In credit with the utility bill

realityleak

Is it just me or are energy companies quick to raise your DD when you fall into deficit but they don't tell you when you are in credit to allow you to lower your bill by using your money in your energy account?

Although the interest payment to us would be reasonably miniscule, imagine your miniscule interest payment and multiply it by the number of customers they have. its probably worth millions in your interest. So, forum, my question is: Do you claim the money off them or do you leave it in case you get into deficit later?

System

Hi. How much are you in credit and when does your contract end? £200/300 credit at this time of year is not unusual given that it is Winter. You can ask for the money back but expect an immediate increase in your monthly DD as the supplier is targeted on you having a zero balance at the end of your contract period. Under Ofgem revised supplier licence obligations, not allowing customers to accrue large debts is now a prime consideration.

poppasmurf_bewdley

I'm with Eon and in December they automatically refunded me £168 which was the amount I was in credit for, on the anniversary of me being with them. They do this every year.

And before anyone starts saying I shouldn't let the credit mount up, the majority of that amount came from the £140 Warm Home Discount payment credited to my account earlier in the year.

realityleak

Thanks for the response Hengus

We are double that in credit (I just put my first meter reading in since September (I know, I know)). We are fixed until 2017.

Having large credit in winter seems counter intuitive to me, surely we would have been using more energy thus be in bigger deficit? To clarify, I read "credit" to mean that the company owes us money...

JJ_Egan

Me DD is £75 pm and as i enter monthly meter readings i know what my balance is . But I am always around £200- £300 in credit by November and that gives me a fall back for extra cold winter months . End of February I ask and get a refund .

Cardew

realityleak wrote: »

Having large credit in winter seems counter intuitive to me, surely we would have been using more energy thus be in bigger deficit? To clarify, I read "credit" to mean that the company owes us money...

If you are in credit, as you say, you have 'cash' in your account - no different to a bank account.


Why is it counter-intuitive?


At the beginning of winter you should have built up a credit balance over the summer/autumn and 'use up' this credit over the winter when bills are higher.


e.g. If your annual bill was estimated to be, say, £1,200 you would pay £100 a month. At this time of year you might have a credit balance of, say, £180 and over the next 4 months your bills would be between £140 and £150 and you have a zero balance by Spring.

victor2

Ideally when paying a monthly DD, you want to be in credit for six months and debit the other six.
Because bills are generated in arrears, it is normal to have a credit in early winter before the winter heating bills turn the account into a debit balance.
So, if the utility companies can get interest in the high credit periods, they are effectively loaning their customers money in the high debit periods.

realityleak

Cardew wrote: »

If you are in credit, as you say, you have 'cash' in your account - no different to a bank account.

Why is it counter-intuitive?

At the beginning of winter you should have built up a credit balance over the summer/autumn and 'use up' this credit over the winter when bills are higher.

I guess I thought we'd got a bit further through winter than we actually have. Plus its been a bit of a warm one so far (touch wood)

We do have about three times the credit that people are suggesting is normal so perhaps we do need to address it with EDF.

Guys thanks for all your help. This forum is great ain't it? :T

System

realityleak wrote: »

I guess I thought we'd got a bit further through winter than we actually have. Plus its been a bit of a warm one so far (touch wood)

We do have about three times the credit that people are suggesting is normal so perhaps we do need to address it with EDF.

Guys thanks for all your help. This forum is great ain't it? :T

What is normal? It all depends on your annual spend based on a kWh per year calculation. All suppliers have a policy of in-contract reviews - most at the 6 month point. This should lead to a fall in your monthly repayments if your credit balance is too high. Just be wary of asking for lots of money back. Some of us can remember the winter of 1962 which was late starting but gave us well below average freezing temperatures for months. Personally, I do my credit/debit re-calculations in Spring.

matelodave

Most people use around 70% of their energy between November & March and 30% in the remaining seven month of the year.

If you keep an eye on your bills & meter readings you should be able to work out the optimum DD and get the supplier to agree. Ideally you need to be in credit around November so that you balance out in March/April.

[Deleted User]

The problem with "you should be in credit in November" is that it bears no relation to the start date of your tariff (especially if you are a rates tart).

Historically I've found the best tariffs are made available in the winter months which means a swap will ensure that I'm in debit to the energy company for most of the first year. And this is made worse by the fact that most energy companies are slow to activate the direct debit, so for most 12 month fixes, they will only take 11 direct debits even though the yearly calculations are spread across 12 monthly payments.