Final Bill from EDF - Warning

Geoff_W

I've just completed my switch from EDF to E-on and have received my final gas bill from EDF.

Unsurprisingly, they have tried to charge me for the newer, more expensive rate, despite me informing them of my intention to switch within the 14 day period! So I rang them on the Freephone number (0800 096 9696) and insisted they correct the bill. According to the person I spoke to, my account was marked with the 'special flag' which says I should have been charged the old rate and she 'couldn't understand how the error had occurred'. Yeh, whatever!

On checking the final electricity bill at my request, surprise surprise, the same error had occurred again. These two 'errors' would have left me about £35 worse off had I not noticed.

This is not the first time this has happened when switching, either. The most outrageous was nPower, when I waited in vain for a £70 refund on my gas account. Upon contacting them, they had the cheek to inform me that 'they only give refunds if the customer requests it'!

Call me cynical if you will, but how much money are the utility companies making out of these 'little mistakes'?

Geoff

mute_posting

Geoff_W wrote: »

Call me cynical if you will, but how much money are the utility companies making out of these 'little mistakes'?

Geoff

I'd imagine it is a nice little earner for them - cloud the waters with this rate and that rate, no standing charge this, tier one units that and then sit back and watch the money roll in.

MP

millie

This also happened to me and they corrected the Gas bill after I phoned them.I am still wating for the Electric bill, I had the normal email saying my electricity bill was available to view online. I have not been able to access the online account since I told them I was changing. I have emailed them to tell them to send me the bill in the post and to ensure that the old prices have been used. I even had a letter from them this week telling me I had cancelled my direct debit and asking me how I was going to pay in the future. Unbelievably both my gas and electric was transferred over 2 weeks ago and they are asking me how I am going to pay.

Graham1

I don't think this is a problem just with EDF. My experience is final bills with all power companies are much more likely to be incorrect than previous bills.

Undoubtedly it is a nice earner for them when customers don't check their final bill. I think part of the problem is these company's computerised accounts billing systems can't handle things like billing at the old rate after a price increase (when somebody leaves within the allowed time to not be subject to the increase) and their staff have to resort to manual calculations if and when the customer points out the bill is wrong.

On the plus side sometimes their staff get these manual calculations wrong and the customer can get a bigger reduction (and a smaller final bill) than they should.

So the moral is always check final bills from all power companies carefully and do your own independent calculation of what the final bill should be.

maple41

This has also happened to me last week with edf. When I called them they admitted their mistake and was told to call back the following day when they would have recalculated the last bill. Before I called them back yesterday I recalulated the gas bill (from their figures) so was expecting about £28 credit. The very nice lady told me they were giving me £16 as an exgratia payment for the overcharge. Politely explained my way of working it out and she advised she would have to speak to the person in the billing dept. Anyway she called me back within 20 minutes and said yes I was right - they had made a mistake with the VAT - yeah, cynical or what.
If EDF are getting all the bills wrong of those of us that were on online tarrif v3 and are now switching must be a nice earner.
If anyone gets undercharged or the mistake is in their favour, perhaps they will post here.

Niksan

I was on the blower yesterday with EDF regarding the same thing, however, rather than them just charging me from feb when the prices were raised, it was backdated to december, cheeky b*************, I also found some oddities with bills beforehand when they charged me new rates but more units for the 1st chunk of the bill, I think people should check that also, seems EDF are going to be quids in as I think this will be happening to everyone. I'm guessing a few people have queried so they should recalc these bills by rights.

BexTech

Same thing's happened to me, billed me new rates for Jan, Feb & Mar. Will be calling them 1st thing Monday morning, didn't have time to do it Fri, Sat & Sun.

I too have not been able to access online bills for a few weeks as my accounts changed over a few weeks back.

BexTech

Called them yesterday morning, had to tell them what date I had contacted them about switching away, which I had noted. They said it would be sorted, a few hours later emails come through about final bills and viewing online like previous, hopefully all sorted.

smartie1976

I assume you're reporting these actions to the regulatory bodies, rather than just complaining about it here?

Nothing will ever be done if these companies are not held accountable for any underhand tactics.

As for npower not automatically issuing a refund upon close of account - that is disgraceful (Assuming all was correct with the final account and they were just being idiots). We (BG) run a report which picks up all credit balances on final accounts and issues refunds within 21 days (unless the accounts are in dispute or something not straightforward).

millie

I finally had my lst bill for the electricity and have been charged the new prices so I phoned them again and they are correcting it. In total for both gas and electricity I was overcharged by £30.22, that is how much it has gone up since the increase in February until my switch which was on 26th March. That seems like a very large price rise to me.