Energy sent refund, now asking for it back

MrsLewis2000

Hi there,
I've used this site and forums for years, learned so much, and have been able to get really on top of finances so thank you all who've contributed!
This is my very first post, so I'm sure you'll be kind   
I left my previous energy company in May 2020 (Thank you energy-saving club!) Had an issue with energy companies in the past not estimating bills correctly so I'm a bit anal and take a gas/electric reading every week and pop it into an excel spreadsheet along with the DD that I make so I know what I've used and if the DD covers it or not. If it's slightly under one month, I'll make a manual payment to cover the difference, even if it's only a few pounds.  So when I left my previous company I knew that I was due a credit. They wrote to me and confirmed this and within a few weeks, they refunded the credit into my account.  A little later they also refunded my usual DD into my account. I sent them an email querying this and they said:

Because on the 7th of April, your Direct Debit has been increased to £X, in an automatic Direct Debit review, the payment has been scheduled to start on the 1st of May. Your account has been terminated on the 27th of April  so the scheduled payment came out automatically on the 1st of May, while you were not our client anymore.  We’ve refunded the extra Direct Debit payment.

I thought that was odd but assumed I'd made an error somewhere and that they were correct. I had no correspondence from them after that. Then, yesterday I had a text message saying  'your energy bill is now overdue. please log on and make payment', I thought it was a hoax. I had another today, saying the same thing so I logged onto the site, no bill or balance outstanding on the home page. The last bill was my final one from April. I went to the 'make a payment' section and there it said that the amount outstanding is £X.

Now, if it turns out to be that the £X that they refunded me was an error on their part I have a few questions.

1) Should they not have written/emailed advising that they made a mistake instead of a couple of text messages?

2) As I contacted them at the time and they told me that my account was clear and that the refund is correct,  I am definitely not retaining wrongful credit' under the Theft Act 1968, so do I have to repay?

3) As this clearly is not money I have budgeted to payout at this time, and given the effect Covid -19 has had on my household finances, can I ask them to write it off?

4) If it can't be written off, can I ask for a payment plan?

5) Would this 'outstanding bill' affect my credit score?

I have of course written to the company today asking them to explain what the outstanding bill is for but they are notoriously slow at responding and do not have staff working at the weekends, so I know from previous experience it's likely to be at least a week before I hear from them, so I would appreciate any thoughts you have.

Sorry it's such a longwinded post, but thanks in advance for your input.

MWT

Well, it looks like you knew it was a mistake as you have been so careful about tracking usage and payments and frankly on those dates it is a very recent mistake, so I'd have been inclined to have just set the money aside for a few months given it was something you had already budgeted to spend and knew it was owed.

You can certainly ask them to write it off, and if they refuse you can ask for a payment plan, but from the sound of things you are talking about one months DD so I wouldn't expect it to be a few long plan...

Hard to comment on the credit score impact, it shouldn't have an impact yet, but if they do not write it off and you do not pay it in full the risk is certainly there. I'd point out to them that you were unaware there was a bill outstanding until their TXT so they should not report it as a default at this time, and lodge it as a complaint...