EDF direct debit

Not all suppliers! I am with SO Energy, one of the smaller suppliers. I have smart meters for electricity and gas. They 'interrogate' them daily. They initially set the direct debit at one twelfth of last year's bill plus a bit. I replaced my old combi boiler with a new condensing one and my bill fell 'dramatically' so I was building up a surplus with them. I got in touch and they cheerfully reset the direct debit and I took some of the surplus from them. I still pay a bit more than I use, but I'll wait until the prices settle down and perhaps claim a bit back for a treat.

That's not surprising if you got behind. Let's say your DD was £130pm and you were actually using £160pm. Not only do you need to increase the DD to cover your actual usage, but you need to pay back the owing amount (could be several months worth, especially if they only adjust every 3 or 6 months) and also put something by for the next winter. That could be an extra £30pm to make up the arrears and £30pm to put in the kitty for next winter. (By the time this takes effect we'll be mostly done with this winter)

How well does your consumption align with your current payment?

Do they have a 'just DD me the billed value, I don't care about smoothing it out' payment plan?

Theo

Yes, I've had a look on comparison sites and conclude I've been with EDF on default tariff too long ... an annual increase of £1140 for a 0.2% cap increase is nuts.

My gas smart meter battery ran out last year, and the meter needing replacing; they took their time, so I got over two months of free gas as a result, but I think that makes their systems think my gas usage has rocketed this year?

Not considering getting rid of my cast-iron lump. I probably should put better lagging on the HW cylinder.

Except I'm not, every time I login to their website, there's a heading saying "Why is my account in credit?"

Exactly 12m ago, I was £269 in credit, after a bill two days ago I am now £48 in credit, so arguably I've been underpaying £221/y or £18/m, so why whack it up by £95/m ?

They do, but I think they've pissed me off enough to change supplier ...

Find an energy supplier that will send you the bill - the whole point of smart meters it to avoid estimates

And the whole point of Direct Debits is that they are variable - otherwise you may as well have a standing order

Fuse say they will bill based on the readings, and are cheap on comparison sites, but only seem to offer me gas on their (unimpressive) website.

Having entered postcode it won't let me get past choosing fixed vs variable tariff, even when using Chrome instead of Firefox :-(

Most companies factor in the interest they receive on DD balances into their prices, so whilst many will bill for actual use, if you contact them by telephone, they will not be the cheapest supplier. Have you tried ringing EDF to see if they will bill you actual amount?

Dave

Out of interest, how long had the battery lasted, and did the meter give any alarm (like for instance a periodic smoke alarm style 'beep') ?

Fitted mid 2011, died late 2024. No warnings, just when I noticed the gas reading had flatlined on the IHD

Ta !

I've stuck a reminder to check mine on Google Calendar for May 1st 2038

What happened about billing between the battery failing and the meter being replaced? (or was there a mechanical reading that still worked?)

And did the meter not simply shut off the gas supply? It did on my son's house when the battery failed.

So who fitted the replacement battery?

In one case I heard about, they charge a basic flat rate for gas - £25/month. That's for a 6 bedroom gas CH detached house kept at a constant 21C. It's been well over a year since the supplier was notified.

Remember that back-billing for energy usage consumed over 12 months ago has been banned by Ofgem. That hasn't stopped some suppliers trying to do just that. BBC Money box (~live Wed+Sat) read out some users letters recently as part of their end-of-year catchup and one was from a lady who was back-billed for historical usage and she had heard the original MoneyBox program about this ban and told her energy co that what they were trying to do was wrong.

Her energy co promptly backed down (but how many uninformed users would have just paid up?)

That of course just means the rest of us pay it instead.

But I suspect that you only get the 'better' tariffs if you agree to a DD (so they can charge you more for your so-called 'cheaper' tariff and make money out of your credit).

Nothing, I was expecting them to use an average for a couple of months, but they just took the readings as zero.

No, purely an electronic meter.

I'm not sure. He had an emergency number to call (perhaps it was printed on the meter), he called it and was promised a visit from somebody or other to fix it in due course. He was able to hurry them up by telling them about his domestic circs, but they said the usual waiting time was several weeks. Without gas.