Make energy suppliers pay interest on Direct Debit monies in accounts

howierips

Recently had struggle with my energy supplier to refund me back some of excessive monies in my account in the end had £500 refunded back still leaving plenty with future DD’s to cover next bills.  Got me thinking of how much money energy supplier companies are holding in peoples accounts must be billions and the money they are earning gained in interest on that money, why are they not required to pay us account holders whose money it is a share of that gain? How as this never been an issue before?

Nellymoser

petition.parliament.uk There is a petition presently running on this very subject you may wish to visit site and sign:

Require all energy companies to pay interest to customer who are in credit

I've been with Shell since Pure Planet ceased trading they've been fair so far... reassess every few months increase/decrease direct debits. Recently reduced by £18 a month. But I do agree we should be paid interest on our credit balance as you say customer's account credit balance will be much higher these days. 

Debbie9009

This is exactly why I pay monthly rather than by direct debit, I’m with octopus who don’t give a discount for direct debit, so I just pay the amount due each month.

I do agree that energy companies should pay interest, but think it’s unlikely to happen

p00hsticks

I think that a lot of the time though, people aren't actually in credit by anywhere near as much as the energy company tells them they are, if at all.

I've just been on to our energy account online, and it's telling me that we're £800 in credit. But what is doesn;t make clear is that we've not been billed for nearly six months and so have probably actually used that amount of energy, if not more, but just not yet been billed for it.

Brie

p00hsticks said:

I think that a lot of the time though, people aren't actually in credit by anywhere near as much as the energy company tells them they are, if at all.

I've just been on to our energy account online, and it's telling me that we're £800 in credit. But what is doesn;t make clear is that we've not been billed for nearly six months and so have probably actually used that amount of energy, if not more, but just not yet been billed for it.

time to submit a reading perhaps?  just so you know what's what.

p00hsticks

Brie said:

p00hsticks said:

I think that a lot of the time though, people aren't actually in credit by anywhere near as much as the energy company tells them they are, if at all.

I've just been on to our energy account online, and it's telling me that we're £800 in credit. But what is doesn;t make clear is that we've not been billed for nearly six months and so have probably actually used that amount of energy, if not more, but just not yet been billed for it.

time to submit a reading perhaps?  just so you know what's what.

Don't get me started on that topic .....
I'm monitoring the situation, and keep a record of monthly meter readings myself, so I'm confident that we're paying enough, but since switching to a smart meter we can't inform the company itself online as I always used to, and we're one of the many whose smart meter doesn't seem to be sending readings correctly. I expect we'll have a meter reder come round in the next few weeks when we're due a bill.

Nellymoser

No bill in 6mths ! Wow that's scary.

I'm billed monthly. My account balance is accurate and has been in credit for a long time. 

Maybe if gov made energy companies pay customers interest on their credit balance suppliers would be less inclined to keep them at a high level. And it might just encourage those companies who don't regularly review customer's actual usage, account balance and direct payments to do so. 

MrsStepford

We asked for a refund some years ago and EDF told us that if they gave it to us, our bills would go up as they offset the amount against estimated bills. Needless to say, we submit monthly meter readings now.

Keep_pedalling

MrsStepford said:

We asked for a refund some years ago and EDF told us that if they gave it to us, our bills would go up as they offset the amount against estimated bills. Needless to say, we submit monthly meter readings now.

EDF bill every 6 months, as I found out when Zog went bust, so I end up building up a large credit for gas that gets wiped out once the bill hits. My credit is is not really a credit and I will probable be in debit by the time the next bill hits.

[Deleted User]

MrsStepford said:

We asked for a refund some years ago and EDF told us that if they gave it to us, our bills would go up as they offset the amount against estimated bills. Needless to say, we submit monthly meter readings now.

Complete rubbish I am afraid. We all get a discount for paying by monthly DD. If I recall from my short time with EDF, they have two rates for the same tariff. The PAYGO tariff rates are higher.

You are only charged for the energy used at the agreed tariff price.  If you ask for your credit back then one of the consequences might be an increase in the monthly DD payment which  is NOT an increase in your charges/bill.

Think of it like this. The supplier calculates your annual cost from March to March to be £2400. It sets a monthly DD payment of £200 a month. By the end of September you will have paid £1200 in monthly payments. Your 6 monthly bill in September was £600 leaving a credit of £600.

You ask for the £600 back and it is re-paid. The supplier though is left with an estimate of costs of £1800 to cover the Winter period from September to March so it immediately raises your DD payment to £300 a month.

The above is a simple explanation of why a credit refund can result in an increased DD payment.

p00hsticks

Yes, this is the point I was trying to make in my earlier post.

I've now just received our six-monthly energy bill, and the £800+ 'credit' that was showing in our account previously has suddenly turned into a £200+ debit.... so - as I had realised - we were never really in credit at all, but rather that  the monthly payments we were making hadn't as yet been allocated to a bill for gas and electricity consumed...

If we had asked for (and received) a refund of that £800 credit, we'd now be looking at a bill of £1000+