Reclaiming credit balance

jodie264

I have a balance of £1257
I have been paying £250 or more each month
I also put my winter fuel payment in plus my late partner's and his disability £150 payment.
I have been told my payments are now around £130.
How much excess credit should I ask for or have they reduced my payment because there is so much surplus

[Deleted User]

jodie264 said:

I have a balance of £1257
I have been paying £250 or more each month
I also put my winter fuel payment in plus my late partner's and his disability £150 payment.
I have been told my payments are now around £130.
How much excess credit should I ask for or have they reduced my payment because there is so much surplus

It depends on your annual usage/cost. If you reduce your credit balance, then you can reasonably expect your monthly DD payment to increase.

MattMattMattUK

jodie264 said:

I have a balance of £1257
I have been paying £250 or more each month
I also put my winter fuel payment in plus my late partner's and his disability £150 payment.
I have been told my payments are now around £130.
How much excess credit should I ask for or have they reduced my payment because there is so much surplus

How much energy do you use in kWh in gas and electricity? What region are you in? When were you last billed (not a Direct Debit payment, but an actual bill) and was that based on estimated or actual reads?

Netexporter

You've clearly been paying too much to have built up that credit. I think I'd ask for £1000 back, to leave a winter buffer, and then monitor the balance at the £130 rate, and adjust the  payment according when you see which way the balance is going.

With some suppliers you can adjust the direct debit yourself online.

jodie264

Thanks.  I have a smart meter so assume there will be no surprises for me or my provider.  

la531983

Easiest way to get everything back would be to switch elsewhere, it saves arguing the toss with providers about how much of the credit balance they want to hold back.
It may not be the quickest, but they cant argue that way.

MattMattMattUK

jodie264 said:

Thanks.  I have a smart meter so assume there will be no surprises for me or my provider.  

You might assume that, but worth checking if the supplier is using estimated or actual reads.

You have not mentioned who your supplier is, but as an example EDF only bill every six(ish) months for fixed Direct Debit customers, BG every three or six, others on similarly extended cycles. If you are with EDF and your last bill was five months ago then your account will show six months of Direct Debits in credit, but takes no account of the energy you have used over that period until they issue a new bill, so you can appear to be in credit but actually not be. 

jodie264

Thanks everyone.  I have just had a call with someone from Octopus. 
It is money owed by overpayment and I owe nothing so no surprises for me or them
I could have taken all the excess but decided to take £800.
Taking some of the excess will not affect my reduced payments they told me. 
I intend keeping on 'earmarking' around £200 a month instead of the £127 reduced direct debit.
I might up the amount to £150 a month and then check what the balance is doing in January.
Lost my partner in November last year so am going to use the money to rejoin the health club and start swimming and spa again  
 

Scot_39

jodie264 said:

Thanks.  I have a smart meter so assume there will be no surprises for me or my provider.  

Check your bill to make sure they are getting and using readings.

And your billing cycle.  Some firms still only deduct usage from account balances every 6 months  - BUT add DD creditmonthly etc - so when do might wipe £1000+ off a typical users balance at end of winter.