EDF are miscalculating my gas usage by 100 times. Does this affect anyone else?

alex_s_3

I have had an account with EDF for several years. In all that time, it appears they have been charging me 100 less for my gas usage than they should have. This is because they appear to be calculating my usage by assuming my readings are in cubic feet instead of hundreds of cubic feet. As far as I can tell all the main energy suppliers expect you to provide measurements in hundreds of cubic feet EDF included. As you will see, this is 100% their miscalculation, not mine.

The meter is an old meter that measures in cubic feet and looks like this:



As you can see there are 4 digits in white and 2 digits in red (which read 3 and 0). EDF require you to enter only the first four digits of an imperial gas meter like this:



For the last several years I've been doing exactly this. In fact there's no way for me to enter more than 4 digits even if I wanted to:



Now take a look at my bill:



You can see how they calculated 33 gas units used between April and October last year - this is all correct so far. If you read other threads on this forum you'll see people mention that a gas unit in this context means 100 cubic feet of gas. Now they say this equates to 11kWh. This is incorrect. 3300 cubic feet (or 33 gas units) is actually 1037 kWh. If you use the very formula shown on the bill then you will get this figure. The formula is the same as the one given on the government website (search for "Gas meter readings and bill calculation")

33 * 2.83 * 39.1 * 1.02264 / 3.6 = 1037.2 (correct)

If you assume cubic feet rather than 100s of cubic feet then the calculation becomes:

33 * 0.0283 * 39.1 * 1.02264 / 3.6 = 10.4 (incorrect)


Finally, as you can see I'm being charged very little for gas (if you take away the standing charge). 12p per month doesn't sound right, does it? In fact, if I use EDF's own calculations, then I used only about 67 kWh in the last year compared with the average for a household of my size of 8000 kWh. Clearly this should be 6700kWh instead.

Can any other EDF customers with an imperial gas meter confirm they are being charged the right amount? I find it hard to imagine how this could happen by anything other than a systematic error which makes me think there are probably others who are also affected. I understand that if I raise the issue with EDF, then I can be charged no more than a year of back-payments which I will pay if necessary. However, I don't really want to be the cause of thousands of others receiving an unexpected gas bill especially at times like these.

Verdigris

The 3 and the 0 are the tens and units. The last 4 is hundreds of cubic feet.

The meter dates from 1982 and should have been changed, years ago. Also the corrosion is severe enough to warrant a change on safety grounds.

The cash total looks about right for the summer period but the way the bill is set out is very confusing. Par for the course for EDF, of course.

alex_s_3

Thanks - do you think I'm being undercharged or not?

Verdigris

At 3p/kWh I don't think 200-odd pounds too low for the summer period. It's just very opaque how they reached that figure. You'll be in for a shock when your fix ends, though, as the April cap price is over 7p/kWh.

MWT

Something is very wrong with that calculation, especially as I suspect that total includes electricity as the gas total is above it, I think we just don't have the electricity calculation shown.

Clearly 33 'units' of 100 cu ft is not 11kWh... so yes, that looks like a dramatic undercharge.

QrizB

alex_s_3 said:

Thanks - do you think I'm being undercharged or not?

Yes, you are.

Verdigris used to be a meter reader and if he says it's unsafe, I'd take his word for it. Call EDF and ask them to replace it.

alex_s_3

I mean - do you think EDF miscalculated my bill or do you think it's correct? I'm convinced they have it wrong but I can't tell from what you've said what your opinion is. For what it's worth, my meter read 2344 yesterday which according to EDF's calculations will work out to £13.15 since the end of October (i.e. the entire winter). That seems quite a bit less than I would expect given I've had the heating on most days.

QrizB

alex_s_3 said:

I mean - do you think EDF miscalculated my bill or do you think it's correct?

I think EDF have miscalculated.

alex_s_3

MWT said:

Something is very wrong with that calculation, especially as I suspect that total includes electricity as the gas total is above it, I think we just don't have the electricity calculation shown.

Clearly 33 'units' of 100 cu ft is not 11kWh... so yes, that looks like a dramatic undercharge.

Yes that is definitely worth pointing out. The bill is part of a dual tariff so the £218 total includes that. I should have cropped that out to avoid confusion.

Thanks for your assessment of the unit conversion. I would like to know if any other EDF customers can check if their bills are also being miscalculated.

Verdigris

Verdigris used to be a meter reader and if he says it's unsafe, I'd take his word for it.

You're very kind.

Seriously, though, BG had a purge on corroded meters a few years ago and that is definitely a reportable one, by their criteria.

Petriix

If I were you I'd keep sending them readings and paying whatever they ask for. They will only be able to claim back the most recent 12 months worth of usage under back billing rules.