little welcome from us now you’re a fully-fledged EDF customer’. Again, completely untrue as the web-site still did not work for me.

On 26 Nov I made a complaint using the text number they supplied. There has never been any response, not even an acknowledgement.

On 17 Dec I got a final bill, supposedly from Utility Point. As others have said, this shows three tariffs:

My contracted UP tariff (Ruby) up until 17 Sep,

a higher tariff named "EDF Welcome_CC" from 18 to 30 Sep,

then a much higher "EDF Welcome_CC" from 1 Oct to 7 Nov

This bill almost exactly wiped out the £130 credit I’d built up with UP and the actual tariff I was being charged became clear. It was well above the Ofgem price cap level for a dual-fuel Direct Debit customer.

On 21 Dec I got an EDF bill, for electricity only, covering 8 Nov to 26 Nov. I'd expected to continue as a dual-fuel Direct Debit customer but appeared to have been locked by EDF into single fuel, pay in cash, without my agreement or any discussion.

On 26 Dec I finally found it possible to change online to the Standard Variable tariff & specify Direct Debit as my payment method. It had taken a total of 14 weeks for EDF to set up my account with them and allow me to choose my tariff & payment method. This when they obviously had my details by 20 Sep.

I was then sent a further bill, this time for the period since 8 Nov, all at the inflated tariff they had chosen. The Direct Debit I'd arranged (£89) was not taken in January on the agreed date. Instead, EDF grabbed £144.47 from my bank account 4 days later to cover the bill I’d been sent. The result of this will surely be that they will be looking to increase my DD when they realise that they are a month behind with collections.

I made further complaints & have been stunned at how unhelpful & deliberately evasive this firm has been. It has been like arguing with Boris Johnson. They even appeared to be arguing that the Standard Variable tariff is not a domestic but a business one.

From what I can surmise, all the customers transferred from Utility Point have been put onto a (maximum Ofgem will allow) ‘pay by cash/cheque’ tariff called ‘EDF Welcome_CC’ until such time as they realise that EDF misled them and that the normal Standard Variable tariff is cheaper. So much for ‘these are our cheapest prices’. People I know have much cheaper tariffs with EDF.

Of course I am looking to change supplier once I can find one accepting new customers, even for the same Ofgem cap tariff & have commenced an Ofgem complaint about the abysmal behaviour of EDF which, incidentally, is making a huge windfall profit from selling electricity produced by its nuclear stations at the price of that generated by gas-powered stations.