EDF Billing

Robin9

@icaniwill

Quite common with EDF - be patient

andytw

I came here, too, with the same question. I am trying to make sense of a bill which spans 6 months for an 82 year old person.
The above answer has helped and all is good,  but I do not understand why EDF take the money IN from the government and then send it OUT to the account holder's bank account.
I, personally, am with Shell. The money from the government comes into my Shell account and stays there, and then just comes off my energy bill.
Looking at the EDF method, I can only say 'you couldnt make it up'.

MikeJXE

Apparently the brains in the government thought this was the only way to make sure everyone got a cut. Well almost everyone 

Robin9

This way suited me.  My main bill was gas - so I could then do a transfer from bank to my gas account.

MattMattMattUK

andytw said:

I came here, too, with the same question. I am trying to make sense of a bill which spans 6 months for an 82 year old person.
The above answer has helped and all is good,  but I do not understand why EDF take the money IN from the government and then send it OUT to the account holder's bank account.
I, personally, am with Shell. The money from the government comes into my Shell account and stays there, and then just comes off my energy bill.
Looking at the EDF method, I can only say 'you couldnt make it up'.

Because that is what the government asked them to do. The scheme was badly thought out, pushed on the suppliers at short notice and in reality should have been abandoned as soon as the EPG was introduced, but the government wanted to keep a £400 electoral bribe so forced the energy suppliers to implement it. 

Gerry1

MattMattMattUK said:

andytw said:

I came here, too, with the same question. I am trying to make sense of a bill which spans 6 months for an 82 year old person.
The above answer has helped and all is good,  but I do not understand why EDF take the money IN from the government and then send it OUT to the account holder's bank account.
I, personally, am with Shell. The money from the government comes into my Shell account and stays there, and then just comes off my energy bill.
Looking at the EDF method, I can only say 'you couldnt make it up'.

Because that is what the government asked them to do. The scheme was badly thought out, pushed on the suppliers at short notice and in reality should have been abandoned as soon as the EPG was introduced, but the government wanted to keep a £400 electoral bribe so forced the energy suppliers to implement it. 

No,  they didn't tell suppliers to refund to customers' bank accounts.  Even the dreaded British Gas manage to list the EBSS as a straightforward credit that reduces the billed amount by £67.

pochase

Where do you get this information? BG was paying back the £67 into the customer bank account for those on fixed DD. From the BG web site

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/help-if-youre-struggling-to-pay/government-support.html#direct-debit-payment

* Direct Debit - If your Direct Debit is set to be paid in the last half of the month, your refund might appear in your bank account in the following month. You'll still get all £400.

An explanation for this way of handling it would be the six monthly billing cycle, and at least EDF does also the DD review every six month. If they would have changed the direct debit amount instead of repaying it, the review date for all customers would suddenly have been at the same time every six month.

[Deleted User]

We tend to forget that suppliers’ systems were not set up to pay out Government payments. Surely, the only thing that matters is that EBSS payments were in some way given to the consumer.

Gerry1

pochase said:

Where do you get this information? BG was paying back the £67 into the customer bank account for those on fixed DD.

That's how it works for me.  However, I'm on Monthly Variable DD and still on their old billing system.

pochase

You can't really compare EDF fixed DD with BG variable direct debit, can you?

BTW, EDF variable direct debit of course also just reduces the amount to be paid, same as BG.