£400 rebate - if in credit can the supplier refund it to you?

martyp

Hi all,

Just curious as to what might be the options with energy suppliers if your account is in good standing, maybe in credit and it makes your balance quite a bit in credit. Do you think it's likely it would if anything just reduce the direct debits going forward or do you think it may be possible to get the money paid back into your account?

Likely to be something at the discretion of the suppliers but wondered if it was cash as such you could withdraw and apply to other things?

marcia_

 Quite probably not. It will reduce your direct debit going forward. 

GingerTim

Doubt it very much. Besides, as it's most likely going to be paid in 6 x £66 instalments, the likelihood of creating a credit balance for most people in the winter seems slim.

lisyloo

When my MIL had a warm front Grant the answer was no.
it’s not a cash gift, it’s a discount on your bill so doesn’t count towards the “refundable” part of your balance.
of course you can reduce payments

Spoonie_Turtle

lisyloo said:

When my MIL had a warm front Grant the answer was no.
it’s not a cash gift, it’s a discount on your bill so doesn’t count towards the “refundable” part of your balance.
of course you can reduce payments

Do you mean the Warm Home Discount?  (That's what came up when I googled 'warm front grant'.)  We're with Octopus* and that goes (went?  Not sure if we'll be eligible now) onto our account as credit; the first year put us into a couple of months' worth of credit which prompted Octopus to ask if we wanted to withdraw any.  There was no distinction between the sources, it was just credit.

If the discount on people's bills puts them into a lot of credit it's logical that the supplier should be able to let them withdraw some and/or reduce their payments, however the supplier operates, and according to the customer's usage.  Either one would require an amenable supplier though.

MWT

Not likely to be a single £400 adjustment for this very reason.

Monthly adjustments seems far more sensible and more likely to achieve the desired support.

martyp

That does sound more sensible that it would be split over a period of time as I thought also £400 just before Christmas seemed open to being repurposed elsewhere if your account was sufficiently in credit already so that it became a large credit balance with potential for refund into your bank account.

I did have another case where I had a significant credit added to my electric and gas account from the supplier as part of a scheme and when they went bust through SOLR I continued to keep it as credit but didn't withdraw it as prices were rocketing at the time.
Intriguing the point about warm home discount being a fair comparison as another government related cost contribution and whether it is all just seen as a credit balance regardless of where it originated (e.g. from you or the government)

longjohnjohnson

I don't see why it wouldn't be.

It's not a payment to the energy suppliers, even though it's credited to your energy bill.

Regardless, if anyone switches they'll have no choice but to refund them.

prowla

You could just reduce your monthly payment by £66 for 6 months.

(When I say "reduce, I mean pay £66 less than the supplier's recommended monthly amount.)

Martico

I think it might depend who you're with. I just got a rebate from Octopus as my account was in credit (by just over £100) by the start of summer. I'm on a two year fix until April 2023 though, so that may have played a part in the calculation as well, as any higher rate for me won't kick in until the heating goes off again. I'm not sure all suppliers are as flexible / generous though. 

martyp

I did think the reduction in the direct debit would be a nice idea, my monthly cost would then go down to £23 for electric and gas. Some out there may be lucky enough for it to cover their whole monthly bill and maybe even more.
£100 credit refund seems a small amount, I thought you would normally have a credit of around that in Summer anyway to cover the Winter months?