Martin Lewis: Energy bill credit – how much is too much? Stop the rip-off and get back £100s...

audrie57

 That it is the question, How much is to much??? I would love to know, I am now at £228, and as of september last year I paid £141 Now I know I was more than £700 in credit,  before the conflict  and they paid you for leaving your credit there. so if I go back to sept last year I was paying £141 there was no £66/£67 started in October so they paid me £67 and my bill was £171 and it was the same oct,  Nov Dec  then Jan It was £195 and they had given me the £67 feb and march we paid the £195 April, its now gone to £228, and from what my partner has said there is No or very little left credit wise So Yes I would love to know how much is to uch and can they take the credit without me saying yes, as the account is in my name. Thats the bill I pay.

Norfolkbloke

I am with SO Energy & have been for about three years, during this time I built up a lot of credit, over £1000 last Autumn. I left the money in the account as a "war chest" over the winter not knowing how bad things were going to be. Having paid my bill for April and found I was still over £850 in credit I thought it was time to get some of it back. As the account has never been in debit I thought leaving £200 in it would be reasonable, I built up a lot of credit last summer & am sure this will happen again this year. I rang SO energy and was informed they required I leave at least the value of my summer DD in the account (£322) in case I didn't pay my bill???? Asked to speak to a supervisor who said if I didn't like it I had to complain as no one was authorised to refund me more than that. It appears these companies have carte blanche to hold on as much of our money as THEY see fit even if you have never owed them a penny. SO Energy will not see my account for dust as soon as the market is more favourable to switching

evil_leaper

So I’m in credit to just under £800. My DD was around £200/m (depending on the extra govt money) but now it’s gone down to £80.

so is it best to get my refund and pay the £200/m as I was (or hopefully less seeing as I’ve made serious attempts to reduce all energy which is obvious by this credit amount) or is it best to keep it there and pay less per month?

Is there a benefit to one over the other?

silvercar

I get 5% interest on credit on balances up to £1000, so I’m maxing that out! Ovo.

kashley61

My DD for duel fuel Standard rate from Out Fox the Market went from £144 per month to £333 per month last year. I'm on a low disability income. I have been in credit for months of at least £1,100 but thought i'd wait until after Winter. I was of today £2,019 in credit. I phoned Out Fox the Market today and have requested a refund and asked for my DD to be reduced. I informed them that i had done a calculation on MSE. My DD has now been set at £200 per month and a refund is on it's way.

Sceptical123

I use my energy credit balance as a Christmas savings  account. I don't miss a slight overpayment each month and around Christmas I should have about £800 credit, most of which I can be refunded at that point. My energy supplier recently suggested I reduce payments, but I took the opportunity to increase them by another £15 a month. I should be able to pay for Christmas 2024 with the refunded credit

MattMattMattUK

Sceptical123 said:

I use my energy credit balance as a Christmas savings  account. I don't miss a slight overpayment each month and around Christmas I should have about £800 credit, most of which I can be refunded at that point. My energy supplier recently suggested I reduce payments, but I took the opportunity to increase them by another £15 a month. I should be able to pay for Christmas 2024 with the refunded credit

Why not put the money into a savings account and earn interest instead?

Spencerx

I'm with British Gas, they have, in the past, refunded my overpayment without me asking.  It wasn't that much and I would have left it there, given the choice.  Recently I've changed tariff with BG and my monthly payment has gone from £240 a month to £15!  Obviously this won't stay at this amount for long but it will make a big difference to my finances for a few months.

coupleuk

I have an electric-only account with Octopus - it is £500 in credit (annual bill £1200 approx)

I wanted to reclaim some of it but had just changed my bank and DD, so i couldnt

Octopus, stated they would take the next DD from the new account but took it from the old one (I know I can claim under DD Guarantee).

Because I was going on holiday for 3 weeks and didnt want any shocks, I deleted all my DDs relating to Octopus across all bank accounts.

Almost instantly Octopus emailed to state the DD had been cancelled. I emailed them back to explain why. They replied and reminded me to set up the DDs when I got back from holiday. That was the end of communication.

I have now got back from holiday and see I have a split bill from them - one which is the DD rates and the other I am guessing is the higher "pay on bill receipt" element for when the DD was cancelled.

I have written to them and am awaiting their response.

I have some questions and observation.....................

(1) Can they change my unit rate and standing charge without notifying me they are doing so and detailing the new higher rates? (they only advised me to re-do the DD in the email but nothing about rate changes)

(2) How can they charge me using higher "pay on receipt of bill" rates, when my account is in plenty of credit so they could just debit any bill from that.

(3) Because I am in so much credit, can I claim "prepayment rates" as effectively that's what I am doing.

Cheers

Robswife

I have looked at my British Gas account online and I am £5860 in credit ???  They keep dismissing it and say ‘wait for your next bill’ !!!!  I have a smart meter and looking back on past bills they have altered them ?  It says ‘cancelled charges’ and then ‘revised charges’ some are less (putting us in credit) and some are more ??  It is extremely difficult to work out 🤦🏼‍♀️  I have given ‘actual’ readings and they have taken readings from the smart meter either way I can’t really work out why they would have to go back to my old bills and change them ?  Has anyone else had problems like this ?