Over £1K in credit, can I get it back?

Snwps

That message is coming up for all users I think and is relating to the usage function on the site and app. If you click the X then select the payments option on bottom right it will show your gas and electric accounts. Select one, then Billing and Payments and you should have the option to select your bills.

PJ78D

Thanks Snwps. Attached the last bills which were November.

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Farmerbob

So looks like you are still to be billed from 24th Nov to now, so you’ll probably find your credit may be substantially reduced or gone by the time that’s taken into account 

MWT

PJ78D said:

Thanks Snwps. Attached the last bills which were November.

That was an estimated gas bill and an actual electricity bill, if you take a look at the details for those bills you should be able to see the closing meter readings they used and with that information we can figure out if your current balance is high, or actually below what you are going to need for the next bill...

PJ78D

Thanks for everyone's help

Zandoni

Even if you haven’t been billed you should be paying enough direct debits to cover it, I’d contact them and see what they say, if you are truly that much in credit ask for it back

Snwps

The problem with British Gas billing (if you're paying fixed direct debit) is that you dont automatically get bills each month. Instead they set your DD based on estimated annual usage. Then your account is reviewed every 6 or 12 months to make sure your DD has covered your usage. If not they amend your DD. 

However, if you log onto your account, each month your account goes more and more in credit following a payment of DD and it's not until they review your account and run a bill or if you contact them and ask them to manually run a bill that your usage charges are calculated and then reflect in your 'account balance'. It can be quite miss-leading. This is the reason previous posts are asking when your last bill was. If It hasnt been since November then your 'Account balance' is showing all the payments made by you to British Gas but your usage has not yet been calculated. 

Its a pain and I've not been with a company that does this if you pay by Fixed DD. The only option I had when I queried this with them was, in order to get an acurate monthly bill was to go by a variable DD and basically pay for what you use. 

Im not sure if this is the same for everyone else. Will be interesting if someone says otherwise as Ive been in touch with British Gas a lot since October and they're adamant every time. 

So now I keep my own meter readings, like many others do, in a spreadsheet to manually calculate myself each month to make sure Im on track with my payments. 

MWT

Snwps said:

However, if you log onto your account, each month your account goes more and more in credit following a payment of DD and it's not until they review your account and run a bill or if you contact them and ask them to manually run a bill that your usage charges are calculated and then reflect in your 'account balance'. It can be quite miss-leading.

Exactly right, and especially in this case as the previous gas bill up to November was based on an estimated reading ...

Zandoni

I’m with SoEnergy they give you your estimated annual use based on previous years, with me it’s bang on. Obviously they divide that by twelve and that’s your monthly payment. If your supplier doesn’t do that then you should be able to do it yourself.

MWT

Zandoni said:

I’m with SoEnergy they give you your estimated annual use based on previous years, with me it’s bang on. Obviously they divide that by twelve and that’s your monthly payment. If your supplier doesn’t do that then you should be able to do it yourself.

All suppliers to that or something close to it, the question is always how accurate the estimate is and of course any changes in your own consumption pattern can affect that.