ROGER Bailey’s life was turned upside down when EDF scrapped its promise to keep his fixed deal in place.
Facing a yearly £1,500 bill hike as a result, he and his wife Karen made the heartbreaking decision to delay their retirement.
1
EDF initially promised the couple they could keep their existing fixed deal when they moved house in October last year.
The deal, which saw them pay just shy of £975 a year, was due to end in June this year.
This is much cheaper than the standard variable tariff – for anyone on this deal, bills have been frozen at an average of £2,500 a year under the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG).
But after moving home and not hearing anything from EDF in weeks, Roger phoned up to ask whether his deal was still in place.
But EDF said it had no record of the agreement – and had moved the couple over to the standard variable tariff.
It means the couple’s bills have shot up by nearly £1,500 a year more after they were put under the new tariff.
It had devastating consequences for the couple, who put their retirement plans on ice so they could afford the steep rise.
“Our bills have virtually gone up by £1,500 a year now – it’s very upsetting,” Roger said.
“Me and my wife were going to retire at Christmas, but with us having to find extra money for bills, we’re going to have to retire later than that.
“It’s a shock to think we’ll pay our direct debit and then end up owing money – we’ve never owed a penny.
“It’s going to be a struggle, it will be a lot harder for us.”
When The Sun approached EDF and asked it to investigate, an EDF spokesperson said: “When Mr and Mrs Bailey moved property, they told us they wanted to move their EDF tariff to their new property.
“Unfortunately this wasn’t processed correctly. “
They added that Roger and Karen’s tariff would be reinstated and backdated to their moving-in date to “ensure that they haven’t missed out on any savings”.
A goodwill payment of £30 has also been added to their account.
“It’s fantastic news, we’re over the moon,” Roger said.
“Hopefully, there’s a chance we can bring our retirement forwards now.”
Can I keep my fixed tariff if I’m moving house?
You can ask your supplier to keep your fixed energy tariff when you move house – but it doesn’t have to agree to this.
Octopus and British Gas’ website said you can usually take your deal with you.
We’ve asked other energy suppliers if customers can keep their fixed deals, and we will update this story when we know more.
You should contact your supplier at least 48 hours before you move house.
Make sure you read your meters on the day you move out and give these to your supplier.
It’s important to do this in case you don’t agree with your final bill.
Give your supplier a forwarding address so they can send you the final bill – you have 28 days to pay it.
How to challenge your supplier if you have an issue
Energy bill issues do happen, but you need to know your rights in order to challenge your supplier.
You should speak to your energy company first and try to work with them to resolve the issue.
You can usually get in touch with your provider by email, letter or telephone, but keep a record of contact that you make so you can reference it later if need be.
If this does not work, you should lodge a formal complaint.
If you’re unhappy with the response, you can take your problem to the independent Energy Ombudsman.
They handle issues between customers and suppliers.
It helps resolve issues on billing, installations and delays, loss of service, customer service, and switching suppliers.
If they help take your complaint on, they can only help back bill you for 12 months.
That means you won’t be able to get help getting money back before this.
