EDF Energy Bill and Government rebate

[Deleted User]

Mr.Generous said:

Is this just to try and push me to smart meters or are the energy advisors on some sort of performance pay scheme for keeping customers DD's as high as possible??

Nope, it's extremely unlikely to be either of those (and the second would be illegal).

ariarnia

Mr.Generous said:

I switched, painful process - I'm actually in credit now rather than in the red they estimated. I read the meters (not smart) every couple of months in summer and monthly in winter. I submitted online readings 2 days before I swapped to monthly billing.  During the swap process I was asked for and provided readings for both gas and electric. 

them using estimates is a problem (which would be solved by a smart meter your right) but you really should be in credit right now if the forecast has been accurate. 350 isn't in any way excessive and for me would actually be uncomfortably low (I'd be wanting to up my dd by a bit if i could). 

it's been a mild october and november so most people haven't had the heating on and have been out of the house more than they would of been in a cold winter (and when the heating has been on its not had to work as hard because of the relative warmer outside temp) and the highest energy most expensive months can often be jan and feb. 

IanChello

Wow!  Why isn't the Gov't Energy Scheme money just shown in a separate note on our bill to say it's been paid into our bank account, and not be mixed up in our Charges calculations and EDF Balance calculations!  Just plain weird (except not plain).

[Deleted User]

IanChello said:

Wow!  Why isn't the Gov't Energy Scheme money just shown in a separate note on our bill to say it's been paid into our bank account, and not be mixed up in our Charges calculations and EDF Balance calculations!  Just plain weird (except not plain).

Depends on the supplier.  They've all done it however needs the least re-writing of their bills and billing software - particularly as the entire thing only has to be on there for a relatively short time.

Mumbles1956

I have got it now.
EDF have sent the rebates to my bank.
They have also reduced my bills accordingly.
They have then added them to my bills.
Ridiculous.
Why didnt they just send them to my bank.
Or just deduct them from the bills.
This was a system designed by a Village Idiot.

Swipe

Mumbles1956 said:

This was a system designed by a Village Idiot.

Don't go upsetting the regulars lol

dunstonh

Mumbles1956 said:

I have got it now.
EDF have sent the rebates to my bank.
They have also reduced my bills accordingly.
They have then added them to my bills.
Ridiculous.
Why didnt they just send them to my bank.
Or just deduct them from the bills.
This was a system designed by a Village Idiot.

EDF had a peculiar way of showing it for those not on Kraken.   However, it was technically the correct way as it was money in and money out.    

Their old system was designed decades ago when billing was simpler and people didn't care.    The bolting on of functionality that was never dreamed of originally made it unwieldy.    This is why they are moving to Kraken.

Mumbles1956

dunstonh said:

Mumbles1956 said:

I have got it now.
EDF have sent the rebates to my bank.
They have also reduced my bills accordingly.
They have then added them to my bills.
Ridiculous.
Why didnt they just send them to my bank.
Or just deduct them from the bills.
This was a system designed by a Village Idiot.

EDF had a peculiar way of showing it for those not on Kraken.   However, it was technically the correct way as it was money in and money out.    

Their old system was designed decades ago when billing was simpler and people didn't care.    The bolting on of functionality that was never dreamed of originally made it unwieldy.    This is why they are moving to Kraken.

I couldnt possibly agree.
They processed the rebates three times.
Once when they paid them into our banks accounts.
The second time was when they discounted them from the bills.
The third time, when they added them to the bills.
Why could they not have just paid them into our bank accounts, or just discounted them from the bills.
This would have meant just processing them once.

When Ilooked at my 6 monthly summary of my bill.
I thought I was looking at a definitive breakdown.
It showed the total of my 6 direct debits.
It also showed what I thought was my total usage.
And it added the rebates to the bill.
So I thought that they had paid me the rebates, and then taken them back.

Although, had I scrolled much further down the bill, I would have seen another summary of my total usage, with the rebates deducted.

So the first summary I came to was the total usage, less the rebates.

I still cant see why they would see crediting us with the rebates twice, debiting them once, and compiling two summaries, would make any sense.

Try explaining that to the proverbial man from Mars that just landed.

Mobtr

I wouldn’t worry about it, it was months ago now & wont happen again. Not sure why people are still going on about it 

Mumbles1956

Mobtr said:

I wouldn’t worry about it, it was months ago now & wont happen again. Not sure why people are still going on about it 

I can only speak for myself.
The reason I have been discussing the issue today, is because subsequent to a couple of months of email correspondence with EDF, we have finally resolved the matter.
They have seemed reluctant throughout to explain what they had actually done.
I dont really blame their staff for this.
It must have been quite embarrassing to explain to customers that they had processed the rebates three times.
Anyway it is all over and done with now, and as far as I am concerned, I am unlikely to mention it ever again.

I do have reservations about EDF, and how they manage accounts.
They sent me a refund of £256 in December.
I didnt ask for the refund.
They then sent me an email last month, suggesting that I might wish to increase the amount of my direct debit, as we are coming in to Winter, and they were unsure whether or not the current amount would cover my bills.
Although had they not sent me the refund, I am certain it would.