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

Gerry1

alex_s_3 said:

wakeupalarm said:

Can anyone clarify if the back billing rules would apply in this situation as I thought it only applied if a bill hadn't been issued but with billing errors the supplier was able to correct the bill?

The Ofgem rules are pretty clear. Search for "Ofgem energy back-billing rules":

"You can’t be charged for gas or electricity used more than 12 months ago if you have not been correctly billed for it before."

So yes the backbilling maximum does apply if they previously issued you an incorrect bill. I believe the general rule is if the error is your fault then you have to pay for it. So if you knowingly gave the wrong meter readings for more than a year, then they could back-bill you for it. If you unknowingly gave the wrong readings then they wouldn't be able to.

Unfortunately there's a massive loophole.

If your energy company had ramped up your DD so that they were sitting on a nice pile of cash that would have been sufficient to pay the bill if they'd managed to calculate it correctly, the wonderful Ombudsman has ruled that the backbilling rule doesn't apply, so they can get off scot free.

Adverse Back-Billing decision

Sadly, the backingbilling rule is designed only to make sure you're not suddenly hit with a demand you can't pay, not to encourage energy companies to get their billing correct in the first place. 

jimjames

k_man said:

@Curiousgirl1 There is also a potential safety issue with the meter that may 'flush' out the calculation issue if/when resolved.

They might not even notice that if the meter gets replaced. New meter added with new units and old one retired with final reading.

We had a similar problem with old imperial meter showing on bill as metric and that was also in our favour although not as much as this. When meter changed it was just swapped and nothing more

Petriix

My advice is to hang on to that meter for as long as possible and keep paying for just 1% of your usage. You've given them sufficient information and have no further responsibility. I recently had my electric meter replaced with a new smart meter to enable me to use the Octopus Go tariff, but my gas supply is still with Bulb and my old gas meter still in place - there is no need to have it changed. Just make sure you don't build up loads of credit!

JEN9

alex_s_3 
I thought this information about how to convert gas units to kWh from Valda energy might be what EDF are doing...? 

If your imperial meter measures in cubic feet rather than hundreds of cubic feet, you'll need to use 0.0283 for step 2 rather than 2.83. If it uses thousands of cubic feet, you'll need to use 28.3 instead. Your meter will usually say 'x100' or 'x1000' to indicate the higher units of measurement.

macman

I don't understand this. Have imperial meters ever measured units in cu ft rather than 100's cu ft? If so, at what date were the last 'single cu ft' meters installed? 
If they didn't, why would this option even be built into the billing system at EDF?