Help re switching between suppliers please

laa-laa

I recently put in motion switching between two suppliers (from nPower to British Gas). I received a letter from British Gas dated 27 September informing me that my gas supply would switch to them on 3 November and electricity on 30 October and then a further two letters telling me how much and on which day of the month the direct debits would be taken. All well and good, except I checked my bank account this morning only to find that nPower have also taken their usual payment this month. I was told that I didn't need to do anything to facilitate the change in supplier - British Gas would have the meters read and would give the details to nPower to finalise my account with them.

I now find myself £163 out of the pocket for the month (fortunately I was able to transfer some money from another account otherwise I would have been embarrassed when trying to pay for my weekly grocery shop in Tesco this morning).

How long should it take for the changeover to take place? Should I give it another couple of weeks before phoning up and asking for my money from nPower (at the end of August my statement said I was c.£107 in credit - total for both utilities)? As it stands, nPower have approx £270 of my money, but still have me on their books as a customer as they haven't received a meter reading from British Gas. I went out this afternoon and read my meters, making a note of the date and time I did them as well. Should I contact nPower again (I phoned them this morning and spoke to a very pleasant lady there - in contrast to the rather obnoxious individual at British Gas who dealt with my subsequent call to them).

I've cancelled my direct debit to nPower, but technically, until this is sorted do I still have a contract with them? I don't want to adversely affect my credit rating if they try to take a payment next month and it's refused by my bank.

Any help would be appreciated - thank you