Can EDF change my tariff price a week into my new tariff?

DilleyPad

Hello,
so this might be long winded but I’ll try to keep it short. 

So I moved in October 2020 and started a fixed rate tariff with EDF at £74 a month for a 3 bed house. 

Now this tariff ended in October 2021 and because of the rising energy prices I decided to just roll over onto the variable rate. I had an email from them confirming this new rate and they kept my direct debits at £74 a month. 

Fast forward to now and I receive a random email from them saying thank you for signing up for my new fixed rate tariff at £74. So I called them and said I did not sign up for this new tariff and would they explain how I’m on this tariff. I didn’t get much of an answer, they just said that I probably did it without realising, as they can see my account activity and how I’ve been looking at tariffs regularly. So I accepted this, and I stayed on this new tariff as a fixed rate at £74 a month for 2 years seems very good in current times. 

Now today I receive my bill. They have taken all my credit that was on the account and have changed my direct debits to £140 a month! 

So my question is, how can they do this after just sending me my new fixed rate at £74 a month? 

This is my first experience with any utility company as it is my first house so please go easy if this is just normal practice for utility companies to do this. 

Thank you. 

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

DilleyPad said:

So I moved in October 2020 and started a fixed rate tariff with EDF at £74 a month for a 3 bed house.

Fixed tariffs involve a fixed price per kWh and a fixed daily standing charge, not a fixed monthly payment. The monthly payment will be recalculated periodically and will depend on your actual energy use.

Now this tariff ended in October 2021 and because of the rising energy prices I decided to just roll over onto the variable rate. I had an email from them confirming this new rate and they kept my direct debits at £74 a month. 

Fast forward to now and I receive a random email from them saying thank you for signing up for my new fixed rate tariff at £74. So I called them and said I did not sign up for this new tariff and would they explain how I’m on this tariff.

What is the name of the tariff you are currently on? What are the unit rates and daily standing charges?

And what is your estimated annual consumption (it will be shown on your bill)?

Ultrasonic

Your usage will allow this to be calculated, but if you were on a cheaper fix at £74 per month in October 2020 then £140 per month now isn't obviously wrong I'm afraid.

elsien

You haven’t signed up to a fixed payment of £74 a month. You’ve signed up to a fixed cost per unit of energy.
Your usage will be higher in the winter and lower in the summer so the aim is for the higher winter use to be balanced out by a lower summer use and for your monthly direct debit to cover that over the year. 
If the energy company thinks that your monthly payment won’t cover the annual cost then they increase it so you don’t end up hugely in debt. 

Do you know what your annual consumption is on KWh? You need that and your specific tariff to be able to do the sums. 

Also to add, do you have a smart meter and do you send regular readings? Is your new bill based on a reading or an estimate? 

ProDave

If you had a better supplier, such as Octopus, it would be very easy to see in your on line account how much you have been using, what it is costing, how much in debt or credit your account is etc.  And if you need to change the monthly payment, YOU can do that or make a one off payment to clear a debt for instance.

I assume the OP has just been paying his monthly payment and taking no interest in his actual usage or whether the account is in debt or credit.

DilleyPad

Thanks for the answers. I actually had no idea it was fixed on the kWh and not fixed on price! 

We have a smart meter and I presume it sends meter readings as EDF do not ask for any readings. 

I’ve had a look through all the emails and I can see that 38.11p pet kWh and 37.92p a day standing charge for electric. 

Then 8.465 per kWh and 27.22 a day standing charge for gas. 

In the app for my usage it only shows it in £ and not in kWh. 

I do know that at the end of the day last year the meter would read around £3 and now it reads around £6.