Massively in credit

51949

I’m over £1000 in credit with my energy supplier, they don’t seem to want to reduce my direct debit and will only refund £300 of my over payment, is this acceptable, surely I should be allowed to reclaim all of this as I’m obviously overpaying every month

TheMilkmansDad

Depends - is your billing up to date and is it based on actual reads?

How much are you contributing each month?

What tariff are you on?

Who is your supplier?

Flight3287462

OP, my advice would be leave as is until prices come back down, we are in for a massive price rise in October and probably again next April.  Treat as money in the bank, you don't want to be scraping around for money next winter.

You could aslo do a bit of research into your monthly usage and using todays, price and also projected prices in October calculate where you will be in a year's time.

maisie_cat

My FIL is £550 in credit and I've recommended he leave it there to provide a buffer to the next lot of price rises.
I'm overpaying by £20 a month for the same reason, the interest lost is minimal.

pochase

51949 said:

I’m over £1000 in credit with my energy supplier, they don’t seem to want to reduce my direct debit and will only refund £300 of my over payment, is this acceptable, surely I should be allowed to reclaim all of this as I’m obviously overpaying every month

Your supplier is not BG or EDF with a 6 months billing cycle by any chance?

51949

TheMilkmansDad said:

Depends - is your billing up to date and is it based on actual reads?

How much are you contributing each month?

What tariff are you on?

Who is your supplier?

I. With OVO on a smart meter, I’m paying £275 a month but only using around £110 on gas and electric 

[Deleted User]

51949 said:

I’m over £1000 in credit with my energy supplier, they don’t seem to want to reduce my direct debit and will only refund £300 of my over payment, is this acceptable, surely I should be allowed to reclaim all of this as I’m obviously overpaying every month

You are not overpaying. We all pay for the energy that we use at the agreed contracted tariff rate. Your credit balance is 100% protected by Ofgem.

The question that you should be asking yourself is this: ‘is my credit balance and £275 a month enough to see me through the coming Winter’? You need to look closely at your tariff (with future tariff increases) and usage per year per fuel in kWh - not DD payments - to make this determination.

In theory, your supplier could return all your credit. Its next action would be to review your estimated energy costs for the next 12 months which could lead to a much higher monthly DD payment. 

Alternatively, you could ask the supplier to put you on to a variable DD where you pay for your energy when billed - with significantly higher bills in Winter than Summer. This might cost you more if discounts are removed but it would allow the supplier to return your credit.

ariarnia

we're with ovo as well and have more than £800 credit but are still intentionally overpaying every month. two reasons. one as has been said costs have gone up and the fix were on will end in march at which point we'll be facing all of the hikes since last april at once. two is that ovo actually pay interest on the balances and we're currently getting something like 4% which is better than our current accounts and covers the VAT on our bill every month!

Olinda99

Change to a 'pay what you use each month' DD rather than a fixed amount DD

[Deleted User]

Olinda99 said:

Change to a 'pay what you use each month' DD rather than a fixed amount DD

Great advice if you are the sort of person who is meticulous in putting away money in advance of an energy statement hitting the mat. The implication in the OP’s post is that he/she thinks that the DD amount has been set at to high a level. In truth, no one knows if that is the case as no usage or tariff details have been provided. The danger of getting £1000 of credit back is that - despite best intentions - it will be spent.

pochase

For most suppliers a good advice, but as far as I remember Ovo has no variable direct debit.