Southwark Bridge Road

Overview

At Southwark Bridge Road, a suspected duplicate electricity payment uncovered something far bigger. What looked like a £17k credit on EDF’s portal was, after our investigation, revealed to be £83,001.86 owed back to the client.

Here’s how we found it.

The Challenge

In March 2024, the property manager at Southwark Bridge Road asked us to investigate a suspected duplicate electricity payment to EDF. Their teams were struggling to make sense of the supplier’s online portal, which showed several unexplained credits but no clear record of payments.

According to EDF, the client’s account held a credit of £17,395.18. But from our preliminary checks, this figure didn’t reconcile with the payment history — raising concerns that the true credit could be much higher.

Our Solution

We took immediate ownership of the issue, starting with a full Statement of Account (SOA) download and a thorough review of the client’s payments. We contacted EDF directly to verify the balance and requested the credit be refunded.

When the promised refund didn’t arrive, we escalated the matter, persistently chasing EDF for accurate SOAs and challenging inconsistencies in their data. Meanwhile, the client raised further concerns that a duplicate payment had been made — suggesting the true credit could be more than double what EDF had acknowledged.

Rather than relying on conflicting figures, we committed to a line-by-line forensic reconciliation of the account. This detailed review allowed us to identify duplicate payments, trace mismatches between EDF’s portal and their internal records, and build an accurate picture of the balance owed.

The Outcome

Our detailed investigation revealed the scale of the issue: the client wasn’t owed £17k, but a total of £83,001.86. Thanks to our persistence and attention to detail, we secured the correct refund, protecting the property manager from a major financial loss.

Throughout the process, we kept the client fully informed with clear updates and timely escalations, giving them confidence that the issue was being resolved in their best interests.

This case highlights the value of our procurement support:

Cutting through supplier errors and confusing systems
Protecting clients from costly mistakes
Delivering tangible financial results

“The team handled everything with persistence and professionalism. What started as a confusing £17k query ended with over £83k recovered — a fantastic result that we couldn’t have achieved without their support.”

Property Manager