EDF sneaky direct debit increase

Malchester

On a 3 year fix with EDF from September 2021. Paying £91 per month. Just had the latest bill and from November to 3 June we have used £49.50 worth of gas and electricity more than we have paid for by DD. That is not bad for the winter period and it will be more than covered over the summer months.

On the bill EDF have added to the debt the DD payment which is not due until the end of June making the debt, they say, £140.50. As a result they have increased my DD even though by the end of September I will be in credit as my usage for the next few months will be less than the £91 DD. Having contacted them by webchat they put the DD back to £91 in about 30 seconds.

Just a warning to keep an eye on bills and any unnecessary increases in DD amounts

Mstty

How much did they try and increase your DD by?

diystarter7

Thanks OP.

Malchester

Mstty said:

How much did they try and increase your DD by?

By £10 per month, not a lot I know but £10 more than is needed

Mstty

Well that's not too bad, I've seen worse automatic calculations.

The complication will come October-March when we get £66.66 off our energy accounts with the £400 grant split into 6 payments. I suspect some weird and wonderful things to come out of the automated billing and DD systems😜

brewerdave

Mstty said:

Well that's not too bad, I've seen worse automatic calculations.

The complication will come October-March when we get £66.66 off our energy accounts with the £400 grant split into 6 payments. I suspect some weird and wonderful things to come out of the automated billing and DD systems😜

My leccy is with BG. This morning they have "reassessed" my expected debt at the end of the contract period upwards by ~ £200 and want to increase my DD by ~ £40 pm! What's the betting that someone has programmed the £400 credit as a debit !!

pochase

Malchester said:

On a 3 year fix with EDF from September 2021. Paying £91 per month. Just had the latest bill and from November to 3 June we have used £49.50 worth of gas and electricity more than we have paid for by DD. That is not bad for the winter period and it will be more than covered over the summer months.

On the bill EDF have added to the debt the DD payment which is not due until the end of June making the debt, they say, £140.50. As a result they have increased my DD even though by the end of September I will be in credit as my usage for the next few months will be less than the £91 DD. Having contacted them by webchat they put the DD back to £91 in about 30 seconds.

Just a warning to keep an eye on bills and any unnecessary increases in DD amounts

A direct debit payment will decrease your debt, not increase it. So adding the upcoming payment is to your advantage.

Malchester

pochase said:

Malchester said:

On a 3 year fix with EDF from September 2021. Paying £91 per month. Just had the latest bill and from November to 3 June we have used £49.50 worth of gas and electricity more than we have paid for by DD. That is not bad for the winter period and it will be more than covered over the summer months.

On the bill EDF have added to the debt the DD payment which is not due until the end of June making the debt, they say, £140.50. As a result they have increased my DD even though by the end of September I will be in credit as my usage for the next few months will be less than the £91 DD. Having contacted them by webchat they put the DD back to £91 in about 30 seconds.

Just a warning to keep an eye on bills and any unnecessary increases in DD amounts

A direct debit payment will decrease your debt, not increase it. So adding the upcoming payment is to your advantage.

No. What they did was add the upcoming direct debit to the debt (not due yet so not a debt) and used that figure to say I was in debt to them by £91 more than I actually am and so they increased the monthly payment to cover a non-existent debt of £91 which is not due yet and will be paid. The debt is actually £49.50 which will easily be covered by the original DD payments over the summer

CRISPIANNE3

This is why I prefer a variable dd where I pay the full amount each month. 

Mobtr

Malchester said:

On a 3 year fix with EDF from September 2021. Paying £91 per month. Just had the latest bill and from November to 3 June we have used £49.50 worth of gas and electricity more than we have paid for by DD. That is not bad for the winter period and it will be more than covered over the summer months.

On the bill EDF have added to the debt the DD payment which is not due until the end of June making the debt, they say, £140.50. As a result they have increased my DD even though by the end of September I will be in credit as my usage for the next few months will be less than the £91 DD. Having contacted them by webchat they put the DD back to £91 in about 30 seconds.

Just a warning to keep an eye on bills and any unnecessary increases in DD amounts

I’m not sure what you mean by they’ve added to the debt the DD payment due at the end of the month. 

They only credit payments that have been received so the last on on your bill should be the one at the end of May, they’re not going to credit a payment that’s not due for another 3 weeks or so. 

Malchester

CRISPIANNE3 said:

This is why I prefer a variable dd where I pay the full amount each month. 

I agree and once I get the debt down I am going to move to a variable DD sometime over the summer