EDF Cancelled Charges-Anyone else been hit with this?

MarkyMarkD

The agreed rate wasn't 6p. The OP stated that EDF had written to him telling him the increased rate 2 years ago.

Cardew

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

The agreed rate wasn't 6p. The OP stated that EDF had written to him telling him the increased rate 2 years ago.[

Presumably you are assuming that this is what this statement meant?

Now they are saying they made a mistake, wrote to me in Feb 2006 (over 2 years ago) and will retrospectively apply the price to date (Mar 08).

I did ask what they wrote in my first post.

It really doesn't seem plausible that they would write and say we are raising your prices to ??? and wait 2 years to impliment those rise, especially as there will have been price rises and cuts in that 2 years(presumably); They have to formally notify you of all rises.

hotlipz

Hi, the same kind of thing happened to me with British Gas. I've got a prepayment meter but it became in debt?????
When I rang them up they said that they should've come out to up my rate months ago but they didn't so they're backdating it. I was told that they are allowed to backdate up to 4 years.
Anyway, I had to pay it because they took x amount from my meter every week. If I didn't pay I didn't get electric.
What is more unbelievable than that is the fact that about 6 months after that I received a letter saying that they were going to give me the money back.

pgtips123

Hi,

have had a call back from EDF customer services, seems like there is quite a bit of unravelling to do, for a start the technical error they referred to isn't just my applied price, it also includes my being on a commercial tariff since I moved in some 6 years now and paying a standing charge in addition to my electric usage. That could be swings and roundabouts but it needs changing.

I have to agree with Cardew, I just don't know how you can demonstrate you have written to someone over 2 years ago stating there is a new contract and price and then enforce/implement it 2 years later, 2 years is a long time and i am unsure how this can be demonstrated (sending the letter), I genuinely don't recall dealing with any such correspondence.

I think I am like most people (with new family, balancing bills and other finances) I work to what I have got in front of me and plan accordingly.

In good faith I paid my bills on time, had meter readings and, based on comparison, they were competitive but now I know they were all artificially low priced. The only mechanism I have to compare prices is my bill which I have to say in good faith as a consumer I would assume is correct. I wouldn't have assumed they got it wrong and the onus certainly shouldn't be on the paying customer to check they have got it right. Believe me with rising energy prices and the day to day rising costs of living I have checked quite a few times to see if I can save some money somewhere.

Had my bill had the higher pricing included then it would have been a different story but then of course that's muddied because I've been on a commercial tariff so I can do no more but wait and see.

I have to say though this just isn't good practice, ethically nor business wise to do this (from the companies point of view). If you are making in excess of 50billion euros profit some sort of system testing/post integration check for such a critical part of the business is a bit of a no brainer. 3 core parts of the business: 1. provide electricity, 2. invoice customer, 3. receive payment and balance it all up. For 2 years they have got 2 and 3 wrong and no one noticed... it spans I think 3 accounting periods from when they say they wrote to me in Feb 2006 until the letter explaining the "technical error" in March 2008.

And am I a soft target. Lets say my neighbour and I were both on the same tariff and with the same company up until Dec 07 when my neighbour decides to sell up and move.. is it only me that is liable to pay ?? They can only approach customers they still have on their books. Put another way, using the petrol example, is it likely BP would barricade all the customers in the petrol station and enforce 2 years petrol price back payment whilst the others drive around scott free because BP can't reach them.

Anyway hopefully this will have done me a favour by them looking into it, I'll be on a normal rate for a start and may have been mis charged in the past. I don't know how domestic and commercial rates have matched up over the past few years and fair play to them they seem to be quite keen to work with me and energy watch to resolve this.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted on how it pans out.

Cardew

hotlipz wrote: »

Hi, the same kind of thing happened to me with British Gas. I've got a prepayment meter but it became in debt?????
When I rang them up they said that they should've come out to up my rate months ago but they didn't so they're backdating it. I was told that they are allowed to backdate up to 4 years.
Anyway, I had to pay it because they took x amount from my meter every week. If I didn't pay I didn't get electric.
What is more unbelievable than that is the fact that about 6 months after that I received a letter saying that they were going to give me the money back.

This is not the same thing.

You were on a pre-payment tariff and the terms and conditions spelt out the prices could rise and it would be 'clawed back' by resetting the meter to charge more than the current rate.

This was because it was obviously impossible to physically change millions of meters on the day of the price rise.

The trouble was that all of the Utility companies simply didn't put any effort into adjusting the meter to the new rate and millions of customers, thinking they had fully pre-paid, were unaware that they owed huge amounts.

After questions in Parliment about this unfair practice some Utility companies(including BG) decided to write off those debts; others still insist on payment of debts built up that way.

MarkyMarkD

pgtips123 wrote: »

And am I a soft target. Lets say my neighbour and I were both on the same tariff and with the same company up until Dec 07 when my neighbour decides to sell up and move.. is it only me that is liable to pay ?? They can only approach customers they still have on their books.

No. Both you and your neighbour would be liable. The fact you are, or are not, still supplied by them is irrelevant. You both owe them the money.