In Credit for Gas & Electric.....can't I just get my money back?

Emmala

We are currently £121.01 in credit for our electric and £206.10 in credit for the gas. We have been in credit for the whole of the last year. I have phoned Utility Warehouse and asked for my money back. They said they would have to use the credit balance to pay January's bill and then would release any left over to us at the end of January.


That's fine, I guess, but surely as it's our money they should be able to just refund it all back to me now? I don't mind paying the direct debits as they stand, although they could be reduced a bit as we're clearly building up credit every month, but I'd quite like my money to be in my bank account, not theirs!


Any advice please?

Andy_WSM

MollyMischief wrote: »

Any advice please?

It is normal to be in credit before the big Winter bill.

If your DD amount is the same throught the year then it is unlikely to cover your actual usage through the colder weather. Therefore it is normal to have a credit on the account before the Winter bills. I'd expect that if you give them an accurate reading in January, when they bill for actual consumption some of the credit will be used - if not all if we get extended cold weather.

If they refund the credit now, you will be in debt by the January bill, meaning your DD will actually need to go up.

Emmala

Andy_WSM wrote: »

It is normal to be in credit before the big Winter bill.

If your DD amount is the same throught the year then it is unlikely to cover your actual usage through the colder weather. Therefore it is normal to have a credit on the account before the Winter bills. I'd expect that if you give them an accurate reading in January, when they bill for actual consumption some of the credit will be used - if not all if we get extended cold weather.

If they refund the credit now, you will be in debt by the January bill, meaning your DD will actually need to go up.

Thank you for replying and I understand that and yes the gas usage goes up a little in the winter, but we've been credit for 18 months now, so even through last winter we have paid more each month than we use. My husband has been out of work for 17 months so we are very careful to keep usage low, and we submit readings on the last day of the month so our bills are pretty accurate.

I am happy for the DDs to stay the same but then the credit will just increase further. It's the principle really, they have a lot of our money and we'd like it back!

Andy_WSM

MollyMischief wrote: »

I am happy for the DDs to stay the same but then the credit will just increase further. It's the principle really, they have a lot of our money and we'd like it back!

Absolutely no harm in calling them up and explaining exactly what you've posted here. Your argument is sound and the account history should tell them all they need to know

As they've said they'd review at the end of Jan though (which does make sense from a cold weather / usage perspective), they may already have a refund and lower DD in mind.

spiro

Your supplier should review your DD annually and refund any credit rather than reducing the DD for the next year, thats OFGEMs current stance because they believe people would rather have the money back instead of lowering their DD.