Misunderstood or been Misled by EDF, advice please.

BlueSkyFool

Hi all, can I please ask for your opinions on an issue I have with EDF Energy, as I'm unsure if I have misunderstood or if I have been misled and don't want to put forward a formal complaint in case I'm being the brain-dead idiot here.

I moved into my new home in June 2021 and just after I moved I set up my electricity tariff to their Easy Online+Boiler Care Gold which was fixed at £45 per month until Jul 2023.

When the Energy Crisis came into effect, I increased my Direct Debit amount to make my monthly amount £100 per month instead, this was simply to ensure that when EDF did their regular bill assessments, I would not be caught out with an extortionate bill that made it impossible to pay or kept me forever in debit.

Recently, EDF did another one of their bill assessments and told me that I was in credit by £67.76 and my monthly bill was now going to be £74 per month.

However, as my bill usually debits from my bank account on the 3rd of the month I found that no money had been deducted from my bank account on the 3rd of May, so I decided to make some enquiries via their WhatsApp.

The EDF Rep explained my current payment method is Direct Debit Whole Amount where I will receive monthly bills based on my actual consumption.

Now I have to say, I was immediately confused because I have not changed my current tariff since I moved in to my new home in June 2021, as I was signed up to their Easy Online+Boiler Care Gold tariff until Jul 2023.

Also, I am a cancer patient and have been in and out of hospital since December 2022, I gathered I would be quite sick with the chemo treatment, and understandably, I wanted to have 1 less stress to worry about knowing my monthly price was fixed and in place each month, and enables me to budget my outgoings accordingly.

I explained my confusion to the EDF Rep and the Rep started explaining the difference between Tariff and Payment method, they explained the budget direct debit and the direct debit whole amount. To be honest, I felt a little patronised and like the EDF Rep was avoiding the point here.

So once again I pointed out I had not made any changes to my energy account, and I don't understand why they have put me on a new direct debit plan based on my actual consumption, why would I do that to myself knowing my payments could be a different amount each month, I prefer the consistency of knowing how much I'm paying each month.

The Rep then claims that they never change the payment method, and it needs to be requested by the account holder, so I reiterated my earlier comment to the Rep that I have not made any changes to my account or authorised changes, so clearly someone has made changes without my knowledge, and I can confirm that no one has access to my account only myself and EDF.

The Rep then offers to change my account back to a budget direct debit which I initially accept, but then the Rep follows it up with we do not have fixed tariffs available only standard tariffs and to note the monthly charges will get set depending on your usage there is nothing fixed.

So essentially if this is the case does it appear that I have been misled by EDF, and they have changed my tariff without notifying me, does it also mean they are in breach of contract by changing the terms of the direct debit type from my existing Online+Boiler Care Gold tariff until Jul 2023?

Thank you in advance for any advice, even if you are confirming my brain-dead idiot status.

Ectophile

The tariff you are on, and the way you pay it, are different things.  I could go to the supermarket and buy a tin of Heinz beans and pay in cash.  Or I could buy the beans with a debit card.  Same beans, same price, but paying for it in a different way.

The "fixed" tariffs are fixed in terms of pence per unit.  If you use more units, you pay more.

What you need to confirm is that you are still on Easy Online+Boiler Care Gold, regardless of how they are taking the money.

BlueSkyFool

It's not the way they are taking the money, that worries me, it's not knowing the amount. I want the guarantee of paying the same amount each month because I stick to a budget.

The way the rep was explaining it, is it is now based on usage which is completely different to the original tariff I signed up to in June 2021, the Easy Online+Boiler Care Gold was supposed to be fixed until July 2023.

I am at a loss on how and why they could make changes like this without at least consulting me about it.

Perhaps I'm at fault and do not fully understand the jargon used and that is part of my confusion, I just want to be absolutely certain before I do my Karen impression and make a complaint to the manager.

pochase

Your tariff is based on usage, there is no all you can eat tariff, the only part fixed are your unit rates.

If you use more you pay more. The difference is that for a fixed direct debit you pay the same amount every month,

After 6 month EDF will raise a bill, hopefully based on meter readings you supply, otherwise base on estimates. If you used more than what you paid the direct debit will be increased, if you used less it will be reduced.

 If you are on whole amount monthly you submit your meter reading monthly, they bill you and do a direct debit for waht you used. Low bills in summer and high bills in winter. The cost for the energy used will be exactly the same over the year.

HampshireH

All fixed tariffs are fixed on the unit price.

Your price of what you owe will go up and down based on how much you use.

So your fix until July will be the price per unit which is fixed, not a set price per month for your whole bill.

You may have paid a set amount by DD but this would have been above or below your actual usage costs and in theory you would be in credit or debit when a bill was produced. 

£100 a month sounds very cheap for your electric usage, standing charges and a boiler care package. £45 a month sounds crazy low but amazing.

dunstonh

It's not the way they are taking the money, that worries me, it's not knowing the amount. I want the guarantee of paying the same amount each month because I stick to a budget.

That does not exist.     

In month one you could use 1000 units, month two, 800 units and month three 1400 units and so on.    The units are multiplied by the unit price.   Each month will be different.

You can average out your annual use (using the unit count) and multiply that by the unit price to give you the cost of your annual use.  Then add in the standing charge and divide it by 12 to give you a rough monthly figure you should be paying.  Probably better to add around 20-25% to the heating use as 2022 was mild.   

if your are on the budgeting payment method and you the estimated use relatively accurate to your real annual use, then the figure is unlikely to change much other than unit price updates.

Scot_39

It's all more than a little bit confusing.   And customer services tend to read from a script and treat anyone who queries there terminology or methodologys badly.

As you say the last thing you need.

With a fixed price tariff - and a near constant repeated annual usage - a direct debit is likely to be a far more consistent level for the 2 years of fix.  So whilst £45 was more likely not to vary - it still could.

A lot of your existing credit may have come from the govts £400 EBSS payments over winter - depending on how EDF implemented them.

It was unit rates - and SC fixed - not the same as the payment being fixed - which you appear to understand (but not all do re EPG and some poor £2500 headlines). 

No idea of what the included boiler cover did then, after the 6m free only ? or now.

Right now the Ofgem cap is changing unit rates and standing charges every 3 months (it used to be 6m).  Some suppliers may move to updating DD reviews more regularly as a result. 

But IIRC - haven't read here of any actually deliberately stopping annualised DD payment smoothing calcs for existing customers (some do reportedly insist on monthly variable for new customers).

Ovo launched a recent 12m fix - it was the first major supplier to do so post Ukraine rises / EPG.  Others - may be planning to do so. Pros and cons of it discussed in other threads and an ML article.

With a variable price tariff - the unit rate prices and standing charges - will potentially change 3m with Ofgem updates - so even if usage consistent - the bills can be far more variable - current independent forecasts say the unit rates are going to fall over summer from current (but still likely to be far higher than a 2 yr old fix).

Your main complaint is they appear to have taken you off of annualised direct debit smoothing.

And then when they agreed to put you back on - told you they couldn't offer you a new fix - which you hadn't asked for given your fix should have say 2m left anyway.

So can seen what the rep was trying to say - especially if old fix already in end of fix transition period - looking ahead to beyond July - re need to change to a variable tariff and corresponding new DD level etc - but not sure why wanted to mix that with resolving the annualised DD vs monthly billing problem.

Have they actually somehow taken you off your remaining 2 year fix early against your wishes?

Did they actually agree a fixed annualised DD level ?

MWT

BlueSkyFool said:

So essentially if this is the case does it appear that I have been misled by EDF, and they have changed my tariff without notifying me, does it also mean they are in breach of contract by changing the terms of the direct debit type from my existing Online+Boiler Care Gold tariff until Jul 2023?

Thank you in advance for any advice, even if you are confirming my brain-dead idiot status.

Your tariff should not change before July, but you are getting close to the point where they will be asking you which tariff you want to be moved onto, or if you don't make a choice they will put you on their standard variable tariff. If the CS agent was talking about your next tariff then he may have been right, but they should not move you onto that before your current one expires in a few weeks time...

You never had an agreement to use all the energy you wanted for £45 a month though, the 'fix' was just on the kWh price and the daily standing charges. So if you've used more than the initial estimate back in 2021 then you may owe more than £45 each month...

Do take a look at the current standard variable rate tariff so you can see what your bills are likely to look like after July...

Mobtr

Have a look on your online account & see what tariff you’re on. If it’s the fix you agreed, nothings changed, if it’s not, then email complaintresolution@edfenergy.com & they will put you back on it 

Raxiel

Seems to be some mixed terminology in these replies.

OP appears to want a fixed direct debit, and appears to have been put on a variable direct debit.

Of course a fixed DD isn't fixed in that it can never change, just that it won't usually change (unless usage differs enough from estimates that the account is projected to have a large debit or credit at the end of the current review period) and certainly won't change without advance notice.

A variable DD is by it's nature, different every time because its just set to the whole bill amount each month.

Usually we get people on this board who want variable, and are even advised to switch suppliers when the incumbent doesn't offer variable. On this occasion, its the other way around, although I must admit this is the first time I've heard of someone being put on a variable DD against their wishes.

@BlueSkyFool as others have said, your tariff and payment method are separate things. Your tariff shouldn't have changed either way, and you should be able to switch back from a variable to a 'fixed' direct debit, you're not asking for anything unreasonable. If they get hung up on the term 'fixed', explain that you just want to pay 1/12 of your projected annual bill each month. Bear in mind that amount when calculated now, might vary from the amount you were paying before.

Gerry1

If dozy Ofgem were any good they'd have banned the terms 'Fixed Direct Debit' and ' Variable Direct Debit' because they are often confused with fixed and variable tariffs.

FDDs caused confusion long before the energy crisis because tariffs were never All You Can Eat, and it's even worse now with almost everyone on a capped tariff that's reviewed every three months.

Ofgem should standardise on two clear terms for DDs, as well as mandating that DDs must be monthly and that both flavours must be offered.

How about 'Fixed DD' becoming 'Equal DD' or 'Smoothed DD'?  Similarly  'Variable DD' could become 'Whole Bill DD'.