How to get my AFP as CASH not credit to my electricity account!!!???

Reed_Richards

ginfreak said:

i understand you have to have proof you have bought oil before September 2022.  Will Electric companies ask for a receipt?

No but yes.  Your electricity company will pay you automatically if you live in the right area and they should have done so by now.  Otherwise you have to apply to be paid and if your application is approved you will be paid through your local council.  If you have to apply you will be asked for a receipt.

dunstonh

Dunston, trouble is, if everything else is costing more, then even if oil has restabilised in price, doesn't mean one can afford it without the AFP!!  That's the issue alas. 

Every time inflation increases, there is some pain.   the AFP was to address a specific area rather than the cost of living in general.

Oil also has to be bought, as we know, in substantial amounts, whereas with Electricity, whatever the bill at the end of the month/quarter, we don't buy electricity in large amounts up front, as we have to do with oil.

A number of suppliers also require you to pay in advance and most people do effectively pay in advance by building summer credit to get them through to May the following year.    They budget for electricity but it seems that some don't do it with oil.

CalJo99

The AFP was to address a specific area rather than the cost of living in general.

***

Well, yes, precisely! The AFP is to pay for OIL not yet more electricity!!!!!! That's why the electricity companies receiving the money from the government have no business keeping it for themselves instead of passing it straight on to their customers so their customers can go off and buy oil, which is what the government wants the AFP money spent on!!!!!!

MattMattMattUK

CalJo99 said:

The AFP was to address a specific area rather than the cost of living in general.

***

Well, yes, precisely! The AFP is to pay for OIL not yet more electricity!!!!!! 

A reduction in outgoing payments because the money is on an electricity account amounts to the same thing.

CalJo99 said:

That's why the electricity companies receiving the money from the government have no business keeping it for themselves instead of passing it straight on to their customers so their customers can go off and buy oil, which is what the government wants the AFP money spent on!!!!!!

Some energy providers are refunding the amount automatically when the customer is in credit, others are applying it to the account and refunding it if requested, most are not refunding if the customer is in debt. The government do not "want" the AFP money spent on anything, they handed their "free money" bribe to the electorate paid for by net taxpayers, that was their aim with the AFP, to try and prop up their vote.  

CalJo99

A reduction in outgoing payments because the money is on an electricity account amounts to the same thing.
**

But, and this is the problem, it doesn't address the issue of cash flow! There are folk who don't need to be in credit to the tune of £200 on electricity, but do want that £200 to buy oil with. For some, alas, margins are very tight, and they need the AFP £200 'up front' to pay for the next batch of oil. They don't need it sitting 'unused' on their electricity account.

I spend more on oil (ie, buying in 'batches') than I do on electricity. I only use electricity for cooking, and fan heaters sometime, and making toast/boiling kettles, and plugging in the hoover and telly. This is relatively small fry compared with the cost of another batch of heating oil.

I'm glad a lot of electricity suppliers are handing the AFP over to their customers to buy oil with. It's a 'discussion' I'm going to have to have with EDF as they have written to say they will put it only electricity account (which is well in credit anyway).

It's why I asked originally if I have a legal right to a refund when an electricity account has gone into credit substantially (ie, for me, £200 AFP!). If I don't, it's iniquitous!!

dunstonh

I'm glad a lot of electricity suppliers are handing the AFP over to their customers to buy oil with. It's a 'discussion' I'm going to have to have with EDF as they have written to say they will put it only electricity account (which is well in credit anyway).

This is the strange thing with your situation as EDF are known to have auto-refunded most customers.     So, something has blocked your auto-refund and if I was in your shoes, I would want to know why.   Two of the known reasons are being in arrears or having insufficient credit (in their eyes).  There are almost certainly other reasons that are not known to us.

CalJo99

I assume it's because I pay quarterly, on being sent a paper bill, which I pay over the phone on their auto-payment line with my credit card.

I think you said earlier (or someone did!) that it's unlikely I'll get a refund on the credit card, so will probably have to take up with them to get it refunded to a bank account.

They've just sent me their paper bill, based accurately on the meter reading I supplied on the date they requested, so will have to attempt to make 'human contact' with them. Hopefully that will then progress it.

But they have made no 'offer' to pass the AFP on to me....my account is just whoppingly in credit to that amount.

Anyway, let's see what happens once I make an actual request for the AFP payment.

MattMattMattUK

CalJo99 said:

I assume it's because I pay quarterly, on being sent a paper bill, which I pay over the phone on their auto-payment line with my credit card.

I think you said earlier (or someone did!) that it's unlikely I'll get a refund on the credit card, so will probably have to take up with them to get it refunded to a bank account.

They've just sent me their paper bill, based accurately on the meter reading I supplied on the date they requested, so will have to attempt to make 'human contact' with them. Hopefully that will then progress it.

But they have made no 'offer' to pass the AFP on to me....my account is just whoppingly in credit to that amount.

Anyway, let's see what happens once I make an actual request for the AFP payment.

Just to check, you do realise that you are paying 8-10% more for your electricity by paying on receipt rather than via Direct Debit? This a money saving forum after all.

CalJo99

Yes, so Martin Lewis tells me!

But I hate direct debits at the best of times - do them for council tax and charity, that's all. Where the sum is 'variable' like a utility bill, I avoid them, even if it is an 'accurate' (ie, the 'actual' bill, not just a monthly sum), as it's unknown until it's due - and then it's out of my bank account anyway!!! 

I mistrust all utility companies like the plague, so that's why I stick with getting a bill, then paying it 'knowingly', rather than the money just disappearing out of my account. 

I 'pay' for that, though, I know, as you say.

Spoonie_Turtle

Do EDF offer variable Direct Debit?  You would pay only for what you use after you've used it, but monthly instead of quarterly and with the Direct Debit discount.