EDF - by your own admission, you’re ‘incompetent.’ It’s multi-faceted and needs an urgent set of fixes
If you want an example of crap accounting then look no further than EDF. There are multiple failures requiring urgent attention.
We’ve had issues with EDF almost since they acquired Utility Point, our previous and now bankrupt energy supplier in September 2021.
While the energy crisis didn’t hit until early 2022, our bill and payment situation has been difficult to rationalise. Today, it’s a mess although we are on the road to a resolution.
To understand the situation, the background is important as there have been many factors that play into where we are at and in fairness, once we spoke to EDF’s call centre, the operator apologised profusely for ‘the incompetence of EDF.’
We moved to our current house at the beginning of September 2021 and so had no history of usage at a property that is much larger than our previous home. So when our direct debit shot up from £119/month to £205/month a few months after we moved in we had nothing to benchmark against but assumed this was based on past energy numbers from the previous owner’s consumption data. A few months later and the direct debit catapulted to £362/month. Again, we accepted without question, especially as the energy price situation was chaotic and, at that time, there was no government energy cost relief.
But as 2022 wore on, we discovered that EDF were not taking or requesting monthly readings and were only planning on reviewing our direct debit in September. That was a concern as we couldn’t get usage data on which to take action.
In the middle of this we upgraded our energy system to:
Split the underfloor heating system that heats most of the ground floor from the wet radiator system elsewhere in the house using two Nests that work with Tado TRV’s and the underfloor system respectively.
Installed smart meters.
Implemented the HUGO mobile app as a way of monitoring energy usage.
Finally, we checked that our house, which is over 170 years old, is as insulated as it can be, despite having been fully renovated in the period 2017-20.
The upgrades cost us around £1,000 but we gambled there would be a relatively short payback, regardless of energy cost increases. We reasoned that full control on a room by room basis and adjusting temperatures depending which rooms we are using and when we are using them would provide optimum control. We also reasoned that over time, the smart thermostats and TRV’s would add to our optimisation efforts. If that sounds like overkill then remember that we are at home most of the time. Then the real EDF related problems kicked in.
The smart meters stopped sending electricity data a few weeks after installation and it took another few weeks to get an engineer on the case who was less than complementary about the quality of the smart meters. That was September 2022. Over the last six months, the smart meter network had outages on a handful of occasions, meaning that HUGO has to undertake fixes to grab the electricity data. It’s not clear whether the outages are EDF specific or nationwide. Or whether the electricity smart meter has other issues. Here is the latest example:
Nonetheless, and despite fixes eventually updating the data, it is annoying when this happens.
We’ve kept a close eye on usage as we want to see how we can optimise usage without freezing in the winter period. That means we need lots of data to help establish patterns. HUGO gives us an easy to understand, accurate insight into monthly usage while the EDF app’s smart hub gives us a breakdown of that usage. Even then it’s not easy to set sensible comfort levels due to the influence of weather. As an example, as I’m writing this the underfloor systems Nest says we are at a room temperature of 18.5 degC but it is currently 8.5 degC outside and raining. It feels cool. The previous day was sunny and outside it was 13 degC but the Nest said we were at 19 degC. It felt a lot warmer.
Taking all these measures together, there is no doubt that we are using far less energy than we were using when energy was a fraction of current costs.in the past, we didn’t care enough to think about these costs. Today we have no choice. (Note: pain is a good reminder to do something.)
Our best calculation suggests that we are consuming an annualised amount equivalent to £235-275/month at current rates. Despite exiting the 2022-23 winter season, we have been in credit throughout the period April 2022 to date. As of 31st March 2023 we forecast that we would land at a net £1,400-1,500 in credit. We asked that EDF reduce our direct debit to reflect both the amount held in credit and anticipated usage in 2023-24. They refused 48 hours later with no adequate explanation other than a lame ‘we don’t want you to get into arrears’ statement.
We objected immediately, pointing out the large credit. A few days later and we had no reply. We cancelled the direct debit. Yesterday, they sent us a bill (surprise surprise) which we thought would confirm our estimated net credit balance. But, this is where the fun starts. See image below and spot the deliberate mistake(s):
Ummm…it gets worse. According to the bill, we made a direct debit payment on 29/3/23. That’s not the case. The balance should be £1,426. The bill/payment history says the direct debit was recorded on EDF’s system on 3/4/23. Nope. Didn’t happen as the direct debit was cancelled a few days earlier. It gets even better, (kidding.)
Looking at the latest invoice, EDF’s own estimates indicate that our annual usage will be broadly in line with the estimates we calculated independently and that suggest a reduced direct debit of £260-270 is appropriate.
So not only is EDF’s accounting plain wrong, but also the decisions made for estimating direct debit claims are also wrong when set against their own usage data estimates.
To add insult to injury, EDF also says that cancelling our direct debit means an increase in our costs but have not offered what’s called a Direct Debit Whole Amount that can be used on a monthly basis. This is like Pay As You Go but without the hassle and cost of making manual payments. It also provides EDF with some surety that customers will not fall into arrears although that surety is somewhat limited.
I won’t go into the dismal state of the EDF app which seems incapable of obtaining real time data and which provides a confusing picture of a person’s account, muddling as it does, amounts credited with balances held. Can you make sense of this?
Nor will I bitch about the number of times the app can’t load on my iPhone.
Am I alone? No. When I asked a question whether others in our community were having issues with EDF I received confirmation of exactly the problems identified above. Anecdotally, neighbours routinely report excessive direct debit demands while others say they struggle to understand usage.
I called EDF and spoke with a calm, polite individual and explained the issues. Thankfully, he wasn’t script operated although his systems told exactly the same story I’ve outlined above and he readily agreed that there are multiple problems of the kind I describe above.
We shall see what happens next but this is what I asked EDF to action:
Put us on Direct Debit Whole Amount - this is not offered unless you ask for it. There is no rational reason for NOT offering this as is required under regulations.
Bill us on the last day of each month. This will allow us to make easy comparisons with the HUGO data. It also allows us to raise billing queries if there are significant discrepancies between EDF and HUGO data.
Deduct our usage from the actual credit held and then refund the balance. This will clean the slate once their cash reconciliation is successfully completed. This also requires a manager’s approval as the credit balance is ‘large’ according to the call centre operator.
There are other things EDF needs to address.
Sending emails demanding payment when you’re in credit is a guaranteed trigger for angry callers. This is a self inflicted wound.
Failing to respond to objections is unacceptable. Implement an escalation system that doesn’t automatically trigger customers into cancelling direct debit arrangements based on a forecast usage.
Failing to provide adequate explanations for monetary decisions leaves customers confused. See (2) above.
Including bill and payment histories that are nonsensical is another guaranteed blood boiler. It should be an easy reporting fix.
The lack of real time data in their app when others can report on the same data within 24 hours sounds like a lack of investment in adequate automation. Is it THAT hard?
Let’s see how this goes. More broadly, with so many glaring process and accounting errors I have to wonder how much it costs EDF to field calls like mine.
Despite my concerns, I want EDF to be successful. A successful business usually means happy customers, lower default rates and better service. Right now, EDF is saved by the fact the call centre operators do a solid job in understanding the nature of these issues and, to their credit, are empowered to take action and raise this set of issues as a complaint. The extent to which EDF management acts on these problems is the real test.
What you describe is rife in many industries, and as you rightly observe, causes blood boiling and anger. I have two words "Broken Britain". But....... the majority of people don't make a fuss, and won't cause a ruck. The few that do - BRAVO!!! I was with a French colleague last week and we talked about the French reaction to raising the retirement age to 64........they riot, we sit back and accept we will be 67 without raising an eyebrow, others younger than myself will likely work until they are 70!! Sometimes I think we should be a bit more French. (The irony is not lost that EDF is in fact a French company...... )