EDF Electicity Utility Bills

[originalmissy]

Hi,

After some advice regarding Utility Bills and where we stand regarding them please.

EDF - Background.

We've got a business a/c with EDF for electricity from when we had our business and a rep called in at our shop and we took him up on his better rate. He also said that as we do some of the business work from home we could get the better rate there too. That business has since folded however myself and OH are stil self employed and work from home so we've kept the business a/c.

Our gas boiler broke beyond repair last year so over the last cold winter we had to use electric heaters, immersion heater for baths, and the tumble drier as and when we couldn't get washing on the line (there's us & 2 kids). Obviously the summer cut out the heaters but the immersion was still in regular use and cooking is all done via electric.

Anyway our bill is very high £900.00 odd as we missed a months payment and we got them to agree £200 per month only after they had sent someone from Marstons around even though we had tried to get them to agree this over the phone. Another quarters bill drops through the letter box for £500 odd so we now owe £1500+ they also want the £500 up front as the £200 p/m only applies to the old bill. We haven't got that sort of money but today have had a red letter saying they want £1369.10 (the current total o/s) in 7 days, we won't receive further reminders and if we don't pay thhey will call on or after 7th Oct to dissconnect us.

A relative purchased a new electric shower for us at the weekend which is now in so our usage should drop considerably as the immersion won't be used anymore. We don't wantt a pre-pay meter as the cost will be higher but EDF just don't want to listen.

Any advice will be welcommed

[overspender]

Re: Utility Bills

First of all are the bills estimated or are they your readings?

As you missed a payment they are within their rights to take you away from a lower tariff and put your tariff up - have they done this???

Also as you are on a payment plan and missed a payment as a priority debt they can demand full payment. You must prioritise your debts Mortgage/rent Council tax water rates Gas/Electric Court fines etc must be paid before anything else. If you are in hardship please explain this to them also maybe take some advice from Consumer Credit Counselling service however they will want you to get your priority debts up to date first.

I am sorry if this sounds patronising however priority bills must be paid.

Ask them if they have a dept who can help you if you are in hardship however they may want to push you down the token meter route.

Would it be cheaper to get the boiler fixed/replaced consider all options.

Good Luck

Mrs O

[originalmissy]

Re: Utility Bills

Thankyou for your response.
Unfortunately the bills are from their readings and not estimated. I don't think they have put our tarrif up, but tbh, even if they have it is still cheaper than a domestic tarrif, we know, we have looked into changing but business tarrifs are lower across the board.

The payment arrangement was agreed and set up 2 months ago, we have not missed a payment on this agreement, however what EDF are now saying is that the agreement was for the outstanding debt of £900.00 and the new bill of £500.00 had to be paid in full! This was not what we were told at the time of making this arrangement.

Although this is a business account, our business is run from our home, bearing in mind that we have children and our only method of heating atm is via electric, can EDF still disconnect us? I also thought that the utility companies could not refuse any reasonable offer of payment? £200 per month seems reasonable to me.

With regards to the boiler, yes it would be cheaper, but at around £1500.00 it's way out of our league atm. Now we have got a rep from Warm Front coming to see us on Wednesday, hopefully this is how we will be able to get a new boiler, (wish I had known about this last year), but if that fails then we can look at a chrisis loan. I will let you know what happens.

[alastairq]

Re: Utility Bills

Pop in to see CAB.....

I don't think they can disconnect you if children are living in the address.....if you get placed on a token meter, you will be paying over the odds, to allow the power co. to recoup what they say is owed.

Avoid a crisis loan, as you then enter a debt spiral.

Why can you currently not afford to meet your power bills? [do you have a very limited income?}

Are other [priority] bills getting into arrears?

Your bills do seem rather high for this time of year.....are you certain you are not on a higher tariff?

[originalmissy]

Re: Utility Bills

Another update lol.
OH spoke to EDF yesterday, he mentioned that the call was being recorded, so the chap on the other end was as nice as pie and seemed to bend over backwards to help ;Hmm

Ffirst of he stated that the 'disconnection' notice was a standard letter and that we were not going to be disconnected! OH explained that the arrangement for £200 pm was being adhere to and had not been broken, chap on the other end tried to explain that the arrangement was for the arrears amount and did not include future bills, OH explained that this was not what we were told at the time or indeed in the confirmation letter that was sent out by EDF, chap on other end went quiet ;Hmm

OH then explained that although this was a business account, that particular business went under two years previously but we hadn't changed this as we do run a different business from the same address and felt that it would be cheaper. Well apparentley it can be cheaper on domestic rate after all, something to do with the standing charge being lower and a diff rate of VAT. So we were asked to email a copy of our last two council tax bills to confirm that this was infact a residential and not business building, then he will look into changing us over to domestic rate and backdating it to the two years which hopefully will reduce the outstanding arrears and mean lower bills in the future. We are waiting for him to come back to us so holding our breath atm, and of course I will update when we hear.

As I said in my BG thread, we did have financial problems in the recent past and although things are still tight we are in a position to get everything sorted out. It's just so fruastrating when this big companies do not want to know and try to push you into a corner.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Utility Bills

Missy

I'm confused - in the first post you say that business rates are cheaper across the board but in your last post above you mention you'll be cheaper on a domestic tariff.....

I am with EON and refuse to pay my electric / gas monthly - I pay them annually as with council tax - so they generally threaten me a lot but I have worked them out to a T!

They won't disconnect you but what they say is semi-correct, in that yes you've agreed to pay £200 p/m towards arrears however that doesn't take into account future bills, so you'd argue that you will continue to pay £200 per month until all bills are paid, so in theory as you've just had a bill say in September - you now owe £1300 - so by the time your next bill comes, you'll have cleared £600 but accumulated £500 in charges (that is an expensive quarterly bill btw) - so technically, in the next 3 months you've only paid £100 off the arrears - this is their point. So, what you need to do is up the monthly payment proposal to something like £300 and tell them you'll leave it at this for the forseeable future and they will be fine with you. I agree to this every quarter, complete the DD form then go into online banking after one payment and cancel it lol. I want to earn the interest so I am always running 9mth in arrears at the moment, which is fine cos it is only £1200 - which I have in the bank pot, for this bill. But at the moment i'm getting £1 per month out of it (lol) so that in my book is 4 pints of stella - thanks EON!

Just agree to a higher monthly amount if you can, and if not start to use jumpers and cut down the bills. Go on a meter if necessary which they will re-tariff at a higher rate to take into account the arrears....

[5corpio]

Re: EDF Electicity Utility Bills

Gas price rise? Just say no thanks
[size=5]Customers can reject their supplier's price rises while switching to another energy provider.
Scottish Power was the latest company to announce a price rise late on Friday. Customers will see gas prices go up by 2pc and electricity prices by 8.9pc from November 25. British Gas is increasing prices by 7pc on December 10, while Scottish & Southern Energy will raise gas prices by 9pc on December 1.

Other providers are expected to follow suit, except for EDF Energy, which has announced a price freeze on all standard tariffs until March. It confirmed late last week that this included its online tariff, which is now the cheapest on the market.

Under Ofgem rules, energy companies cannot enforce their price rises if a customer tells them that they reject the rise within 20 working days of receiving a letter about it. At present, energy companies can send letters about price increases up to 65 working days after the increase has been applied.

Once customers have informed the supplier that they reject the price rise, YOU they must make arrangements to switch suppliers within 15 working days. The switch will then take around six weeks, during which time the customer will continue to enjoy the lower price More from Info from Media Link viewtopic.php?p=37255#p37255