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Turner Prize-winning artist Sir Grayson Perry has hit out at EDF, saying the energy firm tried to raise his monthly electricity bill from £300 to £39,000.
Sir Grayson said the company had tried to take the inflated amount as a direct debit from his account, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Other customers, including journalist Jon Sopel, reacted with similar stories.
But the company said there was no wider issue with its billing system.
Energy suppliers have been taken to task by the regulator Ofgem for the way they set direct debits. But EDF said it was given a relatively clean bill of health by the watchdog for the way it manages its direct debit calculations.
Essex-born artist Sir Grayson, known for his tapestries and ceramic works, was furious with his bill and with the response from the company’s call centre.
Former BBC journalist Sopel, who now presents The News Agents podcast, responded with his own story, about how he was notified that his bill was going up from £152 a month to £18,000.
“Ridiculous,” he wrote. “We’ve now sorted.”
However, he questioned how the situation occurred – a view taken up by various other former or current customers on social media.
A spokesman for EDF said the company could not discuss the specifics of Sopel’s and Sir Grayson’s cases, but said they were unrelated.
“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,” he said.
“Unusual changes to direct debit amounts can sometimes occur when there is an erroneous meter reading recorded on the system.”
He said that the company had “robust interventions” in place to ensure any large increases in customers’ direct debits were verified through a human check.
“In almost all such cases, system errors are rectified and prevented, without customers being impacted,” he said.
For the most part, errors on energy bills do not affect customers’ finances, but they can be time consuming and inconvenient. Anyone who is unhappy with a response can take a case to an ombudsman.
Concerns about direct debits have been heightened given bills have soared, particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Millions of people have struggled to pay actual, correctly calculated bills with charities warning that many have been forced to borrow money to pay essential bills.
On Friday, Ofgem said customers who could not or would not pay owed suppliers a total of £2.9bn. It is proposing lifting the energy price cap by £16 for a household using a typical amount of energy between April next year and March 2025 to give suppliers the funds to offer payment plans or write off some of this debt.
What can I do if I can’t afford my energy bill?
Check your direct debit: Your monthly payment is based on your estimated energy use for the year. Your supplier can reduce your bill if your actual use is less than the estimation.
Pay what you can: If you can’t meet your direct debit or quarterly payments, ask your supplier for an “able to pay plan” based on what you can afford.
Claim what you are entitled to: Check you are claiming all the benefits you can. The independent MoneyHelper website has a useful guide.
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