Estimated bill very inaccurate 19 January at 4:40PM in Energy 6 replies 281 views

Solar2023

We have bought a house around a year ago and to cut a long story short EDF have sent us a few estimated bills for electricity which I have paid up until about 2 months ago.

We currently have an outstanding electricity bill for £260. However we also have solar panels that feed into our meter and I have finally compared the estimates and our actual readings. According to the readings we actually should have something around a £1,700 credit. I understand it doesnt work like that but essentially our electricity bill should have been £0 for the year. I have submitted the reading to EDF with a photo for proof (and if they want tocome around and take a reading that is absolutely fine with us) so I assume that this latest bill will be reduced to £0.

My question is will they reimburse us for whatever extra we have paid over the year? It isn't a huge amount but essentially its not their money. I understand I should have looked into this earlier but lesson learned there.

Part of the reason I am asking on the forums is that EDF customer services are very bad and I had a real issue when trying to give my meter reading to them over the phone.

Many thanks for any help or similar experiences you guys can share!

molerat

Are your panels causing the meter to run backwards or is the system set up so the meter either ignores the panels or has a separate export meter ?  There is little chance your bill for the year is actually £0. If the meter is running backwards that is a whole can of worms being opened.

frugalmacdugal

Hi,

too late now, but for the future always check actual meter readings when you get an estimated bill and notify supplier, easier to get sorted that way.

GibbsRule_No3.

I am with EDF and they refunded me £304 + the £67 government payment no bother this month, I did not have to ask.  Are you paying by DD or just paying when EDF sent the estimated bill?  I only get billed twice a year as pay by DD.  Why did you not query and then supply the estimated reading before when the bills were sent? In the seven years I have lived here no one has ever read the meter and I have not had a Smart one installed yet. I have solar panels, no battery and I don't think the excess goes anywhere if I don't use the solar. New installation last year, via my Housing Association, so if anything they might be getting a payback. I have E7 so two readings Rate 1 & 2 from the meter but the solar panels have a nice new standalone emlite Solar PV System Generation Meter that shows what the solar is, not sure if EDF have anything to do with this meter.

Astria

They'll typically want the readings from your electric meter, and the readings from your solar generation meter.

If the solar just connects directly to your main meter than that's a problem right there (unless it's a very new meter, but even then, you typically still have a seperate solar generation meter)

It's very unlikely the electric bill will be £0 unless your export amount is approx 6 times that of your import, considering energy suppliers such as EON pay 5.5p/kWh exported.

Solar2023

Thanks for the replies everyone, yes the meter is going backwards. It is an old house and even the solar panels were installed years ago (12 years I think, maybe longer). It sounds like I will need to get on the phone to EDF (painful) and try and resolve the bill issue, I just don't see how they can charge us for electricity if we have been giving them more back than we have actually used. Im not expecting them to actually pay us for the power we have supplied to them, but I certainly don't want to be paying them for something that we haven't actually used. Long term the plan is battery storage and then we will just use as much of our own power as we can.

Alnat1

You should pay around 34p/kWh for the units you use from the grid. EDF will pay around 5p/kWh for the electricity you generate and send back to the grid.

Either keep quiet and hope you continue to get away with it or complain and end up with much bigger bills.