Energy Companies Holding onto Credit Balances
Discussion
It appears that Energy Companies are holding onto the credit balances of customers who pay monthly by direct debit when those customers move to a different suppliers, and only refund when asked to do so.
I discovered this fact this weekend as I had changed the energy supplier for my elderly mother in May 2012 from EDF to NPower and there was a considerable credit on her electricity bill of well over £200.
I found out this weekend that she never got this money back and upon enquiring on her behalf today was told that it would be credited to her bank account via the Direct Debit which they still have in place this week. ( I have asked my mother to cancel this DD once the payment is received.)
It was obvious that they would not have done this voluntarily, but further discussion was curtailed because as I was discussing this situation on my mothers behalf " data protection issues" prevented a full explanation.
This got me thinking.
How many other positive credit balances are the energy companies hanging onto? Are you or your elderly relatives owed refunds by these cowboys? Have you claimed your refunds back?
It seems that you cannot assume that your credit balances will be refunded unless you demand them.
I hope this helps some other poor souls out there.
Bobbing Rastards.
Cheers,
Tony
I discovered this fact this weekend as I had changed the energy supplier for my elderly mother in May 2012 from EDF to NPower and there was a considerable credit on her electricity bill of well over £200.
I found out this weekend that she never got this money back and upon enquiring on her behalf today was told that it would be credited to her bank account via the Direct Debit which they still have in place this week. ( I have asked my mother to cancel this DD once the payment is received.)
It was obvious that they would not have done this voluntarily, but further discussion was curtailed because as I was discussing this situation on my mothers behalf " data protection issues" prevented a full explanation.
This got me thinking.
How many other positive credit balances are the energy companies hanging onto? Are you or your elderly relatives owed refunds by these cowboys? Have you claimed your refunds back?
It seems that you cannot assume that your credit balances will be refunded unless you demand them.
I hope this helps some other poor souls out there.
Bobbing Rastards.
Cheers,
Tony
Just not true.
A balance varies through the year, especially with gas where the consumption varies over the year but DD stays the same. When the balance reaches over £200 an automatic refund is triggered. When you move the refund is triggered at the next DD payment date, a lot of people cancel too early and the power company is unable to make the payment and you need to contact them about repayment arrangements.
Far from robbing b'stards they bend over backwards to provide a fair deal, the actual profit from the average energy bill is around 5%, minuscule if you look at profit taken by almost all other business.
A balance varies through the year, especially with gas where the consumption varies over the year but DD stays the same. When the balance reaches over £200 an automatic refund is triggered. When you move the refund is triggered at the next DD payment date, a lot of people cancel too early and the power company is unable to make the payment and you need to contact them about repayment arrangements.
Far from robbing b'stards they bend over backwards to provide a fair deal, the actual profit from the average energy bill is around 5%, minuscule if you look at profit taken by almost all other business.
Kenty said:
Just not true.
A balance varies through the year, especially with gas where the consumption varies over the year but DD stays the same. When the balance reaches over £200 an automatic refund is triggered. When you move the refund is triggered at the next DD payment date, a lot of people cancel too early and the power company is unable to make the payment and you need to contact them about repayment arrangements.
Far from robbing b'stards they bend over backwards to provide a fair deal, the actual profit from the average energy bill is around 5%, minuscule if you look at profit taken by almost all other business.
That being the case how come I ended up £700 in credit earlier this year thanks to an un-noticed broken electricity meter (the energy companies advanced billing SW not being set up to spot two identical readings six months apart). A balance varies through the year, especially with gas where the consumption varies over the year but DD stays the same. When the balance reaches over £200 an automatic refund is triggered. When you move the refund is triggered at the next DD payment date, a lot of people cancel too early and the power company is unable to make the payment and you need to contact them about repayment arrangements.
Far from robbing b'stards they bend over backwards to provide a fair deal, the actual profit from the average energy bill is around 5%, minuscule if you look at profit taken by almost all other business.
Kenty said:
Just not true.
A balance varies through the year, especially with gas where the consumption varies over the year but DD stays the same. When the balance reaches over £200 an automatic refund is triggered. When you move the refund is triggered at the next DD payment date, a lot of people cancel too early and the power company is unable to make the payment and you need to contact them about repayment arrangements.
Far from robbing b'stards they bend over backwards to provide a fair deal, the actual profit from the average energy bill is around 5%, minuscule if you look at profit taken by almost all other business.
Thanks for calling me a liar Kenty but I'm afraid its you, the apologist for the power company, that is wrong. A balance varies through the year, especially with gas where the consumption varies over the year but DD stays the same. When the balance reaches over £200 an automatic refund is triggered. When you move the refund is triggered at the next DD payment date, a lot of people cancel too early and the power company is unable to make the payment and you need to contact them about repayment arrangements.
Far from robbing b'stards they bend over backwards to provide a fair deal, the actual profit from the average energy bill is around 5%, minuscule if you look at profit taken by almost all other business.
My mother never cancelled the direct debit, as I alluded to in the original thread she will cancel it after getting the refund, so the power company had every opportunity to refund her the money.......they just chose not to.
Far from bending over backwards if I had not asked for my mothers credit back they would have hung onto it for ever, I mean they have already had it for 9 months.
Don't see much "bending over backwards" there old son.....
Cheers,
Tony
Tony427 said:
Thanks for calling me a liar Kenty but I'm afraid its you, the apologist for the power company, that is wrong.
My mother never cancelled the direct debit, as I alluded to in the original thread she will cancel it after getting the refund, so the power company had every opportunity to refund her the money.......they just chose not to.
Far from bending over backwards if I had not asked for my mothers credit back they would have hung onto it for ever, I mean they have already had it for 9 months.
Don't see much "bending over backwards" there old son.....
Cheers,
Tony
Npower owe me over £300 which they are yet to pay back from October last year, so it seems they're all at it. They also made up my final meter reading claiming it was an actual reading - I still haven't gone past their 'actual' reading 3 months after I left them. Rotten to the core, all of them.My mother never cancelled the direct debit, as I alluded to in the original thread she will cancel it after getting the refund, so the power company had every opportunity to refund her the money.......they just chose not to.
Far from bending over backwards if I had not asked for my mothers credit back they would have hung onto it for ever, I mean they have already had it for 9 months.
Don't see much "bending over backwards" there old son.....
Cheers,
Tony
With VirginMedia, if you sign up at £X per month and at the end of your contract their prices are now £Y per month (Y being cheaper than X), if you don't ask for the new price when you renew they continue charging you £X per month. People would save more money if they paid more attention!
I've suffered the same. We moved from one supplier to another, couldn't say for sure which ones without checking bills at home, but 2 months after leaving the credit balance of nearly 200 pounds had not been refunded, it took a phone call and 10 days to 'process' before it was returned.
It does appear to be the case that you need to be aware of what the balance on your account is, especially when changing suppliers and to be assertive in reclaiming any credit!
Al
It does appear to be the case that you need to be aware of what the balance on your account is, especially when changing suppliers and to be assertive in reclaiming any credit!
Al
I have found that you do have to keep an eye on them in terms of making sure that when you switch you get any credit balance back asap. Best thing to do is to get them to agree the date you will have funds back after the change over date. So if it is a change over date of 1/2/13 and you have not had your credit by 21/2/13 it's time to call them for a kick.
On the whole it is like you deal with anyone who owes you money. If they forget you remind them unless you are willing to write it off.
I have happily had a debit balance for 3 years with BG for my gas and credit with my electric, what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts.
On the whole it is like you deal with anyone who owes you money. If they forget you remind them unless you are willing to write it off.
I have happily had a debit balance for 3 years with BG for my gas and credit with my electric, what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts.
With British Gas a £200 credit triggers a refund automatically as I asked them why the hell they had given me money back in the summer when I expected it to be used through the winter.
O2 actually sent a final bill after I cancelled the contract and it basically said 'we owe you this money, if you want it back go to this website and put in your details' except I never noticed that part and it was two months before I realised.
O2 actually sent a final bill after I cancelled the contract and it basically said 'we owe you this money, if you want it back go to this website and put in your details' except I never noticed that part and it was two months before I realised.
Companies take advantage of lazy/unobservant customers shocker...
No offence to your mum OP but it just seems that this sort of behaviour is standard practice these days.
Examples:
Sky will drop your subscription price if you call them up out of contract.
Vodafone will keep you on your "paying off the phone" tariff unless you call to lower it.
Insurance companies will automatically cover you on a higher premium unless you call to requote.
Mortgage companies move you to SVR once your fix or variable deal ends.
Savings accounts will revert to terrible rates once the special deal period is over.
Which reminds me - I need to call Sky and claim I am moving to Virgin unless they cut me a deal!
No offence to your mum OP but it just seems that this sort of behaviour is standard practice these days.
Examples:
Sky will drop your subscription price if you call them up out of contract.
Vodafone will keep you on your "paying off the phone" tariff unless you call to lower it.
Insurance companies will automatically cover you on a higher premium unless you call to requote.
Mortgage companies move you to SVR once your fix or variable deal ends.
Savings accounts will revert to terrible rates once the special deal period is over.
Which reminds me - I need to call Sky and claim I am moving to Virgin unless they cut me a deal!
Assuming you know roughly what your quarterly payment is going to be, surely this situation can be easily avoided by simple home budgeting? Set the bill to full repayment and rather than have the energy company take a DD, just set up a standing order to another account and hold it there until the bill hits. Seems like a simple fix?
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