Have you tried to reclaim old bill credit?

I have been trying to reclaim just short of £400 from Scottish Power since I moved abroad last October. I have emailed, written and spoken to them on the telephone often waiting unreasonable lengths of time for the call to be dealt with but to date I haven't received any money back. I have now submitted a complaint to the ombudsman. I do not understand how Scottish Power is allowed to keep hold of our money. It seems to me a very dishonest practice.

Until January this year I was on this account - Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014 - with Scottish Power. I decided to move to nPower, as this was a cheaper account so I filled in all the relevant meter readings and filed them online with my account number.

A couple of weeks later I got several phone calls from a Scottish Power representative, who offered me a tariff that he said was cheaper than the one on offer from nPower. So I agreed to switch back. At that point he mentioned that my account was in credit to the sum of around £460 and that a rebate would be coming to me because this money couldn’t be transferred to the new account.

I waited for this until February and checked the account online, which showed that now I was £580 in credit. But still no cheque or direct debit or payment of any sort. I have been trying ever since to get hold of a human being to talk to about this but have only ever had an email from the customer care centre with an Indian name as the signatory, mysteriously claiming that the credit was now only £287.26. I checked online and the amount had changed there too. I have no idea why.

To add insult, the email also said: "Currently we are experiencing a high number of calls that is the reason for the long hold in queue." So, nothing to do with Scottish Power not employing enough staff or treating its customers very poorly.


All I know now is that I have received no money at all and absolutely no explanation as to why I have had to wait so long, why no one ever answers the phone or why nearly £600 suddenly became nearly half that amount. It’s now around two months since the original Scottish Power account came to a close and still nothing has been refunded, despite me conscientiously putting in the meter readings when required.

Any ideas?

Having using the Cheaper Energy club, I established that I could save a reasonable amount by switching to a fixed online tariff with Eon.

I submitted my details in December 2013 and in mid-January 2014, Eon confirmed that the transfer had taken place and my energy supply had transferred. However, this wasn't strictly the case.

Despite my electricity supplier moving across on the UK energy supply database, the gas supply didn't follow suit and remained with NPower. This meant that the NPower account didn't automatically close and they continued to take a direct debit from my account in February and March for £105.

As a result, and as a combination of overpayment and non account closure, my account is now in credit to the sum of around £1700. So, if I hadn't followed advice from this site and called my supplier, my gas supply would have never transferred (I had filled in an online form but it had been actioned incorrectly). NPower advised me to cancel my direct debit and told me to expect a standard letter saying that my gas would no longer be paid by direct debit.

As it stands at present, I was given a 40 day time period in which to expect my final bill. Owing to the fact my last bill was paid in early December 2013, I expect to receive £1700 less two months energy supply, so about £1500 in total. The lesson to be learnt here is not to rely on your previous energy company to close off the account, a telephone call, whilst frustrating being played lift music, could pay dividends in terms of expediting any refunds due.