EDF billing frequency

Staffordian11

I've been with EDF for eighteen months or so. In that time I have had bills at about six monthly intervals and understood this was their standard policy.

Bills were received in March 2022, September 2022 and again last week for March 2023. But on the EDF app under the Bills & Pay tab, there is a message saying "This bill is based on an estimated reading. Submit a meter reading before 20 April 2023 to get an accurate bill" It then states my next bill is 20 April 2023.

Several points arise.

First, I was asked to submit gas and electricity meter readings last week, for the March 2023 bill (in spite of having a recently installed smart electricity meter which EDF are receiving data from) and the bill I received a day or so later had used my submitted readings.

Second, why, when actual readings were used (and acknowledged on the bill as user readings, not estimated readings), do they say it is an estimated bill, and is this their reason for wanting to issue an extra bill next month?

Third, why would my submitted readings next month produce an actual bill, when my submitted readings from a week or two ago only produced what they term a bill based on estimated readings?

And finally, why do they ask for readings when I have gone to the trouble of having a smart meter? I fully expected them to ask only for gas readings (they were unable to fit a smart gas meter) but they do not; they ask for my readings (plural) so clearly still want me to submit them for both gas and electricity

Any insights into the above totally illogical behaviours would be much appreciated. I know that I could (try to?) contact them and ask them direct, but on past experience, even if I get to talk to someone, I'll not get a correct answer, or will be fobbed off with some rubbish.

Robin9

Edf - say no more

Mobtr

I had the same on my account , just ignored it & didn’t get an additional bill. 

It’s not the end of the world though is it if you do get another bill, most people complain that the the bills are every 6 months not that they are more frequent. 

Staffordian11

Mobtr said:

I had the same on my account , just ignored it & didn’t get an additional bill. 

It’s not the end of the world though is it if you do get another bill, most people complain that the the bills are every 6 months not that they are more frequent. 

Thanks. I actually intend submitting readings 31 March as prices change 1 April. Will see whether that generates a new bill.

Personally, whilst I think twice yearly bills are ridiculous, I'm not bothered by them as I track usage and cost monthly anyway and adjust direct debit when I need to.

Yorkshire_Pud

After my recent travails with this daft company my advice is take and send a reading every month and every tariff price change also take a screen grab picture of the reading in the edf website in case they ‘lose’ it when you query their bill amount. 

If their estimate is near your use don’t rely on that they will wipe it when it suits them, only your readings and theirs via smart meter or Morrisons meter reading services count. They wiped three bills and went back to November 2021 to re calculate my useage in their favour moving a big chunk of kWh from last Winter to this but this year I’ve cut down radically on gas use. Screen grab of my read that they had deleted saved me from them ripping me off.

Via a complaint I eventually got refunded over £120 rip off overcharge but it took a week and various chats with staff that couldn’t or wouldn’t grasp simple facts of my case.

Dont worry about if they produce a bill, just keep firing in the readings, a lot can go awry in six months.