EDF customers furious as they're told energy bills will soar: ‘Electricity went from £300 a month to £39,000'

EDF customers furious as they're told energy bills will soar: ‘Electricity went from £300 a month to £39,000'

Energy bills have fluctuated over the last year

GB NEWS
Patrick O'Donnell

By Patrick O'Donnell


Published: 18/12/2023

- 16:17

Updated: 18/12/2023

- 16:20

Energy bills have surged in recent years.

A number of EDF customers have voiced their anger after being told their energy bills were set to rise by 12,000 percent to as much as £39,000.

A recent flood of complaints came to light after journalist Jon Sopel told social media users that his monthly standing order was set to increase from £152 to £19,274.


It turns out the broadcaster was not the only one affected by this issue as artist Grayson Perry claimed the firm charged them £39,000 for one month’s energy usage.

In recent years, households have struggled financially amid an unprecedented hike to gas and electricity bills while suppliers report record profits, with EDF raking in £1.12billion last year.

Man annoyed while speaking on the phone and using his laptop

EDF customers are sharing their anger after being overcharged

GETTY

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Sopel said: “Dear @edfenergy, just had a notification that our monthly standing order is going up from £152 a month to £19,274.

“Seems a bit steep. Is there a human rather than a bot we can talk to? Many thanks and merry Christmas, Jon.”

Mr Perry shared: “'Hi @edfenergy, I've been trying to speak to someone to explain how my electricity bill went from £300 a month to £39,000.

“Your call centre has been no help but you tried to direct debit this amount today from my account.”

Responding to the customer, the energy supplier said: “'Hi Grayson, I'm so sorry for any concern that this may have caused. Please send me a direct message with your account details and we'll get this picked up straight away.”

Other EDF customers responded to the posts, sharing their experience with the energy supplier.

A customer named Lyndsay said EDF had raised her energy bill to nearly £900 a month despite the household only having two people in it.

When she asked for help, the customer found the customer service to be “rude” and ended up switching energy supplier as a result.

EDF Energy logo

The energy supplier is under fire on social media

GETTY

One X/Twitter user named Connor Natella accused the firm of attempting to charge them £3,000 for two months worth of energy usage.

Responding on social media to this claim, EDF asked the customer to reach out to the supplier directly to have the issue addressed.

An EDF spokesperson told GB News: “Customers do not need to worry - these are not related to a wider issue with our billing system and we've not made any changes to how we process direct debit changes for customers.

“Unusual changes to direct debit amounts can sometimes occur when there is an erroneous meter reading recorded on the system.

“We have robust interventions in place to ensure that any large increases in customers' direct debits are verified through a human check and in almost all such cases, system errors are rectified and prevented, without customers being impacted.”

You may like