i just logged into my gas and electric account and am £240 in credit. i have obviously been overpaying on my monthly direct debits without knowing,especially on gas as i am £170 in credit at the end of the winter.
is there any way i can claim this back? or go a few months without paying?
the way i see it is if they do this to 2 million people they will be creaming the interest.so id rather it was in my account than theirs!

My best guess would be to lower your payments...

Call the bank and do a direct debit indemnity claim for the number of months that equates to the total you have over paid. They will immediately refund your money without question as it is part of the direct debit guarantee agreement

I had the same problem. £200 in credit. The wife called them and they returned our money within a couple of days

Try it, ask them for your money back, its your money and as you say they are earning massive interest.

Good luck

We had this, ring them and they can issue you a refund lump some, or just drop your monthlys down to next to nothing till your back to a sensible level of credit. We were paying 5p a month on our water bill at one point because we had overpaid so much.

[Edited on 7/3/12 by loggyboy]

A lot of people will be in the same situation because of the relatively mild winter.

Oddly enough, our inlaws electric bill is £40 in credit, and they've actually RAISED their direct debit!!

I wouldnt start messing about with the direct debit, just call them with a current reading, ask for the balance to be refunded, and get them to recalculate a better monthly figure to avoid a build up in future.

quote:

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Originally posted by ashg
Call the bank and do a direct debit indemnity claim for the number of months that equates to the total you have over paid. They will immediately refund your money without question as it is part of the direct debit guarantee agreement

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The DD guarantee is slightly complicated in this case. it's only when a payment is made in error, or an incorrect amount taken. Now whilst you will have cumulatively overpaid, the amount taken was not "incorrect" as it is an agreed amount with the electric company.

Also cutting the direct debit is likely to break the "maintain a direct debit" clause in a lot of bills which usually attracts a £10-15 admin fee. These obviously go away after an increase in volume on the phone...


I'd just speak to the electric company. Don't know who you're with but whilst Southern Electric have been generally crap, their customer service has been very good - when I was in credit, they refunded to my bank account within a couple of days upon request.

Shame I was £300 debit on my last bill so they've just doubled my repayments

Before you claim the money back (which you're perfectly entitled to do), it might be worth giving the energy company your latest meter readings just to be certain it isn't a fictitious credit based on estimated readings.

Phil

[Edited on 7-3-12 by Hellfire]

quote:

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Originally posted by Slimy38
Oddly enough, our inlaws electric bill is £40 in credit, and they've actually RAISED their direct debit!!

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220

mine are currently £74 for both.

quote:

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Originally posted by JoelP
220

mine are currently £74 for both.

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I've always got a refund when the DD credit is too high - I just ring up and discuss it with them. Often they'll volunteer to refund.

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
I've always got a refund when the DD credit is too high - I just ring up and discuss it with them. Often they'll volunteer to refund.

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I know the feeling

my quarterly bill is about £128, but they tell me that I need to pay £104 per month

Im over £600 in credit for leccy

quote:

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Originally posted by tony-devon
Im over £600 in credit for leccy

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After reading this thread, I thought I'd go and check my gas and lecky. I think I'll take a meter reading today and see what's left

Account balance:
£973.54CR

I bet it drops a little when I give my readings

This reminds me I need to do readings for mine, I am paying £50 a month at the moment and according to Npower this covers all my gas and electric use AND is paying off my debt from the old house! I was paying £120 a month before! Got to love new builds for this, what my out goings have gone up (mortgage vs previous rent) I have more than saved in gas and electric!

If you contact your energy supplier, they can give you your annual energy consumption figures which you can then use to calculate how much your monthly DD actually needs to be based on your tarrif.

If you leave it for the energy companies to decide, they are going to take higher DD's than they actually need and build up a pot of money which they can invest in overnight stock markets to boost their profit margins.

I find energy companies are like insurance companies - if you become complacent they will shaft you. Loyalty counts for nothing........

Phil

Just an update on mine ... I have put in meter numbers on the website and my bill is now .... wait for it ....

£39.74 Credit

Bugger

[Edited on 8/3/12 by RoadkillUK]