Help please re supplier and overpayment

Lily-Rose_3

I am with British Gas and my old gas DD was £80 a month. I moved into a smaller property last year, and they put it at £60 a month.

I got a bill from them in mid December, after paying 3 months worth of £60 - £180 altogether, (5th Oct, 5th Nov and 5th Dec,) and when I checked my account around 15th December, I was £110 in credit! Owing to the property being smaller and a new heating system and a mild October, November and December, we didn't use much gas. Just £70 in the 3 months.

So I rang them and said I want to reduce the amount of the DD. They said 'well, leave it for now, because Jan and Feb is normally very cold, so it's wise to leave your fairly large credit there.' So I agreed.

So fast forward 2.5 months (to Friday just gone,) and I find out my credit is now £160! I paid another £120, (5th Jan and 5th Feb,) but only used £70 (since mid December.)

So I said to them I want my money back and I want to change the DD to about £40 a month as obviously £60 is too much.

The person on the phone said I can only reduce my DD by 10%! So only down to £54, and that it's best to leave the credit there in case March and April are very cold!

Basically I want my money! And I want to drop my DD. £60 a month obviously too much! They are making money off me! The have £160 of my money and this week, another £60 is due to come out of my account!

What are my options? They do NOT want me to drop my DD much, and they seem reluctant to give me my £160.

A friend suggested I just wait for the £60 to come out this week, and then cancel the DD, and then re-instate it when the balance is as zero, which, at the rate I use it, will be about 5 months, as I am only using about £35 a month at the most!

HELP! Please..... This has never happened before, so I am uncertain of what to do.

sheffield_lad

Lily-Rose wrote: »

A friend suggested I just wait for the £60 to come out this week, and then cancel the DD, and then re-instate it when the balance is as zero, which, at the rate I use it, will be about 5 months, as I am only using about £35 a month at the most!

HELP! Please..... This has never happened before, so I am uncertain of what to do.

I would definitely ignore your friends advice. Why not have them reduce it 10% so £54 per month & ask for a refund on the balance?


Seems reasonable to me, your account/payments are assessed every 6mths so might also be worth asking when your assessment date is.


Last bit are your reads estimated or actual as if estimated you may not be in credit. Just a thought.


GL

shazzablue

I recently left bg due to this nonsense,my account is £390 in credit and they email me to raise it from £90 to £98?,trying to reason with them was pointless until I switched supplier,the most recent phone call advised I can set my own amount,email readings monthly,and have a smart meter,too late!

Lily-Rose_3

sheffield_lad wrote: »

I would definitely ignore your friends advice. Why not have them reduce it 10% so £54 per month & ask for a refund on the balance?


Seems reasonable to me, your account/payments are assessed every 6mths so might also be worth asking when your assessment date is.


Last bit are your reads estimated or actual as if estimated you may not be in credit. Just a thought.


GL

Thank you, but...

what is the point in having it reduced to £54 a month when I am clearly only using around £35 a month worth of gas?

And I have asked for a refund, but they won't give it to me.

Why do you say I should ignore my friend's advice?

Is there any reason why you say I shouldn't cancel the DD and just start paying again when my credit has gone?

dogshome

The whole point of paying by monthly D/Debit, is that over the term of a full 12 months, with high use in Winter and low use in Summer you account should be at a zero balance 12 months after it's opening ,( Now confused by suppliers wanting a zero Spring balance no matter what date you started )

I'ts been a mild Winter,( for some of us at least), but at the annual anniversary of your account, really get out of your pram about haveing any credit balance returned, and quote the recent Ofgem guidelines against any arguements in opposition

sheffield_lad

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Thank you, but...

what is the point in having it reduced to £54 a month when I am clearly only using around £35 a month worth of gas?

And I have asked for a refund, but they won't give it to me.

Why do you say I should ignore my friend's advice?

Is there any reason why you say I shouldn't cancel the DD and just start paying again when my credit has gone?

There must be a reason they quoted for not returning your money, what did they say as to the reason?


cancelling DD gets people into all sorts of bother inc having a large bill with no payments towards it.


This is a manageable situation without having to go the extreme of cancelling a DD.


Were your reads estimated or actuals?

Lily-Rose_3

sheffield_lad wrote: »

There must be a reason they quoted for not returning your money, what did they say as to the reason?


cancelling DD gets people into all sorts of bother inc having a large bill with no payments towards it.


This is a manageable situation without having to go the extreme of cancelling a DD.


Were your reads estimated or actuals?

Thanks for replying. They were 'actual' readings. OK, so maybe I shouldn't cancel the DD, but I do resent paying £60 a month, when I am clearly only using £35 max... even through winter. August/sept/oct, I was using more like £20 a month...if that. And to be fair, it's not likely to ever go over £35 a month anytime soon.

They said 'it's not a good idea' to return the money to me, as it may be needed later on. I am £160 in credit by early March. It's not going to be needed. I would like it back.

t0rt0ise

One problem with cancelling the DD can be that they will immediately take you off the cheap DD tariff and put you on the expensive standard tariff.

With regard to getting the money back, you just have to demand it back and if they refuse raise a formal complaint in writing, preferably a posted letter and not an email.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Lily-Rose wrote: »

I can only reduce my DD by 10%!

- don't cancel your DD
- take the 10%
- then ring next month and take the 10%
- then ring next month after and take the 10%
- religiously supply [actual] monthly meter readings
- and keep going till you balance your payments

SwanJon

Have you registered on http://www.britishgas.co.uk? On there you can adjust your DD (although there are limitations).

Once thing the site lets you do, that I don't think they can do on the phone, is take a payment holiday.
You can choose 1 or two months without a payment, but the system expects you to make up the missed payments over the rest of the year. You can also adjust the amount of each month's payment.

I'd only recommend the following if you are putting in regular readings, and are willing to accept that you may need to pay more later if things don't go to plan.
Take a payment holiday for the next month or 2, and load the catch up payments as far in the future as you can. You can also then reduce the third month to your expected level. Keep putting accurate reads in (ideally each month). At your reassessment, these reads should mean that a new payment amount is calculated for you based on your actual consumption, resetting any future payments to the new amount. Keep an eye on the account to check this does actually happen!

I have found that the online DD manager is the easiest way to control the payments.