Energy costs. Oh dear.......

[staffordian]

but whilst I don't much care for their twice yearly billingI

In 2021, they billed monthly
last year it was quarterly
now it's twice a year
all changes without saying a word to their customers

Not sure if it makes any difference to what you pay
but paying full on receipt of bill gets you a monthly invoice
https://www.edfenergy.com/help-support/ways-to-pay

all seems a bit odd to me

Very odd!

Utility Point went bust in 2021 and I've been with EDF since then and have only ever been billed twice yearly. I have read elsewhere that they have an antiquated billing system which they are replacing with a new one used by several suppliers (Kraken rings a bell but means nothing to me). However it will apparently be late 2024 before it is fully implemented.

I wonder if they use several systems if they bill (billed?) some users monthly or quarterly.

[bruncher]

In 2021, they billed monthly
last year it was quarterly
now it's twice a year
all changes without saying a word to their customers

Not sure if it makes any difference to what you pay
but paying full on receipt of bill gets you a monthly invoice
https://www.edfenergy.com/help-support/ways-to-pay

all seems a bit odd to me

Very odd!

Utility Point went bust in 2021 and I've been with EDF since then and have only ever been billed twice yearly. I have read elsewhere that they have an antiquated billing system which they are replacing with a new one used by several suppliers (Kraken rings a bell but means nothing to me). However it will apparently be late 2024 before it is fully implemented.

I wonder if they use several systems if they bill (billed?) some users monthly or quarterly.

I'm also a Utility Point refugee who was migrated to EDF. I don't like the billing and would like to switch, but the govt payments do arrive in our bank account and I'm hesitant to switch in the middle of a crisis even though the customer service is poor.

They pestered me to get smart meters and the new gas meter hasn't initiated or commissioned as it should. Ongoing saga. And they failed to use the final reading (from old meter) for gas as they did for electric ... they have done it finally after many calls, but it says 'customer reading' which isn't correct.

[staffordian]

They pestered me to get smart meters and the new gas meter hasn't initiated or commissioned as it should. Ongoing saga. And they failed to use the final reading (from old meter) for gas as they did for electric ... they have done it finally after many calls, but it says 'customer reading' which isn't correct.

That sounds familiar!

They pestered me too, even lying that fitting them was obligatory. But we relented and the fitter came on 9 March. First thing he said was that he couldn't fit a gas meter as some pipework was hidden and he wasn't allowed to fit one in this scenario in case an unseen joint was disturbed, causing a leak. Fair enough, but annoying as it is gas usage which costs us most so having relatively up to date gas data was potentially more interesting.

He fitted the electricity meter and showed us the in home display (IHD), which, he said, would connect to the meter within 24 hours.

Almost a fortnight later, it has still not started to work. Their customer service bods told me the fitter didn't know what he was talking about and it could take fourteen days for the IHD to start. I'm certain this is codswallop but I've another three days before I can try again to get them to sort out the blasted thing and finally (hopefully!) get the only minor benefit the smart meter installation might give me...

[GrahamPlatt]

I've often wondered how Electricité de France has survived the Brexit fiasco. Particularly as most of it comes from nuclear power plants. Or at least it used to come from them. As far as I know, many have been taken off line.
Steve

https://mastodon.top/@visactu/109541886206940460

Although things have moved on since December. Large cracks discovered in Penly’s water intake pipes; Seems to be a welding fault which may be common to others. 320 joints being actively investigated.

[Gersemi]

Almost a fortnight later, it has still not started to work. Their customer service bods told me the fitter didn't know what he was talking about and it could take fourteen days for the IHD to start. I'm certain this is codswallop but I've another three days before I can try again to get them to sort out the blasted thing and finally (hopefully!) get the only minor benefit the smart meter installation might give me...

Don't hold your breath. I had a smart meter installed about a year ago. The IDH worked perfectly to start with, but after a few months the electricty part stopped working. I've had a couple of emails from my supplier about it, but it still doesn't work so I have to read the meter every month.

[swill453]

Almost a fortnight later, it has still not started to work. Their customer service bods told me the fitter didn't know what he was talking about and it could take fourteen days for the IHD to start. I'm certain this is codswallop but I've another three days before I can try again to get them to sort out the blasted thing and finally (hopefully!) get the only minor benefit the smart meter installation might give me...

Don't hold your breath. I had a smart meter installed about a year ago. The IDH worked perfectly to start with, but after a few months the electricty part stopped working. I've had a couple of emails from my supplier about it, but it still doesn't work so I have to read the meter every month.

Do you read the meter for your own records, or do you need to supply the reading to your electricity provider?

If the latter, that implies the problem isn't with the IHD, but with the meter itself.

Scott.

[Mike4]

UK gas now trading below 100 pence. 90% down from its peak and back to mid 1991 levels.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/uk-natural-gas

That'll eventually feed into bills and lower (inflation) for food costs

Yes give it a few years and we may expect bills glacially slowly to begin to creep downwards...

I think they've been learning from the petrol retailers.

[Tedx]

That'll eventually feed into bills and lower (inflation) for food costs

Yes give it a few years and we may expect bills glacially slowly to begin to creep downwards...

I think they've been learning from the petrol retailers.

Somewhat higher energy bills aren't always a bad thing - look at the energy saving ideas that were being banded about here and multilpy it by, say, 20 million households.

Years of cheap Russki gas flooding into Europe left us all a bit complacent.

[staffordian]

Do you read the meter for your own records, or do you need to supply the reading to your electricity provider?

If the latter, that implies the problem isn't with the IHD, but with the meter itself.

Scott.

Yes and no...

I read them monthly for my records but I also know that EDF are receiving my smart meter data as their website allows me to view the usage data via their 'energy hub'. I also see it retrospectively via the Bright app. So I think the WAN works, and the fault is with the HAN or a botched pairing of the IHD to the HAN. If I'd had a smart gas meter too, it would have been easy to know if the HAN was ok as it is used to send gas meter data to the electricity meter, and thence via the WAN to EDF (via the DCC), so if Bright showed my gas data, I'd know the HAN and WAN were both ok.

However ha ing a smart electricity meter didn't stop EDF emailing me this morning asking for meter readings before 30 March as my half yearly bill is due.

Their billing system is a puzzle to me. I submitted readings as requested, and according to their app, I have a debit, as expected, but the app also says I need to submit further readings by 20 April to ensure an accurate bill. Call me stupid, but I thought submitting them today as requested would ensure an accurate bill...

[pje16]

Call me stupid, but I thought submitting them today as requested would ensure an accurate bill...

Oh come on, that is expecting far too much

[monabri]

I was cleaning out the airing cupcoard today and came across a brochure from the Midlands Electricity Board (MEB). ON one of the pages it gave the unit prices and standing charge for electricity....April 1989. I substituted the 1989 figures into my spreadsheet for calculating my energy costs.

Cost of electric 1989 = £348
Cost of electric 2023 =£2394
A factor of 6.88

RPI April 1987 = 114.3
RPI Feb 2023 = 364.5
A factor of 3.19

[Tedx]

I was cleaning out the airing cupcoard today and came across a brochure from the Midlands Electricity Board (MEB). ON one of the pages it gave the unit prices and standing charge for electricity....April 1989. I substituted the 1989 figures into my spreadsheet for calculating my energy costs.

Cost of electric 1989 = £348
Cost of electric 2023 =£2394
A factor of 6.88

RPI April 1987 = 114.3
RPI Feb 2023 = 364.5
A factor of 3.19

Yeah, they're skinning us alive. And theres nothing we can do about it.

We could appeal to our elected representatives. Yeah, like that's going to do anything.

[Tedx]

Consumers foot the bill for traders manipulating UK power market....

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023 ... ify%20wall

[Mike4]

Thanks for posting that.

Interesting to note that unlike today, with pre-payment meters (coin and token meters) the price per unit is the same as for a credit account meter. I'm now wondering when they began to diverge.

[swill453]

Interesting to note that unlike today, with pre-payment meters (coin and token meters) the price per unit is the same as for a credit account meter. I'm now wondering when they began to diverge.

I don't know, but from July they'll be back to the same rate again https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... to-be-cut/

Scott.

[pje16]

I have just been called by Shell

I have had a long running battle with them over estimated gas bills
I submit gas and electric readings on the last day of the month
Electricity bills are fine, but Gas is always estimated
I was just told not to enter gas on the last day of the month but to do it on the 2nd of each month as the end of the month is too far way from the bill generation date of the 5th

I have never heard such a bunch of nonsense from any energy supplier
WHAT is wrong with them

[AF62]

WHAT is wrong with them

Or alternatively what makes someone stay with such a supplier.

If a business gives rubbish customer service and there are others offering exactly the same product at exactly the same price, then you either have to be an optimist and hope that one day they will change their ways or a masochist who enjoys the hassle from them.

[Mike4]

I was cleaning out the airing cupcoard today and came across a brochure from the Midlands Electricity Board (MEB). ON one of the pages it gave the unit prices and standing charge for electricity....April 1989. I substituted the 1989 figures into my spreadsheet for calculating my energy costs.

Cost of electric 1989 = £348
Cost of electric 2023 =£2394
A factor of 6.88

RPI April 1987 = 114.3
RPI Feb 2023 = 364.5
A factor of 3.19

Also interesting to note the standing charge for a credit meter was 7.9p per day. Now about 50p per day for most suppliers I think. Also a factor of about 6.

The coin and token meter standing charges were and are significantly higher, so the argument that the higher cost (due to be stopped in July) of electricity for the pre-pay meters is to cover the cost of administering the pre-pay scheme doesn't really hold water.

Does the July regularisation of pre-pay and credit meter charges include the standing charges? Or will those remain higher for pre-pay? I skimmed the Martin Lewis article but didn't notice it mentioned. Might have missed it, Martin is usually on top of stuff like that!

[pje16]

WHAT is wrong with them

Or alternatively what makes someone stay with such a supplier.

If a business gives rubbish customer service and there are others offering exactly the same product at exactly the same price, then you either have to be an optimist and hope that one day they will change their ways or a masochist who enjoys the hassle from them.

their rates were the best for me when I joined them
but when the market opens up again, I will be off like a shot
no point in moving at present

[AF62]

no point in moving at present

Other than to get better customer service...