Credit refund - worth it?

ryancooper327

Hi all,

Back story...

My tariff ended with British Gas Nov 30th with £237 in credit.

It has now gone to a standard tariff as I've been a little busy with work and didn't renew in time.

This evening I sorted a new tariff to start in 24 hours at £40 a month for dual energy.

Is it worth requesting the £237 refund or will it carry over with the new tariff and build up again until they lower my DD again?

When I calculate a refund of £237 (on their website) it informs me that my monthly payment will shoot to £170! Will that change when the new tariff kicks in in 24 hours?

I'm new to all this and BG are fairly unhelpful on the phone!

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

System

Hi - welcome to the forum. Ignore the credit for the moment: are you saying that your total cost for energy for the next 12 months will be £480 a year? This looks to be very low.

Normally, if you switch to another fixed tariff the supplier will calculate your cost for the next 12 months AND take into account any debit or credit balance before setting your new monthly DD payment.

The bit that I do not understand is how a £237 refund - which equates to £20 per month - can lead to a £130 per month DD increase? The only scenario that I can think of is that the figures are wrong because the system does not yet know of the tariff change.

I would (a) check my new annual cost and (b) do nothing about getting the credit back until the new tariff is up and running on the website.

footyguy

ryancooper327 wrote: »

Hi all,

Back story...

My tariff ended with British Gas Nov 30th with £237 in credit.

It has now gone to a standard tariff as I've been a little busy with work and didn't renew in time.

This evening I sorted a new tariff to start in 24 hours at £40 a month for dual energy.

Is it worth requesting the £237 refund or will it carry over with the new tariff and build up again until they lower my DD again?

When I calculate a refund of £237 (on their website) it informs me that my monthly payment will shoot to £170! Will that change when the new tariff kicks in in 24 hours?

I'm new to all this and BG are fairly unhelpful on the phone!

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

Sorry, but your numbers don't really make much sense do they?

If, with a full refund, you would be charged £170 per month, then based on your anticipated annual usage, the annual cost will be £2040 per year (based on the suppliers snadard tariff)

I suspect you could possibly get that annual cost down to about £1600 p.a. by choosing a more beneficial tariff from that supplier
(A comparison site, or BG's own website will give you the exact figure)

If I'm correct, that would mean paying about £133.33 pm (£1600/12)

Or if you leave the £237 credit, then your monthly amount payable should be £113.58 (i.e. (£1600-£237)/12)

So I have no idea how they get to £40pm.

I suggest you first read this informative MSE article
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

ands then call the supplier to obtain a full explanation.

Good luck!

System

[QUOTE=ryancooper327;73513286

When I calculate a refund of £237 (on their website) it informs me that my monthly payment will shoot to £170! Will that change when the new tariff kicks in in 24 hours?

Ryan[/QUOTE]

The OP should know by now.

matelodave

Are you actually in credit against an up to date meter reading rather than an estimate or based on a previous bill/statement.

I can frequently be in credit based on a previous bil plus any additional monthly payment that have been credited but it soon becomes a debit when they get an up to date meter reading.

As others have said your figures don't work out so you need to examine them very carefully as it does appear that you've got some arrears to pay back.

There's a very big difference (certainly greater than £237) between 40x12 = £480 and 170x12 = £2040.