£500 in credit with Br.Gas

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  • Joyful
    Joyful Posts: 2,426 Forumite
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    Smart meters only mean the meter reads are correct. It does not change the way the payment plans run so I stand by what I say. Yes I work for BG but I also have my energy supplied by them. Maybe this makes me more aware of how things work. With the online management I check my bills, know my usage and if I think due to a milder year that too much credit is building up I reduce my monthly DD amount. This to me, is giving the customers(i.e me) the way to monitor their accounts. People who know me on the boards are aware that if anything is wrong I would be outspoken, but in this case I don't think the company have done anything wrong. If you look on the My Energy part of the website,it will show how much you used through the winter last year. Your DD should be set to cover this including any credit. Of course if we have a milder year that means we use less that would get picked up at the 6 or 12 month point.
    Self Employed, Running my Dream Jobs
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 8,608 Forumite
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    You did have up to date billing, you just chose not to check it.

    Billing and DDs are two separate things. You were probably billed correctly and you had the info yourself to determine whether your DD was OK.

    As I said before, you had the info, you chose not to do anything about it and BG didn't see a need to give you your surplus as you hadn't asked for it. They probably would have at some time but at their leisure or at a 12 month review.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    Joyful wrote: »
    but we do not know what your winter bills come in at. British Gas gave you tools

    Suppliers have both the EAC and AQ provided to them on a transfer of supply. In the OP's case, you also have more than 12 months of accurate data from a smart meter. Most suppliers do not offer online 'tools' but they seem to manage to review and adjust the monthly DD payment as required. If a £500 credit balance has been allowed to accrue, then BG must accept some responsibility for its failure to review present and past usage and adjust the DD amount accordingly.
  • The_Big_Bamboo
    The_Big_Bamboo Posts: 178 Forumite
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    Joyful wrote: »
    Smart meters only mean the meter reads are correct. It does not change the way the payment plans run so I stand by what I say. Yes I work for BG but I also have my energy supplied by them. Maybe this makes me more aware of how things work. With the online management I check my bills, know my usage and if I think due to a milder year that too much credit is building up I reduce my monthly DD amount. This to me, is giving the customers(i.e me) the way to monitor their accounts. People who know me on the boards are aware that if anything is wrong I would be outspoken, but in this case I don't think the company have done anything wrong. If you look on the My Energy part of the website,it will show how much you used through the winter last year. Your DD should be set to cover this including any credit. Of course if we have a milder year that means we use less that would get picked up at the 6 or 12 month point.
    ...if I was your boss at Br.Gas I'd promote you for such a marvellous rebuttal :T;…even though it’s complete tosh.

    My energy usage has remained entirely consistent for both gas and electricity for many years and I really saw no reason to closely ‘monitor’ my account to ensure that it was being administered accurately, and more importantly, prudently by Br.Gas;…that is the job of Br.Gas,…that is what Br.Gas promised they’d do for me when the Smart meters were fitted.

    I honestly don’t remember receiving an email or phone call to say:…”by the way,…make sure you constantly check what we’re charging you,…otherwise your credit will spiral ”.

    There is absolutely no reason why Br.Gas allowed my credit to build up to such an extent other than a failure of Br.Gas’ internal systems/procedures. Br.Gas asked that I set up my meters to send readings EVERY day,…which I did (and which they have,…for the past 20 months).

    Br.Gas had all the info they needed at their fingertips to get my billing in order;

    …blaming the customer (i.e. me) because I foolishly believed what they’d told me says more about Br.Gas than it does about me.
  • aj_m
    aj_m Posts: 9 Forumite
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    Your usage is consistent, and you presumably used the correct figures in the comparison when you switched. So you knew at the outset a pretty accurate cost for the year, so must also have known what the dd should have been set at?

    There are certainly issues with the way many companies handle large credit and debit balances, smart meters eliminating estimated bills are a big part of the solution but as you have seen are not a panacea.

    We all have to stay vigilant, a few minutes every few months is all it takes. Companies do it because they know they can get away with it, don't let them.
  • spiro
    spiro Posts: 6,403 Forumite
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    The_Big_Bamboo wrote: »
    ...if I was your boss at Br.Gas I'd promote you for such a marvellous rebuttal :T;…even though it’s complete tosh.

    My energy usage has remained entirely consistent for both gas and electricity for many years and I really saw no reason to closely ‘monitor’ my account to ensure that it was being administered accurately, and more importantly, prudently by Br.Gas;…that is the job of Br.Gas,…that is what Br.Gas promised they’d do for me when the Smart meters were fitted.

    I honestly don’t remember receiving an email or phone call to say:…”by the way,…make sure you constantly check what we’re charging you,…otherwise your credit will spiral ”.

    There is absolutely no reason why Br.Gas allowed my credit to build up to such an extent other than a failure of Br.Gas’ internal systems/procedures. Br.Gas asked that I set up my meters to send readings EVERY day,…which I did (and which they have,…for the past 20 months).

    Br.Gas had all the info they needed at their fingertips to get my billing in order;

    …blaming the customer (i.e. me) because I foolishly believed what they’d told me says more about Br.Gas than it does about me.
    So if we have a cold or mild winter you use the same amount of gas, I don't think so.
    IT Consultant in the utilities industry specialising in the retail electricity market.

    4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).
  • The_Big_Bamboo
    The_Big_Bamboo Posts: 178 Forumite
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    spiro wrote: »
    So if we have a cold or mild winter you use the same amount of gas, I don't think so.
    I don’t much care for the inference of your post by the way; however you’re entitled to think what you like. :)

    My actual gas and electricity usage for the past 3 years has been remarkably consistent;…literally no more than £10/15 a year difference on both gas and elec;…it surprised me to honest, but there you have it.

    p.s. and for what it’s worth the past few winters/summers where I live in Cheshire have been quite similar overall. Perhaps that explains it;…a really bad winter would see my gas bill rise considerably,…along with everyone else’ bills. Not sure why you see an issue with my ‘consistent’ energy consumption.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    There does seem to be a worrying development emerging in this forum vis-a-vis DD reviews (and ultimately credit balances).

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5713249

    Have some suppliers now taken a management decision to improve cash flow/reduce borrowing costs by using a rolling 12 month cost projection at the mid contract review point rather than a zero balance at the end of contract term when setting DDs? One wonders.
  • footyguy
    footyguy Posts: 4,157 Forumite
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    The_Big_Bamboo wrote: »
    I’ve recently made the decision to appoint a new Energy supplier as my B.Gas ‘Collective Switch Oct.17’ ends on Oct.3rd;…along with 1000’s of others!

    However, I was very surprised to find that I’m actually £500 in credit with B.Gas!

    When I changed to my present B.Gas tariff my payments were £108/month paid by D/D. This was based on my actual usage figures over the previous few years and my usage has remained very consistent. My gas/elect usage has been remarkably similar for years;….but maybe that’s not too surprising.

    I’ve had an email from B.Gas on Sept.14th acknowledging that I’d be leaving them, followed immediately by another email saying that they would be dropping my monthly D/D to £80.53 ongoing.

    I’ve had another email this morning stating my monthly D/D will drop even further to £46.62 ongoing !

    To be fair I don’t monitor my energy D/D very closely and I was very surprised that a credit of £500 had been built up;...is this amount excessive or is it the norm?

    B.Gas appear to have now made a decision to drip-feed some of my credit back to me in the form of vastly a reduced D/D, presumably(?) hoping that I’ll reverse my decision to leave.

    I have B.Gas Smart meters that feed my meter readings back to B.Gas on a daily basis so they can have no excuse that they’ve had to base my charges on estimates.

    When I had my Smart meters fitted (Feb.2016) I genuinely believed that I’d receive accurate bills but that is obviously not the case. In an ideal world I’d really like to pay my monthly D/D bill based on my actual monthly usage regardless of whether it’s winter or summer,…but that appears not to be an option offered by any of the energy companies.

    Does anyone know if there are rules/regs concerning the level of credit a customer can build up before the Energy company actively takes steps to give some of it back to the customer?;

    ...I left my previous supplier (Scottish Power) because of a similar situation. They owed me £800! and were incapable of giving it back to me…for 18 months! :eek:

    Sorry, but I am confused by your post.

    If your monthly payments of £108 pm were based on previous usage data, and your usage has not significantly changed, I don't see how you can be in £500 credit now (assuming this is based on an up to date reading) - that's almost half of what you have paid in the last 12 months.

    If you really have only used about £700 worth of energy compared to the £1200+ you were told by BG it would cost you, then your comparison was widly off (which means you may not have been on a very good deal for you)
    Ensure you use accurate consumption levels for any comparison you do now.

    If you do end up switching supplier (as you say you are going to), then the old supplier will produce a final bill for you, and you should then receive any accrued credit back accordingly.
  • The_Big_Bamboo
    The_Big_Bamboo Posts: 178 Forumite
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    edited 18 September 2017 at 2:39PM
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    footyguy wrote: »
    Sorry, but I am confused by your post.

    If your monthly payments of £108 pm were based on previous usage data, and your usage has not significantly changed, I don't see how you can be in £500 credit now (assuming this is based on an up to date reading) - that's almost half of what you have paid in the last 12 months.

    If you really have only used about £700 worth of energy compared to the £1200+ you were told by BG it would cost you, then your comparison was widly off (which means you may not have been on a very good deal for you)
    Ensure you use accurate consumption levels for any comparison you do now.

    If you do end up switching supplier (as you say you are going to), then the old supplier will produce a final bill for you, and you should then receive any accrued credit back accordingly.
    Hi, thanks for your post :);..Sorry if I’ve caused any confusion, but as it stands I’m £498.35 in credit with Br.Gas and my actual consumption has stayed remarkably consistent for several years.

    I left Scottish Power around mid 2015 and moved to Br.Gas,…I’ve no idea what the Br.Gas tariff was called;…my monthly D/D payments were in accordance with my actual annual usage at the time and I’d check that my D/D payments were in order when I submitted my meter readings ‘online’ every month.

    I then had my Smart meters fitted in Feb.2016 and that’s when my diligence, with regard to my montly D/D, waned;…I had another new Br.Gas tariff when the ‘Smart Meters’ were fitted in Feb’16 which ran until I switched to the ‘Collect Fix Oct.17’ tariff 12 months ago;…the D/D of £108/month was exactly 1/12 of the projected annual consumption based on my very ‘accurate’ usage figures at that time.

    Very remiss of me I know, but my credit has probably/possibly (???) been building up since Feb.2016 when I had my Smart meters fitted;…but I don’t know for certain.

    On a lighter note, I’m taking the optimistic view that the ‘credit’ is a small tax-free savings account that I didn’t know I had;... should Br.Gas be paying me interest? :D

    I’ve already switched to Avro Energy and I promise to be more diligent in future!

    I left Scottish Power under a similar cloud and at the time I had no idea how many other customers were having problems. It seems I certainly wasn’t alone:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/gas-electric/scottish-power-billing-fiasco-here-are-some-of-the-firms-unbelie/
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