EDF Energy - £2,300 'underestimate' bill but they have never based a bill on an actual reading in 4 years 8 months!

[Jason Arthurs]

Since we signed up with EDF Energy for our Gas and Electricity in September 2005 the gas bills have been accurate and we've had no problems. But the electricity bills have gradually gone further and further out of touch with reality. But despite protesting EDF have been discarding their own meter readers reading, our customer readings (by card, by phone and online) in favour of their own more thrifty 'estimates'.

 

Last month having discussed the fact that their estimates and the real readings are now over 18,000 units different (in their favour) with a very helpful member of staff over the phone, he went away to investigate. On the 11th May a member of EDF staff called to ask for a customer reading and on the 21st May we received a bill for over £2,300 based on that customer reading.

 

I spoke to someone today, to get a definitive answer to the question, "when was my last bill based on an actual reading" and I was told that there has *never* been a bill since September 2005 that has been based on an actual meter reading! Indeed they stated that even the reading from the previous supplier passed to them when they took over is actually an estimate.

 

The latest EDF operative, went away and did something, which wasn't explained particularly well. There was a meter reading in December taken by one of their readers which had been rejected by their system. She forced the system to accept this reading and it 'recalculated our usage, and took into account all payments received since 2005' this reduced our bill to £1042. She didn't explain particularly well so this is all a little black magic as far as I'm concerned. I can't quite work out how two accurate readings in December '09 and May '10 can miraculously knock over £1250 off of an electricity bill retrospectively?

 

They are sending out a revised bill for £1042 in the next few days, but I'm wondering whether or not to throw this over to the regulators. They have been reading the meter, but their system has been rejecting the readings and nobody until now has actually done anything about it. They are also signed up to the Electricity Retail Association and as such have agreed to be bound by it's code.

 

"Under the Code, from 1st July 2007, where the suppliers are at fault in not billing a domestic customer, they will not send a bill which includes unbilled energy consumed more than 1 year previous to the bill being issued."

 

As EDF have done nothing to rectify this despite it being drawn to their attention on a number of occasions they appear to be in breach of this code. I suspect that the difference between what we have paid (in advance by standing order) over the past year and what we have used is negligible and we could have actually overpaid. Could we get this 'underestimate' bill written off as it would effectively all be for electricity used in previous years?

 

Regards,

Jason.

[nottslad]

I think the reduction in the bill is their way of explaining that the billing code has been applied to reduce the balance and therefore only back bill for one year.

 

The way a billing code adjustment is worked out is by taking 2 actual meter readings, and estimating what the reading would have been one year before the date of the first correct bill.

 

When calculating how much to reduce the bill by, payments received can be off-set against this to reduce the amount the company has to wipe off.

 

I think they just need to explain a bit better what they have done.

 

From what you have written, the billing code will definitely apply as they have received actual meter readings and not investigated them, and based their bill on estimates instead, you wouldn't be in this situation had they billed you correctly in the first instance.

 

You could try calling the complaints department, writing to them or escalating your problem to a manger, this process needs to be followed before the Energy Supply Ombudsman will get involved.

[Jason Arthurs]

I think the reduction in the bill is their way of explaining that the billing code has been applied to reduce the balance and therefore only back bill for one year.

 

The way a billing code adjustment is worked out is by taking 2 actual meter readings, and estimating what the reading would have been one year before the date of the first correct bill.

 

When calculating how much to reduce the bill by, payments received can be off-set against this to reduce the amount the company has to wipe off.

 

I think they just need to explain a bit better what they have done.

 

From what you have written, the billing code will definitely apply as they have received actual meter readings and not investigated them, and based their bill on estimates instead, you wouldn't be in this situation had they billed you correctly in the first instance.

 

You could try calling the complaints department, writing to them or escalating your problem to a manger, this process needs to be followed before the Energy Supply Ombudsman will get involved.

 

If this is correct, then they have taken any payments I've made in the last year and used them to clear part of the 'underestimate' and are now billing me again for the past year?

 

Using a reading I took on the 10th May 2009 in conjunction with the reading they asked us for (and based the underestimate bill on) and that gives a total usage of 5871 units for the year. Assuming four equal bills with 121 units at 16.9p and the remainder at 10.49p that gives £646.89 as the actual bill for May '09 to May '10. I pay £15/week by standing order so in the past year I've actually paid them £780.

 

I'm assuming they'll take this overpayment to offset the loss they'll make writing off the underestimate and bill me again for May '09 to May '10?

 

Regards,

Jason.

[Jason Arthurs]

I've just received a 'revised' bill which gives estimated readings back to 26th September 2005. I suspect they've used a meter reading from December which their reader took (and the system rejected) and a reading taken by my wife on the 11th May and used this to generate new estimates back to the beginning of our contract.

 

The new total comes to £3230 and then the payable total has been reduced to £1082 without any explanation. I've written back to their customer services and requested a proper explanation of the bill and I'm seeing if they can explain it without mentioning the 'billing code'.

 

I have readings I've taken which show that we've used £660 worth of electricity in the past year (not the £1082 that they're claiming).

 

It's interesting to see how they have used all our previous payment, including payments this year and have pushed them all back to pay for electricity prior to this year. Whilst I can see that they're trying to mitigate their loss, this effectively means I payed for this year's electricity up front by standing order and they will try to bill me again for it which kind of thumbs its nose at the 'billing code' by making me pay for the only year they can touch me for, twice.

 

I keep having to remind myself that the bigger picture is that their incompetence has saved me in the region of £1,700 off of my bill.

 

Regards,

Jason.

[Jason Arthurs]

I've just received a 'revised' bill which gives estimated readings back to 26th September 2005. I suspect they've used a meter reading from December which their reader took (and the system rejected) and a reading taken by my wife on the 11th May and used this to generate new estimates back to the beginning of our contract.

 

The new total comes to £3230 and then the payable total has been reduced to £1082 without any explanation. I've written back to their customer services and requested a proper explanation of the bill and I'm seeing if they can explain it without mentioning the 'billing code'.

 

I have readings I've taken which show that we've used £660 worth of electricity in the past year (not the £1082 that they're claiming).

 

It's interesting to see how they have used all our previous payment, including payments this year and have pushed them all back to pay for electricity prior to this year. Whilst I can see that they're trying to mitigate their loss, this effectively means I payed for this year's electricity up front by standing order and they will try to bill me again for it which kind of thumbs its nose at the 'billing code' by making me pay for the only year they can touch me for, twice.

 

I keep having to remind myself that the bigger picture is that their incompetence has saved me in the region of £1,700 off of my bill.

 

Regards,

Jason.

 

I wrote back to EDF again and in view of their reluctance to make any reference to the Billing Code I stated that I had taken advice and felt that their incompetence meant that the billing code applied.

 

I detailed how much electricity I had used in the previous year, and gave details of the payments I had made. Showing that I had actually paid £765 to EDF Energy despite only having used £700 of electricity during that period.

 

I gave a current reading and asked them to send me a revised bill to reflect the limitations imposed on them by the Billing Code.

 

They have now replied and state that:

 

"The Billing Code in this instance, does not apply even though reads from both yourself and our meter readers were not used to bill your account. We were sending estimated bills and we appreciate that this was not acceptable. According to our records we requested reads from you on several occasions with no response. We also amended your start read thereby writing off 9000 units of usage to bring your account up to date."

 

So they are implying that I missed requests to provide personal readings, despite the fact that every reading made in four years and eight months by myself and their own readers had been ignored by their billing system. Perhaps they needed some more to ignore?

 

They are also stating that they have written off 9000 units by amending my start reading, despite previously admitting that this start reading passed to them by the previous supplier was also an uncorroborated estimate.

 

Essentially my billing history is a complete 'fiction' manufactured by EDF in order to generate timely bills, accuracy appears to have gone to wall. Is it worth pursuing this further with EDF, or should I take this directly to the Energy Retail Association?

 

I want to change providers away from these uncompetitive and incompetent idiots, but presumably they can bar me from doing this until they deem the debt repaid? They have confirmed I have 60 months to repay what they believe I owe, but despite this keep sending out 'Immediate Payment' letters for the full amount. Apparently they can only put an account on hold for 21 days before the system starts sending out demands.

 

Regards,

Jason.

[nottslad]

Thats all complete bull!

 

Respond and ask for a deadlock letter so that you can escalate this problem to the Energy Supply Ombudsman; it is my opinion that the Billing Code applies as you have given them reads which backed up their own DC reads

[Jason Arthurs]

Thats all complete bull!

 

Respond and ask for a deadlock letter so that you can escalate this problem to the Energy Supply Ombudsman; it is my opinion that the Billing Code applies as you have given them reads which backed up their own DC reads

 

Looks like they regularly thumb their nose at the billing code, unless you escalate it further.

 

EDF in £8,500 electricity bill shocker - Times Online

 

I think I'll call their bluff and tell them I'm going to escalate it straight to the Energy Ombudsman, see if they capitulate or if they let it go higher.

 

Regards,

Jason.

[HP Mum]

I agree with Jason above.

I have had an on-going saga with electricity supplier since just before Christmas. They kept refusing to accept Billing Code. I kept on and on writing. They kept coming back with all sorts of mistakes and made up readings, each time contradicting previous readings. I guess they got bored of arguing in the end and just gave up last week. So my thought is to keep arguing; keep writing letters and badgering them and in the end it becomes too expensive for them to pursue !!!

[Jason Arthurs]

A representative from EDF Energy rang on Monday, to confirm they had received my letter and it had been passed to a higher manager for further investigation and that I would be contacted shortly. On Tuesday I returned home to find a deadlock letter on the doormat, so I now had the necessary paperwork to pursue it with the ombudsman.

 

Today I got a phone call from the same representative, again stating that the complaint is not covered by the billing code because I had failed to provide readings when they had requested them!

 

They quibbled my calculations that I submitted showing I had already paid for more electricity than I had used in the past 12 months, but conceded that my under calculation only made a difference of £20. Then at the end of the call they stated that they would write off a further £1020 which was the figure I'd managed to battle them down to before issuing the last letter (for which they gave no reason) and issue an up to date bill.

 

I'll believe it when I get the up to date bill in the post, but I suspect they have now written off the entirety of the back billed electricity without explicitly admitting liability under the billing code.

 

So if anyone else out their is being bullied by EDF, persevere, they may not admit they have breached the code but they will (eventually) cave in and write off the sum which under the billing code they should never have charged you in the first place!

 

Thanks,

Jason.

[nottslad]

sometimes if an account isn't strictly covered by te billing code but there is enough evidence to clearly show the supplier is at fault and did not do enough to rectify the billing (in your case the meter reads were clearly being obtained by the DC) rather than pay the cost of escalating to the Ombudsman (a few hundred quid) and then applying the reduction plus compensation they will pre-empt what the Ombudsman will say - which is usually "apply the spirit of the billing code"

[EnergyIndustryInsider]

An energy company needs to splash out £600 every time a complaint reaches ombudsman stage, so even if the ombudsman might be likely to rule in their favour, most will avoid it for bills that aren't significantly higher than this amount, as once man hours are added in, it becomes more economical to write off balances.

[Jason Arthurs]

I have received a bill this morning showing we are now £36.73 in credit.

 

It's shameful really that it's taken this level of perseverance to get EDF to comply with the billing code (in deed, as it appears they will not admit liability under the code itself). The initial bill they sent attempted to charge for unbilled electricity for over four years at the 2010 KWh rate, having challenged this, they recalculated the liability divided pro-rata at the various KWh rates over the preceding four years, a saving of £1250.

 

Having confirmed with a member of their staff over the phone that there was a long history of ignored readings, I am in no doubt this is a case for the Billing Code. EDF however issued the first two bills in direct contravention of the billing code and continued to deny responsibility even when they wrote off the unbilled energy.

 

I wonder how many people have been intimidated into paying up under these circumstances by the red letters and the threats of pre-payment meters? EDF certainly seem to have no scruples about only obeying the billing code retrospectively and when the consumer know their rights and are willing to pursue them.

 

Regards,

Jason.

[Surfer01]

Well done. Another victory for the little guy!