Peoples Energy went under, BG won't give my credit back for 2-3 months minimum

Kara198

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

molerat

Nothing you can do.  They have to sort through all the accounts they have taken over.  Your money is safe and will be applied to your new BG account.  Why are you worried, no different to the situation you were already in with the credit sitting in Peoples.

TickersPlaysPop

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

It couldn't be simpler... 

Call your bank and recall a number of direct debits.  That is what the direct debit agreement is for. To protect you. 

It take minutes and your money will instantly appear in your account. 

Kara198

molerat said:

Nothing you can do.  They have to sort through all the accounts they have taken over.  Your money is safe and will be applied to your new BG account.  Why are you worried, no different to the situation you were already in with the credit sitting in Peoples.

I'm worried because that was there to use over these winter months. Now I won't have access to spend it until 2022 by the sounds if it.
The reason I overpaid was to build up credit for the cold months

Kara198

TickersPlaysPop said:

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

It couldn't be simpler... 

Call your bank and recall a number of direct debits.  That is what the direct debit agreement is for. To protect you. 

It take minutes and your money will instantly appear in your account. 

Interesting... can I actually do that then and not face repercussions? 

TickersPlaysPop

Kara198 said:

TickersPlaysPop said:

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

It couldn't be simpler... 

Call your bank and recall a number of direct debits.  That is what the direct debit agreement is for. To protect you. 

It take minutes and your money will instantly appear in your account. 

Interesting... can I actually do that then and not face repercussions? 

If your energy account is in credit, it is your money.  As long as your don't push the account seriously negative. 

I did it 2 yrs ago when my energy provider went bust, it took them 5 months to process my account and send a final bill.   For all that time I had my money in my pocket, not sat with the administrators. 

MoJoeGo

TickersPlaysPop said:

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

It couldn't be simpler... 

Call your bank and recall a number of direct debits.  That is what the direct debit agreement is for. To protect you. 

It take minutes and your money will instantly appear in your account. 

The DD guarantee is there to protect you in specific circumstances. Assuming the OPs payments were taken while People's Energy were still operating, what part of the guarantee terms (linked below) do you think would help here in recalling payments?

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

TickersPlaysPop

MoJoeGo said:

TickersPlaysPop said:

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

It couldn't be simpler... 

Call your bank and recall a number of direct debits.  That is what the direct debit agreement is for. To protect you. 

It take minutes and your money will instantly appear in your account. 

The DD guarantee is there to protect you in specific circumstances. Assuming the OPs payments were taken while People's Energy were still operating, what part of the guarantee terms (linked below) do you think would help here in recalling payments?

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

If your account is in credit, the energy company has no right to hold onto the money.  They have incorrectly taken too much money from me.  Simple. 

MoJoeGo

TickersPlaysPop said:

MoJoeGo said:

TickersPlaysPop said:

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

It couldn't be simpler... 

Call your bank and recall a number of direct debits.  That is what the direct debit agreement is for. To protect you. 

It take minutes and your money will instantly appear in your account. 

The DD guarantee is there to protect you in specific circumstances. Assuming the OPs payments were taken while People's Energy were still operating, what part of the guarantee terms (linked below) do you think would help here in recalling payments?

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/pages/directdebitguarantee.aspx

If your account is in credit, the energy company has no right to hold onto the money.  They have incorrectly taken too much money from me.  Simple. 

No, they took a regular amount that was agreed by you at the time you signed up (with any changes no doubt communicated as per DD notice requirements). 

Fair play if you actually managed to get your money back this way, but its not really what the DD guarantee is there for.

jamei305

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

What's the problem - the credit is still there to cover you for winter, it's just that you won't actually see it on a statement for a while. But just because they will take a while to update your account, doesn't mean you will be in debt to them during the winter.

t0rt0ise

jamei305 said:

Kara198 said:

 I was with People's Energy and I've had my welcome email from British Gas last night. I am currently in £204 worth of credit which I've built up for these winter months for my family but the email from BG states I won't see this reflected on my new account for 2-3 months as a minimum but maybe longer! I could cry. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

What's the problem - the credit is still there to cover you for winter, it's just that you won't actually see it on a statement for a while. But just because they will take a while to update your account, doesn't mean you will be in debt to them during the winter.

Presumably the new supplier will take monthly direct debits in addition. It's fine if you've got the money to play with, you just wait and it will eventually sort itself out. But for people whose budget is tighter, it's much more difficult and having money they can't access and still paying in more, is hard.