EDF energy switch left me in limbo

Over a year ago we tried to change our dual fuel supply to EDF Energy. The application was accepted and acknowledged. A direct debit was set up and, as far as we knew, everything was

proceeding normally. There was a £2,000 credit with the previous provider but, when I tried to reclaim it, I was told that the transfer had not been done.

I contacted EDF nearly a year ago and it wrote that the wrong meter had been taken over and I was indeed still being supplied by the previous supplier.

I protested but EDF decided just to cancel the transfer. Over the following weeks my wife contacted EDF on a number of occasions and replied to all its requests for further information or action.

Eventually she found it was not doing anything because the account was in my name.

If only it had told her this before. ROBERT HALL, NORTH YORKS You had been paying more for the other provider’s gas and had forfeited the dual fuel discount as the electricity supply had been successfully transferred. The delay was therefore costing you money.

EDF had credited you with £218 for the disparity but that had covered only the time up to 11 months before you wrote to me, when the error was identified. It took a further eight months for EDF to transfer the supply. By then you were seriously out of pocket. The original tariff was honoured and EDF agreed to reimburse the rest of your loss. You provided all the information needed but then EDF wrote that it was closing the complaint.

EDF asserted that, during that time, it had tried to contact you but the approaches had been unsuccessful. It claimed you hadn’t responded.

When I first contacted EDF it looked as if a quick conclusion was going to be reached, with soothing messages coming to me. Then all went quiet.

It turns out that the person I had been dealing with had left EDF. My messages on her answerphone had apparently not been picked up and my other requests had mystifyingly also fallen by the wayside. It was four months until I had the resolution you wanted.

An EDF Energy spokesman now said the company was sorry that your experience “was not up to our usual standards when switching to us”.

He added that, although your electricity supply had been switched without any error, unfortunately it had incorrect gas meter details for the property, resulting in it switching the wrong gas account. As a result, your old supplier continued to supply the property, at a higher rate.

EDF has now credited the account with an additional £719 to recognise the higher costs incurred by the delayed switch.

This resolution came 18 months after you had initiated the switch.

I suggested that it send you some sort of redress rather than just making good your quantifiable loss. In the end it paid you £200.

You are giving this sum to the British Hen Welfare Trust.