is your account in credit? mine was by £200!!!!!

free_will_2

hi
while sitting here pulling my hair out....not being able to pay the bills, i thought id check my estimated meter readings. my monthly payments, which are pre-averaged over the whole year (so they dont go up or down), were quite high so i thought i may be in credit. when i phoned with my readings i was £200 in credit!!!!!!
that was nice for them eh?.....i was getting fines for non payment of all sorts......while they sat on my cash!!!:mad: unbelieveable!

check yours out!
cheers:beer:

davidgmmafan

This advice is often repeated daily. One word of caution it is normal to have some credit on the account at this time of year if you pay monthly. Try to keep some money aside if this is the case as your Winter usage will usually be higher than summer.

penrhyn

I concur with the above post, also always check if your meter reading is estimated and if so phone in the actual one.

Cardew

free_will wrote: »

hi
while sitting here pulling my hair out....not being able to pay the bills, i thought id check my estimated meter readings. my monthly payments were quite high so i thought i may be in credit. when i phoned with my readings i was £200 in credit!!!!!!
that was nice for them eh?.....i was getting fines for non payment of all sorts......while they sat on my cash!!!:mad: unbelieveable!

check yours out!
cheers:beer:

It depends when you checked your account.

Don't forget that they credit your monthly payments to your account every month, but only debit your account quarterly.

For instance if I pay £100 a month, I could look at my account today and be £350 in credit. Tomorrow I could look again and find my quarterly bill of £400 had been debited and I am £50 in debit.

Besides as said above £200 in credit in late Sept is not high for most accounts.

maddipops

you are getting a generous direct debit discount, depending on the supplier it may be as much as 28% off your bill.

You wouldnt get 28% of your £200 in interest if you stuck it in a bank account.

free_will_2

maddipops wrote: »

you are getting a generous direct debit discount, depending on the supplier it may be as much as 28% off your bill.

You wouldnt get 28% of your £200 in interest if you stuck it in a bank account.

yes.....but i would get the direct debit discount anyway....i pay by direct debit!!
they put up my monthly payments.....and so im in a huge credit.....theres no way im gonna use an extra £200 in power over the winter. so i asked for it back. im going to ask them to reduce my monthly payments now.....which they didnt want to do.........

moonrakerz

free_will wrote: »

..theres no way im gonna use an extra £200 in power over the winter.

....famous last words !

free_will_2

Cardew wrote: »

It depends when you checked your account.

Don't forget that they credit your monthly payments to your account every month, but only debit your account quarterly.

For instance if I pay £100 a month, I could look at my account today and be £350 in credit. Tomorrow I could look again and find my quarterly bill of £400 had been debited and I am £50 in debit.

Besides as said above £200 in credit in late Sept is not high for most accounts.

no...sorry......i pay a monthly payment which is worked out as an average over the year.
£200 is a massive overpayment.....because i pay an average already! there is no way i would use £200 extra over winter, in a 1 bedroom flat anyway. if i had kept paying....my account would be in credit by £400 in a year or so......

free_will_2

davidgmmafan wrote: »

This advice is often repeated daily. One word of caution it is normal to have some credit on the account at this time of year if you pay monthly. Try to keep some money aside if this is the case as your Winter usage will usually be higher than summer.

no sorry......i pay monthly the same amount. worked out by an average over the whole year. my usage will go up......but not my charges.

free_will_2

moonrakerz wrote: »

....famous last words !

lol.....not at all.
maybe i wasnt clear with how my payments work. i pay monthly, an average of the usage over the whole year. my usage will go up.....but its already accounted for by the "averaged" payments. (i pay more than i need to in the summer months)

glider3560

free_will wrote: »

maybe i wasnt clear with how my payments work

Very clear ... as you've posted it several times in the space of 10 minutes :mad:

You need to work out your total annual usage then divide this by 12. It is no good saying "my usage won't go up by £200" - this ain't gonna give you anything meaningful.