Winter Heating Oil payment

U_Bulls

It has been announced that the Winter Heating oil payment of £200 will be paid directly to my electricity supplier.
Will my electricity supplier be forced to refund the money to enable it to be used on my heating oil bill ?

MattMattMattUK

U_Bulls said:

It has been announced that the Winter Heating oil payment of £200 will be paid directly to my electricity supplier.
Will my electricity supplier be forced to refund the money to enable it to be used on my heating oil bill ?

No, they will not. Whether they will choose to refund you will depend on whether you have a reasonable credit balance or not.

TonksMeow

update from my mp "The energy minister Graham Stuart made an announcement in the chamber regarding the portal.  I’m afraid that he has just said that the portal will not open until 27th Feb.  This is due to a trial pilot portal being opened for some local authorities having been now completed and a decision made that more time is needed to allow the full portal to go live."

GrumpyDil

TonksMeow said:

update from my mp "The energy minister Graham Stuart made an announcement in the chamber regarding the portal.  I’m afraid that he has just said that the portal will not open until 27th Feb.  This is due to a trial pilot portal being opened for some local authorities having been now completed and a decision made that more time is needed to allow the full portal to go live."

This relates to people who have to make a manual claim. For people who have been identified as qualifying because they live in a non gas area it is expected to be an automated payment. 

Isabellagorgeous

Have just spoken to Octopus who have been holding our £200 for oil in their account for ages. I think it is disgusting that the government are so incompetent as to allow this. Our heating is through oil only and we are regular payers of our electric by DD. I asked if they could pay our oil company direct and they said no! Can someone recommend the cheapest electric company that arn’t totally incompetent. Octopus has been going down hill gradually the bigger they have got and this is the last straw!?

MattMattMattUK

Isabellagorgeous said:

Have just spoken to Octopus who have been holding our £200 for oil in their account for ages. I think it is disgusting that the government are so incompetent as to allow this.

The energy suppliers received the money for the £200 Alternative Fuels payments around a week ago, that can in no way be described as "ages".

Isabellagorgeous said:

Our heating is through oil only and we are regular payers of our electric by DD. 

Are you in credit or debt?

Isabellagorgeous said:

I asked if they could pay our oil company direct and they said no!

It would seem incredibly obvious that they will not transfer money to a third party, apart from the practicalities of doing so it would be a breach of their license.

Isabellagorgeous said:

Can someone recommend the cheapest electric company that arn’t totally incompetent. Octopus has been going down hill gradually the bigger they have got and this is the last straw!?

Octopus are still one of, if not the best. I also cannot see how you can deem them totally incompetent for administering a government scheme and refusing to breach their license, but I suppose some people have different views of incompetence. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Isabellagorgeous said:

Have just spoken to Octopus who have been holding our £200 for oil in their account for ages. I think it is disgusting that the government are so incompetent as to allow this. Our heating is through oil only and we are regular payers of our electric by DD. I asked if they could pay our oil company direct and they said no! Can someone recommend the cheapest electric company that arn’t totally incompetent. Octopus has been going down hill gradually the bigger they have got and this is the last straw!?

Have you actually asked for a refund of the £200?

The credit has only been on your account since probably the 14th, just over a week ago.  From what you've written it doesn't sound like Octopus have actually done anything wrong?

[If you are in debit the suppliers are allowed to use the payment to reduce/eliminate debt - the idea is it frees up money for oil that you would otherwise have had to pay into your electricity account, although it doesn't quite work that well for everyone unfortunately.]