In April 2024, EDF Power mentioned I owed it £8,000 only for my gasoline. It promised to appropriate the error, however one other £8,000 invoice arrived. In August an adviser agreed one thing was mistaken. I despatched the unit particulars however seven weeks later I used to be instructed I owed £7,000. EDF has additionally not credited funds I’ve made in all this time.
F. C., Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs.
Power payments are laborious sufficient for households as we head deeper into winter and 10 million pensioners are denied the winter gas allowance. However what makes it worse is the ache numerous clients face to make sure their payments are appropriate.
I obtain scores of emails and letters from readers struggling to get vitality invoice blunders put proper, and this week I’ve determined to show a snapshot of what I see.
Let us take a look at F. C.’s case first. You tried to help EDF by diligently amassing particulars of gasoline and electrical energy models you’d used over the 2 years since shifting into your new residence and calculated that the overall – for each gasoline and electrical energy – ought to have been nearer £5,953.
Over the interval, you had additionally paid the corporate £6,282 for each. You figured EDF owed you cash slightly than the opposite method round.
I urged EDF to show up the dial in your criticism. A couple of days later it established what had precipitated the inflated £8,000, then £7,000, invoice. Final April, it belatedly received your meter accurately ‘commissioned’ – that’s, assigned to EDF below your tackle and identify whenever you moved in – however its mistake was to then take the readings as if ranging from zero, ignoring the earlier proprietor’s utilization with one other supplier.
EDF has now corrected the preliminary studying, rebilled your account, processed a refund and credited £100 as a goodwill gesture. A spokesman says: ‘We’re sorry for our mistake and that it wasn’t resolved sooner.’
Elsewhere, Ok. C., from Dorking in Surrey, was additionally embroiled in a battle with EDF. She was instructed in September that her electrical energy account was £5,154 in credit score. It’s a buyer’s proper to have a credit score reimbursed on request.
When she chased this up, buyer providers blamed the dimensions of the sum concerned for the delay in issuing the cash. Later she was instructed the refund was being processed, however nonetheless it did not arrive.
After I intervened, EDF despatched an electronic mail which defined she wasn’t due a refund in spite of everything. It turned out her meter was damaged, and the readings didn’t mirror her precise utilization, resulting in the phantom credit score. EDF then tried to steer her to have a sensible meter put in – the type that sends readings robotically to the supplier – however she declined as she feared they have been unreliable.
I requested EDF whether or not it could let her have a typical mannequin as an alternative. Suppliers are reluctant to switch these ‘legacy’ meters once they cease working as they’re below authorities strain to roll out sensible meters to most clients by the tip of 2025.
However in Ok.C.’s case it mentioned it could make an exception.
£13,000 demand over mistaken id
In the meantime, in London, reader Ok. V., defined how he had moved right into a two-bedroom rented flat in April 2023 after separating from his spouse. He lives alone, however his two kids usually keep over. Since then, his annual Eon Subsequent electrical energy invoice has been about £780. However in October 2024, to his horror, he was despatched a £13,000 invoice by British Fuel Lite.
A mistake or fraud, he assumed, however he couldn’t persuade British Fuel Lite through its chatbot or emails, though he offered proof he wasn’t a buyer, and he continued to be hounded for the debt. On Ok. V.’s request, his landlord disclosed his tenancy settlement to the provider, which revealed the account in query was within the identify of a meals agency. But British Fuel Lite nonetheless held our reader liable. He feared it could imply him dropping his residence and risking entry to his children.
After I requested British Fuel to resolve this it took only some days to determine the error. Two properties are listed with the identical tackle as his on the Land Registry – seemingly as a result of his landlord break up the property in two however by no means up to date the register.
Ok. V. acquired a invoice that ought to have gone to the opposite tenant – a enterprise. British Fuel Lite solely gives tariffs to companies, so this could have flagged up the issue for British Fuel. The agency mentioned it could observe this up with the owner and apologised to Ok. V. for not sorting it sooner.
Up in Blackburn, Lancashire, a weak buyer was being chased by Eon Subsequent for £600. A. M. wrote to me about her disabled 42-year-old son who, till February 2022, was a tenant in a supported residing property – like a care residence however the place people have their very own unit or flat and pay their very own payments.
When the tenancy ended and he went to dwell together with his household, A. M. notified all utilities on the time and paid his remaining payments. Regardless of this, a £600 demand was later generated to cowl February to October 2022 – the interval between her son leaving and the general property lastly being closed as a supported residing operation.
Because the final named tenant, her son had been chased for the invoice a 12 months in the past, however on his mum’s intervention the debt collectors accepted he wasn’t accountable. Nevertheless, a 12 months on, the invoice reared its head once more and Eon set the hounds on her son anew. Eon failed to answer her communications and proof – despatched through recorded supply. She instructed me the stress was making her in poor health.
I requested Eon to research this, and it confirmed the account had been incorrectly opened in her son’s identify after his tenancy had ended. This, it mentioned, was because of the administration of the lodging he left informing Eon the lease for the property can be terminated in October 2022 – appropriate for the entire property, however not for A. M.’s son’s tenancy.
Eon has now wiped the invoice and provided £100 as an apology for the upset precipitated. A. M. was mightily relieved however remains to be seething at Eon being such a mumpsimus (somebody who stubbornly sticks to their weapons regardless of being incorrect).
Sadly, mumpsimuses are widespread within the vitality sector and past, and I’m certain to be standing as much as extra of them in 2025.
Boots says it’s conscious of the rip-off. It advises clients to not click on on any hyperlinks and to delete the e-mail.
First, ahead the e-mail to report@phishing.gov.uk to report it.
Straight to the purpose
I’ve not been capable of get on-line for 12 days and it is troublesome to talk with a human at my supplier TalkTalk. It blames one other telecoms supplier for the outage however that firm says it is TalkTalk’s downside. I am going round in circles.
B .J., Bournemouth, Hants.
TalkTalk apologises and says the connection has been restored. You have been given £88 credit score and half-price broadband for six months.
My husband died 12 years in the past and in January final 12 months I acquired a letter from a pension agency stating I could also be entitled to his pension from a job within the Nineteen Eighties. I despatched the paperwork however I nonetheless have not heard something from the corporate, which has since been acquired by one other pensions agency. Why is it taking so lengthy?
S. O., Wigan, Lancs.
The agency apologises for the delay and you’ve got now acquired the £2,000 payout.
I purchased Uggs from eBay in two sizes with a view to returning one. They have been shipped from Eire however the return tackle is in China. One pair has been confirmed as counterfeit. I used to be instructed to ship them again by eBay earlier than it could actually look into my case however I can not, as it’ll price £50 and I haven’t got the entire vendor’s particulars.
R. G., through electronic mail.
eBay apologises and says that you may file for a return below its ‘merchandise not as described’ coverage.
Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Types It, Cash Mail, 9 Derry Road, London, W8 5HY or electronic mail sally@dailymail.co.uk — embody cellphone quantity, tackle and a word addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to speak to Sally Hamilton. Please don’t ship unique paperwork as we can’t take accountability for them. No obligation could be accepted by the Each day Mail for solutions given.
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