British gas DD - refunding and dropping my Direct Debit

Marvel1

First time on Direct Debit - always had a prepayment meter, but smart meter installed April 2025 I changed to Direct Debit.

Just had an email from British Gas saying they are going to refund me £431.00 and reduce my DD to £35.92, but I am not sure if I want it too happen or not. Curious what others would do?

Current credit: £515.61
Monthly DD: £100.81

Fixed until 06/09/2026

_____________________________________________________

Electric usage from 25/04/2025 - 01/03/2026 - from online account smart meter readings
1107 kWh

Unit rate - 24.49p per kWh
Standing charge - 48.59p

_____________________________________________________

Gas usage from 25/04/2025 - 01/03/2026 - from online smart meter readings and converted from me to kWh
1306 kWh

Unit rate - 5.92p per kWh
Standing charge 25.42p

t0rt0ise

Better to put any spare money in an interest paying bank account. You're an incredibly low user. How do you do it?

luci

Your usage seems very low. Our gas usage is about 25% of the average, but is still 4500 kWh. Have you checked your actual meter readings to make sure they agree with the smart meter readings on your bills?

FrugaiMacDugal

Are you on smart meter for gas and electric?

What are actual meter readings now, not online readings?

vic_sf49

Is BG getting smart readings, or has your meter gone "dumb"?

I had similar with BG, where they weren't getting / pulling smart readings, so they assumed my usage was far lower than it was.

They kept saying they were looking into it. Did nothing. Switched to Octopus, and my meter started being smart again.

Don't know why BG couldn't have sorted that.

(I always read my meters monthly (meters on the wall, not the IHD), for this reason.)

Reed_Richards

Take the money. There is no point in having a credit balance with your supplier earning no interest when you could have that money in your own savings account. You have been on Direct Debit for a year and your supplier over-estimated how much you would need to pay per month to cover your usage and now they want to make a correction; let them do it.

Some other responders are questioning whether your bills are correct. Check that they are based on actual rather than estimated readings but even then I would take the money and keep it in a savings account at least until any estimates are resolved.

Marvel1

Smart meter, readings for gas and electric as of right now from meter itself as nothing else worked since day 1 - IHD, the 2 apps Bright and something.

Electric:1225 (kWh)

Gas: 129 (m3)

Gas is low as heating only on 1 hour morning and night

elkiedee

I would take the refund for now, and put it in a savings account earning you a little interest. If you're concerned about costs going up again, or that they have their figures right, then keep it separate from other savings so you can use it to pay off bills when you need to. You could also add some or all of the £65 difference in your direct debit if you want to, again to prepare for them raising it again.