Ridiculous electricity amount paid...

markin

What EV tariff are you on and the terms.

SPlatten

@CouldntResist, they don't send paper bills anymore, they haven't for years, you get an email once a month.  I've been charging my car, whilst I set my charger to only start after 10:30 so it was well within that period, unaware that I was actually being charged the standard rate.

@EssexHebridean, yes, if anything we have turned down everything in an effort to reduce our usage, but were unaware that we were paying one rate all day.

I fully sympathise with those that struggle to pay for the energy they use, we are not poor however if we struggle to pay then how do others manage?

MattMattMattUK

SPlatten said:

Ok, just caught up on this and basically there are two divisions within EDF, one that deals with normal domestic users and then there is the EV department.  It turned out that in April 2023 the EV department changed our tariff from dual rate to single rate, this wasn't made clear to either my wife or I as we continued to run everything as if we were on two separate tariffs, I scheduled my car charger to only start after cheap rate was supposed to be active.

We were not aware of this, if it was in writing then it wasn't clear to either of us and I have paper bills which show two rows showing a day rate and an evening rate, our smart meter also still had rate 1 and rate 2 present.

When you say it was not made clear, do you mean they did not tell you, or do you mean they told you and you ignored the email/letter in your account? EDF's website also stores all correspondence as PDFs and they are dated on the timeline, so is there a letter/notification in there about the tariff change? 

SPlatten

@MattMattMattUK , they sent me an email, but like a lot of things from EDF, I find it isn't clear.  

CouldntResist

You don't get paper bills each month but you do get an email? Does that email give you a clue as to what as been charged that month and how it was derived which we might refer to as 'a bill'?

SPlatten

@CouldntResist, the email we get has a balance on it and a link to the web-site "View your bill", which after you login takes you to a web-page with no detail except the same figure in a bigger font.  There are then lots more links to click on, but no direct link to the bill, you get a link to "My bills and payments", eventually there is a link to download my bill, !!!!!! can't they just email the damn bill in the first place?

MattMattMattUK

SPlatten said:

@MattMattMattUK , they sent me an email, but like a lot of things from EDF, I find it isn't clear.  

I think on that basis you probably do not have a leg to stand on. EDF's communication was clear when I used to deal with them, even if most of the rest of their service was a bit spotty. The email would have also been generated as a PDF within their messages, can you post a copy of that with your personal details redacted? 

EssexHebridean

I'm afraid I would agree with Matt's assessment here - had you queried the email when you originally got it, then perhaps, but I suspect that ship has sailed now. Your only option might be to complain on the basis that "it was not made clear" - you could even after 8 weeks escalate to the ombudsman with that argument but not having challenged it at the time will not go in your favour, and of course they could simply take the view that in fact it WAS clear. nothing to lose by having a go though. 

Most importantly though - had the situation been sorted now, and you are back on dual rate? 

SPlatten

@EssexHebridean, we are now back on a dual rate.

CouldntResist

I don't get it - it seems you can actually get to your bills when you look for them, which might be more inconvenient than a direct link but still accessible....

I've said it before, if you are paying bills by DD then you need to check the amounts they are going to be taking are vaguely what you expect them to be which would have given you a clue where the problem was