Electricity bill- in credit but not in credit!?

Curlywurli

We had our meter read two weeks ago. We never had a bill. We phoned them tonight. Apparently we are £150 in credit. I pay a directly debit each month. We phoned them to ask them for the money back- this is where it gets confusing.
They say that they have not generated the bill yet- so we are in credit but will not be by the time we get the bill in 3 months. So basically they are saying that they have not used any of my direct debit payments to pay off the bill (even though the 3 (out of 6 months)dd payments don't add up to £150) and that we will be using this money over the next three months and I will still be paying the direct debit amount. Oh and apparently although we are not really in credit they have reduced my direct debit payments by £8 a month.

I just don't understand this at all. Can anyone shed some light. Surely if we're in credit, we're in credit. British Gas said we were in credit- they gave us our money back and reduced our payments by £20. I think I'll be changing supplier anyway- I'm not very happy with six monthly bills. Sorry this got a bit long and is confusing.

KimYeovil

This is normal practice. You get your monthly payments credited to your account every month but the bill is only generated once every three or six months.

Have you checked your meter readings and so actually know what your consumption costs vs how much you've paid?

Curlywurli

We've never had to wait six months for a bill before. I can't understand why they sent someone to check the meter when they did when they're not going to give us a bill until three months later. I don't know what my consumption costs are vs how much I've paid- but I do know that the numbers don't match and I'm confused by the fact that in the last week after reading the meter they've reduced my direct debit. I find the gas and electric information and all the different pricing really confusing. Does that mean now that they can alter it up or down without letting me know and not showing me any facts or figures?

jennihen

I din't spend any of my last 3 months of DD's on Gas this winter as I was £150 in credit at the start of the winter - now £250 in credit but trying to get that money back is like getting blood from a stone. They have reduced my DD from £70 to £40 as they are assuming I will use the same amount of gas in the next 3 minths that I did over the winter (£120) - not likely and meanwhile they want to keep the £250 to offset next winters bill!!
Its legalised mugging!!

kjsmith7

If you aren't happy, change how you pay. Set up a standing order at the bank to pay what you want, and settle the difference quarterly. You won't get your Direct Debit discount, but sometimes, dependent on usage, it isn't that much anyway. Or just keep the money in a separate bank account and pay quarterly. I used to be really sad haha - I used to phone up every month with a meter reading, get billed and just settle what I owed using a debit card and that way I was never in credit or debit. Then again, my consumption is relatively small (half the national average for gas and 2/3's of the national average for elec) so I am able to do this.