British gas - in credit - Can i get it back and lower DD payments

incesticde

Hi folks,

I live with my parents and recently took over the gas and elec (using tips from this site of course :money:). My parents could only find six months of bills so I just doubled that to get a year estimate and shopped around.

Signed up to Br Gas for both (monthly DD's) and all is well. Received my first quaterly bill the other day : bearing in mind it was for nov, dec, jan (which should be the most expensive months in my mind) i am ;

£10 in credit on the gas
£60 in credit on the elec.

Am I massively overpaying every month here? Should i look at reducing payments (if so do i just ask?) and also re the 60 credit should i ask for it back? If i am overpaying in winter then over a year this could be a couple of hundred quid going out of my account for no reason and I doubt BG will give me any interest on it!

Cheers for your help!

P.S This is a wicked site, i've been lurking and reading posts across most boards and I've saved over 750 quid already! :j:j

j-baby-scotland

Utility companies don't like refunds in my experience.

I emphasise this is my experience... I was almost £100 in credit for gas with EDF, phoned they reduced direct debit. Then upped it when I said I'd hoped for a refund, which I got. Further refund pending.

As you say, better in your pocket than theirs.... a carefully administered account is worth doing, though the utility companies seem to err on the side of caution. (making up for those not so carefully administrated accounts no doubt)

I'm swapping to Ebico, gain interest & pay quarterly, no utility companies holding my cash.

In your situation I'd give it a little more time, till spring/ summer appears.
From your figures supplied I'd not say you are massively overpaying.

SwanJon

Make sure they are using accurate readings.
The plans are set up for a year, so they may be reluctant to give you a refund.
You can choose to pay quarterly, but you lose the dicount. Will your savings match it? If so it might be worth dropping the DD, if not stick with it, but keep giving them accurate readings.
The plan will get reassessed automatically after 6 months.

missyg_3

I'm almost £150 in credit on gas, and £80 on elec - the credit amounts keep increasing so the DD's are obviously too high. Since we are coming out of winter I asked for a refund and lower DDs... no can do... I have to wait for my '6 monthly review' in MARCH 2009

If I insist on taking a refund, they cannot guarantee I will keep the same tarriff - what's wrong with this picture?!

To add insult to injury, they have now put the DD for electricity UP by £6/month!

bobothebear

It must depend on each company on there policies.
This evening I rang BG about my Gas bill because after 6 months im now £42 in credit.
I asked if my DD could be lowered and he checked if I was in the automatic review system which I wasn't so he said he would do it manually for me.
He lowered it to £38 for me which is my actual average usage per month. obviously I'll still have this credit which is fine with me as OH is pregnant so will be using more Power come August onwards.