EDF - Unfair Direct Debit Increase

cnrelax

I got an out of the blue phone call from EDF two days ago - despite setting out that my contact preferences to email (as I have Aspergers and ADHD and have difficulty following phone calls)

The call set me into a panic as to why they were calling and I asked them to call me back at a more convenient time if it was important.

The next day they called me at 13:00 despite making an appointment for 11am.

The person who called me didn't have my details to hand and nevertheless was advising me to raise my direct debit increase.

I haven't been billed since January 4th 2022 and was refunded over £250.00 at that time because of amounts building up.
The first call caused me to panic and I set about looking into my account and I found that my last bill which included August 2021 - January 2022 excluded a direct debit payment which I have then queried separately.

Back to the call: I decided to record the call yesterday from them seeking to increase my direct debit.

Firstly I asked them what my balance on the account was - the person on the phone claimed my balance was £0. 
I knew this was incorrect because my last bill was £0 in January and every month including January and June they have had £153 in direct debit.
My council has also made a fuel payment directly to EDF and this has taken the pdf account to credit of +£976)

I asked them to tell me what my credit was on the account and then they put me on hold for 15 minutes.
Then they confirmed that my account is £970+ in credit as I expected.

The matter has stressed me out that EDF has called me despite complaining previously for them to not contact me by phone.
Secondly the Direct Debit amount was meant to be reviewed in August and I wonder why they are taking anxiety inducing action which is inciting stress in me to spend time on the phone with them unnecessarily.
Thirdly why is their system bothering customers already in significant credit to increase the direct debit.

I raised a complaint and they have attempted to close the complaint on the matter by saying that they will not contact me by phone anymore. However this is precisely what happened last year and they still decided to call me twice this week. 
I am a vulnerable customer with multiple health conditions and they know this. 
I was concerned that there was little security checks on the account and was worried that there was some plot to steal by my disclosure some data from me so another party could profit potentially by gaining access to my account - there was no evidence for who I was talking to and they took a very long time on hold to get my account balance for me.

I recorded the call completely and I think it needs to be addressed to EDF the things that they are doing in terms of data security is worrying for me especially since I am receiving unsolicited calls from them and they are not following or observing procedures or recognising my contact preferences.
 

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Are you on the Priority Services Register?

You may wish to consider variable direct debit which EDF call 'Direct Debit Whole Amount (Monthly)', but of course that does mean that you'll have lower bills in summer but higher ones in winter.

Robin9

You can complain by email to 

ComplaintResolution@edfenergy.com 

Are you able to attach a copy of your recording to that email.?

Mobtr

The reason you are in so much credit is that you haven’t been billed since January. If you are on the Standard Variable tariff, what you are paying may not now cover what you are using, hence the request to increase it. 

While I totally understand you don’t like phone calls, it may have been done in your best interests to stop you going into debt and having to increase the direct debit further when you have your interim review in August. 

molerat

If your last bill was Jan 4th you are due a 6 month review around now. 

Do you have on line / app access to your account ?

Are you on a smart meter ?

If not do you submit regular monthly reads ?

TonySimon

Hi.  I am having problems too with this company.  I was moved to them from ZOG Energy.  They issued me with a bill just a few days ago covering 35 days unitl January.  When I called them to say this is June and why is the bill covering 6 months ago, they couldn't tell me.  I gave another meter reading and now have a bill covering me until March.  Their system is very complicated.  I was told not to worry about my payments but I do worry to be honest.  They told me my account was in credit from a figure from Januray.  But I want to know what it is today and they don'ty know.  Odd.

QrizB

TonySimon said:

Hi.  I am having problems too with this company ... Odd.

EDF's peculiar billing practices and flaky website/app are a good part of the reason I've left them twice in the past 12 months.

Who is your electricity with? Have you considered switching your gas to join them?

kev2009

I'm hoping to move away from EDF myself, moving it to the same supplier my Elec is with but will be separate as my Elec is fixed till next year so wont be a dual fuel tariff. 

Recently had a bill from EDF and rather confusing to work out exactly what was was, not had that with other suppliers so I've decided to switch.  I'll save couple of quid over the year but I've decided to switch and have it supplied by 1 company with a view to potentially moving to dual fuel tariff in future when/if rates come down.  Was only separate due to better deals available separately but now most small companies gone

Kev

cnrelax

Gerry1 said:

Welcome to the forum.

Are you on the Priority Services Register?

You may wish to consider variable direct debit which EDF call 'Direct Debit Whole Amount (Monthly)', but of course that does mean that you'll have lower bills in summer but higher ones in winter.

 

EDF already put me on the priority services register.

Robin9 said:

You can complain by email to 

ComplaintResolution@edfenergy.com 

Are you able to attach a copy of your recording to that email.?

Yes I have raised a complaint and attached the recording and the online chat transcript that specifically queries a billing discrepancy- the last bill in January has excluded a payment of £65 in August within the billing period but includes the direct debit increase from £65 to £153 that occurred from August to January  with 4 payments of £153. The January bill in effect refunded £255 excess as the bill for the period ending January was around £500 and returned the account to £0 balance. 

Mobtr said:

The reason you are in so much credit is that you haven’t been billed since January. If you are on the Standard Variable tariff, what you are paying may not now cover what you are using, hence the request to increase it. 

While I totally understand you don’t like phone calls, it may have been done in your best interests to stop you going into debt and having to increase the direct debit further when you have your interim review in August. 

Thank you for addressing this I was on a fixed term contract with lower prices up until May 2022 only a short while ago. The standard Variable tariff kicked in at that point. Please note that despite knowing that the wholesale prices had increased and the likely impact and when EDF decided to call me on the phone, against clear issues raised in August 2021 in complaint that making unsolicited calls was a source of stress. EDF intentional or not decided to ignore the contact preferences on my account and had already previously indicated a review would have occurred in August of direct debit. Having knowing the situation, EDF's actions are to the effect of causing pressure on a customer and this has the consequence and effect of bouncing the customer into direct debit amounts that are not sustainable or reasonable considering the timing and the overhead. 

The matter has to concentrate also on the fact that the Government have already set out the plans for issuing payments to vulnerable customers in August and the timetable is clearly on the record. There was no benefit for EDF to act with such urgency and ignore that there are financial implications that are adding additional stress - instead they took action to elevate stress levels further and without proper justification. Given the amount of credit and previous refunding patterns the action is not reasonable and adds to pressure potentially depriving me of the means to live as a benefit claimant who has not actually received the additional government support yet. 

molerat said:

If your last bill was Jan 4th you are due a 6 month review around now. 

Do you have on line / app access to your account ?

Are you on a smart meter ?

If not do you submit regular monthly reads ?

  The review was scheduled by EDF for August - yet they decided to contact me before then. 

I do have on line access to the account.

I am not on a smart meter.

Monthly reads are recorded and sent at the end of the month - without exception.

EDF didn't have to call me back in August 2021 when they increased the direct debit to £153 from £65. This was while on fixed deal until May 2022 and EDF refunded roughly £250+  excess in January this year.

Since then the payments have mounted up to nearly £1000 credit and direct payments from my local council have been made because of my low income eligibility. EDF know that the current situation for people like me translates to considerable financial pressure - and they also have a significant amount of credit on my account and when extra payments are due from the government. They also know that I do not do well in phone calls and I complained to them about contacting me in the past and their action intentional or otherwise is not timely (to the review they had planned) or appropriate to bounce or pressurise me when I have difficulties to with attention regulation in telephone calls which places me at a disadvantage in terms of stress which they also know about.

I hope the above answers most of the questions above that forum members have given in response. I am not to blame for the actions that EDF has taken and I do think it is putting pressure on me a person that EDF know has mental health conditions that are co-morbid to my health issues. 

After their first call I was panicked by their actions and spent some time hyper-focussing on my action to scrutinise the conduct and there is some accounting discrepancies where £65 has not been added up on the last bill for August 2021 - despite their online chat I don't feel satisfied that they have properly accounted for that discrepancy or why it has been omitted from the last bill which covers the period and have tried to suggest some correction was made last August which has not been mentioned or itemised in the last bill which supersedes the accounting. 

Update - After contacting EDF about these they still seeking to close the complaint but have made a mistakes in their response and referring to direct debit payments made in August 2022 not 2021 in reference to the account discrepancy - they enclosed copies of bills which cover the period before the payment 2021 claiming that this is where the later payment is itemised they also claim that another bill covering only two weeks was produced mid-august 2021 which made a correction but no such bill exists on my account and the period is in fact covered by the bill in January. The facts they have presented and the (clerical) mistakes they have made do make me wonder about whether they have looked at it properly. 

Keswick1uk

Thanks for posting this.

My elderly father had a call from EDF yesterday. He's recently lost Mum and its hit his confidence. He was sure the  call was genuine but afterwards worried him so much he walked over a mile in todays heat to go to the bank concerned it was a scam.

EDF are ridiculously behind the times. I'm going to help him move across to Octopus. 

Whilst Mum was ill we put in regular meter readings but they only prepare a bill every 6 months. That's so woefully out of touch and a huge risk next winter.

Octopus allows him to enter regular readings and get regular bills so he knows where he stands with his direct debits.

EdF did an end of contract 6 month bill in May and then gave him 250.back (or said they would) and then put the direct debit up to 132. The call yesterday was to increase again by 50, well that was his interpretation.  Maybe they were just reinforcing the email going from 91 to 132

Anyway, he's not going to engage on the phone. I'll move him over to a more digital supplier when I'm with him next. He doesn't need unsolicited phone calls that confuse him as to whether they are scams or not.

Thanks so much for posting this as I'm sure it's the same crowd that called him.

jimjames

Keswick1uk said:

Whilst Mum was ill we put in regular meter readings but they only prepare a bill every 6 months. That's so woefully out of touch and a huge risk next winter.

You/he can switch to pay on bill monthly DD with EDF so you get billed for your use each month which is what I've switched to for the same reason. It's early days so might be just as chaotic but hopefully easier to keep on track. It does mean bills will be much more over the winter than summer though.