EDF - monthly bill half of what they suggested.

Abella12

Sorry Mstty not Matty, spell checked ! 

[Deleted User]

Hi,

just pay for what you use, forget about monthly DD, though as said before you will pay more over winter months than now, but if you can budget, and happy with that, chill.

Gerry1

Abella12 said:

Oh ok but who fixes the DD figure as I have been in this house for 1 month. If EDF fix the figure is it just going to inflated ?  the reason I went for paper bills is they said I can give them readings prior and pay the correct amount per month. If I don't go paper then doesn't the DD figure become out of your control. 

Think of Variable Monthly Direct Debit aka 'Direct Debit Whole Amount (Monthly) as being similar to filling up at the petrol pump.  You get charged depending on how far you've driven.  If you've just popped down to the shops a few times it might be a tenner, if you've driven all day long it might be £80.  It makes no difference if you get a paper till receipt.

Provided that you send meter readings (or have a working smart meter) then Variable Monthly Direct Debit means you'll always be charged for exactly what you've just used, no more and no less, with no catch up bills suddenly appearing out of the blue after several months, or a big credit balance building up which can take months to be refunded if the company goes bust.

The only problem with Variable Monthly Direct Debit is that if there's a Beast from the East then you'll get some big bills in the winter.

It's horses for courses, some people prefer to know what the DD will be each month (IF their usage remains as expected), some like to keep it simple, paying their way precisely and getting early warning of higher usage.  You just have to decide which is best for you.

Mstty

Unfortunately using the next three months where you have little to no central heating on won't give you a fair picture.

As a rough guide we use 1/7th of our total energy in April/May/June.

Using this example £110 a month per month for 3 months is £330 and if it was 1/7th of the total usage for the yearly thats £2310 so that's £192.50 a month of direct debit.

Very rough back of the fag packet calculation but not far off the DD set by your energy company.

With energy prices likely to increase again in October that's not a bad stab at the correct Dad for you and certainly not profiteering.

MattMattMattUK

Abella12 said:

Oh ok but who fixes the DD figure as I have been in this house for 1 month. If EDF fix the figure is it just going to inflated ?  the reason I went for paper bills is they said I can give them readings prior and pay the correct amount per month. If I don't go paper then doesn't the DD figure become out of your control. 

The usage figure will be based on the average foe comparable dwellings, which if you do not have actual usage figures can be quite out either way as average figures are what they are. That usage us then calculated against rates and expected rates over the twelve month period and that is how the Direct Debit figure is reached.

As others have said you can go on monthly variable, if the £100 pcm now is accurate it might go slightly lower for the summer, but will likely rise significantly over the winter, you might find it in the £300 pcm region depending on heating, insulation and usage patterns. 

pochase

Abella12 said:

No pochase you have not read my post correctly. £2600 until April 2024 , no I said they want £220 as a direct debit when my bill this month is £101. The £2600 is for the year fixed until April 2024.

I have read your post. You are saying say quoted you 2600 for a fix until 2024 which is just an estimate, and now they are estimating that your use is 2640 (2560 was wrong amount by me) on the SVT. If they want a direct debit of 220 per month, or 2640 per year that is what they have estimated you will need. 

Monitoring your use during summer will not really give you much of an idea how much energy you will need for heating in winter. I agree that many of the direct debits are inflated, on the other hand EDF should have usage data for the former owner and might have based their estimate on this.

As advised already by others, go onto monthly variable direct debit, or as EDF calls it "exact monthly direct debit". This way you will just pay what you use each month and still have the better rates for direct debit, and you can set aside what you believe you will need during winter.

Abella12

Yes fair point about the paper billing and variable route Gerry1 , I just take the view that companies should not be taking more money than is necessary  from the less privileged who need that money now to live , eat etc which is quite important (!) Once I have had a few months of variable  bills it maybe I jump onto a fixed but either way the increases in DD's do not reflect the 54% increase in energy costs and seem considerably higher. Who knows , but let's see what these companies profits are next year , same ? if not better ? Thanks for the info.

Gerry1

I suspect that the confusion about paper bills may haven arisen because the OP has been put on the 'Pay On Receipt Of Bill' tariff, which EDF call 'Cash/Cheque'.  You get send a bill and then you have to pay it manually however you like, it doesn't happen automatically.

'Cash/Cheque' is considered a bad choice because it's the most expensive flavour of EDF's Deemed Tariff, aka the capped Standard Variable Tariff.

Gerry1

Abella12 said:

Who knows , but let's see what these companies profits are next year , same ? if not better ?

I'm no apologist for EDF, in fact I'm switching to Octopus because EDF's billing and customer service are both utterly dismal, but EDF are loss making, as were the 30 companies that went bust in 13 months.

[Deleted User]

Abella12 said:

Yes fair point about the paper billing and variable route Gerry1 , I just take the view that companies should not be taking more money than is necessary  from the less privileged who need that money now to live , eat etc which is quite important (!) Once I have had a few months of variable  bills it maybe I jump onto a fixed but either way the increases in DD's do not reflect the 54% increase in energy costs and seem considerably higher. Who knows , but let's see what these companies profits are next year , same ? if not better ? Thanks for the info.

Hi,

sorry if you're in the less privileged category, there are food banks.

Though, as said before your bills, with heating over the winter could be 3 times.