Have you tried to reclaim old bill credit?

Dollie21

I changed from SP to EOn early December 2014. Have since then been trying to get refund of just over £80. made several phone calls intially and got nowhere. They kept saying account 'could not be closed' etc. etc. Finally after recommendation on this forum I Emailed CEO direct. Got a reply from 'Director of Support' next day, which was early Feb. Was told refund would be made within 28 days. So far nothing. I am now going to proceed with Ombudsman and have told them so. Will also try Watchdog.
It seems I am not the only one...

I did however fortunately cancel my Direct Debit and would recommend doing this.

southwales1

I changed from SWALEC to Extra Energy and did not cancel the direct debit with SWALEC so that they would be able to finalise the accounts.


I provided meter readings to the new company and then later found out that I had been paying both suppliers for several months.


I contacted SWALEC immediately to ask for a refund of the overpaid amount and was told that they would not do so as the account final reading had not been given to them by the new provider.


Extraenergy say they can prove that they sent the readings to SWALEC through the flow system. SWALEC refuse to contact them to obtain the meter readings while Extra Energy say they need SWALEC to contact them to agree on a reading as the situation has dragged on for several months. I have written to SWALEC and they just fobbed me off with an email repeating what I was told on the telephone.


Now I am left in the middle with no money!

Leodogger

southwales1 wrote: »

I changed from SWALEC to Extra Energy and did not cancel the direct debit with SWALEC so that they would be able to finalise the accounts.


I provided meter readings to the new company and then later found out that I had been paying both suppliers for several months.


I contacted SWALEC immediately to ask for a refund of the overpaid amount and was told that they would not do so as the account final reading had not been given to them by the new provider.


Extraenergy say they can prove that they sent the readings to SWALEC through the flow system. SWALEC refuse to contact them to obtain the meter readings while Extra Energy say they need SWALEC to contact them to agree on a reading as the situation has dragged on for several months. I have written to SWALEC and they just fobbed me off with an email repeating what I was told on the telephone.


Now I am left in the middle with no money!

Contact the Ombudsman who deals with energy queries, or is it Ofgem? Not sure but someone will be able to champion your corner I am sure to get your money back. Someone else may be able to give you more info.

smolloy

Hi peeps. Can anyone tell me if I will be able to claim money back from Scottish power when I left to go with British Gas, but was only with them for 1 month as Scottish power called and offered me a better deal to go back to them. I can find no record of my consumption previous to the move. I've noticed from the thread that SP aren't the best to deal with and can see them being difficult. However, my account has ALWAYS been in credit so I'm betting I did have some credit before the short move.

Leodogger

smolloy wrote: »

Hi peeps. Can anyone tell me if I will be able to claim money back from Scottish power when I left to go with British Gas, but was only with them for 1 month as Scottish power called and offered me a better deal to go back to them. I can find no record of my consumption previous to the move. I've noticed from the thread that SP aren't the best to deal with and can see them being difficult. However, my account has ALWAYS been in credit so I'm betting I did have some credit before the short move.

As long as you have your account number they should be able to tell you want your credit balance is and should refund you.

Mena1960

I moved from a 3 bed house to a 1 bed flat 6 years ago. I took my then energy suppliers NPOWER with me and after a few months it became apparent that my electricity bills were well over what I was paying in a 3 bed house when I had 2 of my adult children living with me. I am living alone and out at work most of the day. I contacted NPOWER several times throughout this 6 years to say I couldn't possibly be using so much electricity. On 2 occasions they sent out an engineer to check my meter was correct and I was charged for these calls. Each engineer did not seem to think it was necessary for me to switch off my electricity to ascertain if indeed the meter number they had was correct. I became very ill and got behind with my payments so they sent me a repayment card account payment to use. At one time because I was off work sick and on very reduced pay I couldn't afford to pay my bills and was charged for a bailiff calling. I have very bad arthritis but because the bills were so high cut back on using everything I could power wise. I switched to OVO in March 2014 and my monthly payment was set by them at £59. A year on i am in credit with OVO for over £200 and am having a payment break at the moment. I was owed around £300 on my gas by NPOWER and spent 6 months constantly contacting them before they refunded my credit. In December 2014 I decided after discovering the amount of credit on my OVO account, I would check the electricity meter myself and switched off the electric meter NPOWER claimed was mine and the one I had been paying for years. My neighbour came out as his electricity had been switched off and I discovered I have been paying his electricity as I had constantly been telling NPOWER I believed was the case. He has a family of 4 and there is somebody home all day so of course more electricity is used in that flat than in mine. I immediately contacted NPOWER and have asked for complete refund of all charges etc. In March OVO sent two meter engineers out at no charge and they confirmed the meter number given to them by NPOWER was incorrect and indeed I have been paying another neighbours electricity all this time. Today finally NPOWER agreed I am owed a sum of almost £500 and were in quite a hurry to close the case before I could even get sight of the final bill they have drawn up and get the money which will take around 10 working days. I remember seeing a Martin Lewis programme some time ago when I believe it was said if you owe money to an energy supplier they cannot take it after 6 years. My question is if they owe me money for the last 6 years and I have several times questioned the amount they said I owe them and charged me for the engineer visits who clearly didn't bother to do their jobs correctly and check properly which meter was mine, do I get all of my bills refunded completely for their mistake or do I still have to pay for the electricity usage they now have worked out I have used for the last 6 years?

tazzer8

TWENTY EIGHT WORKING DAYS!! Thats how long before ANY refund comes out of Spark Energy. This is the 2nd time ive asked for a refund from them and the previous time it didnt even happen after 28 working days. I had to call 3 times so im not expecting anything different this time around. ITS ABOUT TIME THE REGULATORS ACTED ON THIS! People moving home need every penny they have so to not give back what is rightfully ours is immoral and on the verge of corruption (In my humble opinion)

Sylvia_Bennett

Since watching the Martin Lewis show in December 2014 I have been in contact with Scottish Power to see if I had money to be refunded to me, I was told that I would be getting £92.00 back then 2 other different amounts, still no cheque arrived this has now been 5 months with at least 25 emails I now have a complaints number but that is now over 6 weeks and still no further hearing if I actually will receive this refund. The customer service is worst I ever have come across, I don't know where to go next!!!

gillaween

Just off the phone to Cooperative Energy and about to receive a refund of £170! We switched from them as part of the MSE energy switch a few months ago and I realised we never received a final bill. After reading Martin's article about energy company refunds I decided to give them a call and, surprise surprise, I was in credit. I asked the guy what would have happened if I hadn't called and he said it "should have" been refunded automatically. Glad I checked!:j

col.escargot

col.escargot wrote: »

Just a note to say I saw a segment on Martin's TV programme a little while ago about gas companies holding onto overpaid money.

Tonight I dug out my old paperwork from September 2012 from when I switched from EDF to Scottish Power, as I remember at the time EDF said there was a problem with a meter reading and they'd liaise with Scottish Power to sort everything out and refund any overpaid balance.

I forgot all about that until Martin's programme, so tonight I finally got round to checking to see if they'd sorted it.

I tried to access my old EDF account on-line (I wish they'd send out paper statements!) , but the password didn't work. A 'chat box' popped up and an EDF person asked how she could help. I explained what I wanted to check and she asked for my old account number etc.

Anyway, just 3 minutes later, she'd gone through my account and confirmed there was some money owing to me, and she would get it refunded to my bank account.

The balance owing to me from 17 months ago (which they never got back to me about) was.............£1,364.22.

A brilliant result -- but I do feel an idiot for not knowing how much I'd overpaid, so I urge everyone to do the same as me and check. Think of the interest they're earning on our money!

Many thanks Martin - you're a star! :money:

I've at last had my refund come through (but only after escalating to the EDF Complaints Resolution Manager). What they paid me was £1,286.96. It was short on the original figure as they said I still owed £88.74 for some gas.

After I asked, they then agreed to refund me the interest I’d have earned if that money was in the bank.

But I can’t get my head around working it out :embarasse . Can anyone calculate what the highest interest could have been paid (ISA or savings account, for basic rate tax payer ) on £1,286.96 from September 2012 to June 2015 ?

It’s the principle, more than the money, and I’ll donate it to charity when (if!) they pay me the back-interest.

Thanks, Rob