EDF outrageous charges

Harleyg98

I was with Utility Point up until September 2021 when they went under - paying around £65 a month dual fuel.
EDF took over my account and jacked the cost to £161.49
On March 21 2022 I received a letter stating the based on an estimate they were increasing my charges to £329 a month.
On March 22 2022 I received a second letter saying my charges would remain the same.
On 1 May 2022 they took £329.00 and I've been unable to speak to anyone to explain why - just told (by a computer?) that my charges will be reviewed in August.
I have a smart meter that is recording both electricity and gas - but according to the EDF Home Hub they have no record of my gas usage - just electric?
When I key my monthly usage into MSE to evaluate the option of swapping I'm given an annual cost of £1900 - but my actual charges are £3,900!
Should I cancel my direct debit to get a response? Swap to another provider?

MattMattMattUK

Harleyg98 said:

I was with Utility Point up until September 2021 when they went under - paying around £65 a month dual fuel.
EDF took over my account and jacked the cost to £161.49
On March 21 2022 I received a letter stating the based on an estimate they were increasing my charges to £329 a month.
On March 22 2022 I received a second letter saying my charges would remain the same.
On 1 May 2022 they took £329.00 and I've been unable to speak to anyone to explain why - just told (by a computer?) that my charges will be reviewed in August.
I have a smart meter that is recording both electricity and gas - but according to the EDF Home Hub they have no record of my gas usage - just electric?
When I key my monthly usage into MSE to evaluate the option of swapping I'm given an annual cost of £1900 - but my actual charges are £3,900!
Should I cancel my direct debit to get a response? Swap to another provider?

You should absolutely not cancel your Direct Debit, you will be put onto a higher rate and you may also be marked as missed payments. Switching provider will do nothing either, you may decide you want to when this is all resolved, but you need to get it resolved first. 

The monetary amounts are largely meaningless so ignore them. 

Was your monthly £65 Direct Debit with Utility Point covering your usage, or had you built up a debt?
Have you had a final bill from Utility Point yet, some people have, some people have not.
Was the £161.49 per month with EDF covering your usage?
What is the detail on the letter about the estimate and the raising the monthly Direct Debit to £329?
What is your actual annual usage in kWh for both gas and electricity? Your current monthly usage will not be reflective of annual usage, nor will it account for the October price rise so people on here will need your full annual usage to be able to calculate things for you.

TheMilkmansDad

Do not cancel your DD.

Do you know your actual annual usage? If not, do you have a bill or reading from this time last year and your current meter reads? Can you also advise on what tariff name you are currently on and their rates.

Have you had your final bill from Utility Point? If so, do they match the opening reads on your 1st EDF bill? What is the balance of your last bill from EDF - Debit or Credit?

Lots of people here to advise/assist so please provide as much information as you're comfortable giving.

Alnat1

I'm guessing you were on a fixed rate with Utility Point? This will have been at much lower rates than the SVT that EDF will have given you, so a price rise would be expected as soon as your account was transferred.

You didn't say if your account with Utility Point had a debit or credit balance. It may have been that £65 was already too low to cover your usage.

There were big price increases in April and this explains why your DD went up again in May. Give EDF manual meter readings for both fuels so they aren't basing their DD on estimates. It's not a simple procedure for them to connect to your smart meters.

Hopefully once they have accurate readings the DD can be re-assessed and you will pay the right amount to cover use over the next 12 months. Don't be too surprised if the amount they already gave you is about right. 

Robin9

£65 for gas and electric does seem to on the low side. 

As you will know these are very turbulent and challenging times  the cost of gas and electric will continue to rise.

Have you an online account with EDF ?   Can you download your latest bills please and look for the letters A C E S or our read and your read against the meter readings.  I suspect that the electric will have an S (for Smart)  and the gas an E (for Estimated).

Can you read your meters please ?   Take care with the decimal point and even more care if there is a small key pad.