Can you ask for a cheque back for overpayments?

gemstars

Hi,

A friend of mine is with Altantic for gas and electricity. She pays by direct debit and switched to them in June. She's received her quarterly bills and has overpayed by £350 in the quarter. They've said they will carry this forward to her next bill.

Obviously she's going to reduce her direct debits. She would like to ask for this overpayment back as a cheque or for it to be transferred into her account (extra spending money for Christmas). Has anyone done this before? I don't know if it's something that happens often or if she'll just have to let the money stay with atlantic until it dwindles down.

Opinions/ advice appreciated! :j

Sagaris

Yes - go for it - I've done it twice with two different suppliers, of course they tried to persuade me to have the amount carried over to future bills but I stuck to my guns.

Might be a bit optimistic for the money returned in time for Christmas - they usually send it back in the form of a cheque (so will take a few days to clear into her account) but the last refund I got from nPower took 2 months for them to organise!

spiro

Before she asks for the money back 3 questions:
1) What was her gas bill for the last quarter?
2) What was her elec bill for the last quarter?
3) How much a month is she paying?
You need to bear in mind that whilst elec useage is fairly constant gas goes up by several times over the winter months hence you always need to be well in credit now. If we know the 3 pieces of information we could give more informed advise as to if this is the right thing to do or if she will just end up worse off early next year.

Premier_2

She should be in credit in anticipation of the heavy winter bills.

gemstars

To round this off my friend has called up, halved her DDs and will recieve the overpayment back in her account within the next week. I was surprised by how easy it seemed to be!

For those that queried the amounts her monthly DDs were £40 each, now £20 each and she is currently spending £6-7 per month on gas and £14-15 per month on electric.

Premier_2

If your friend switched to the supplier in June and has paid £40 per month, how, even if she used no energy whatsoever, has she now got a credit of £350 on her account?

gemstars

Premier wrote: »

If your friend switched to the supplier in June and has paid £40 per month, how, even if she used no energy whatsoever, has she now got a credit of £350 on her account?

I said £40 each, so £40 for gas and £40 for electric making £80 in total.

Cardew

If your friend joined in June and paid £80 a month and is £350 in credit already, I would be very suspicious of the meter readings on which her bills are based.

To be paying £20 to £22 a month for both gas and electricity is less tha 20% of the UK average.

markharding557

£20 pm is very low sounds dodgy to me.
you would have to be very frugal like firefoxto do that.

KimYeovil

£10 for gas and £12 for electricity is perfectly reasonable for a single person who isn't sat at home every night.

gemstars

KimYeovil wrote: »

£10 for gas and £12 for electricity is perfectly reasonable for a single person who isn't sat at home every night.

Thanks for the reply. She doesn't cook (not very domesticated) and hasn't got the heating on yet in her 2 bed downstairs flat so I think her usage is correct, I have a 3 bed end terrace and my total enegry bills were only £20 for the month.

Anyway, it's all sorted now so thanks for the help.