Nothing, because I stopped paying by DD about 20 years ago, for this very reason.
We cancelled our DD about 6 months ago as recommended by Martin Lewis. He correctly pointed out that the energy companies are using this as an opportunity to ratchet up peoples DD's way more than they need to do to cover the price rises. As the figures on this thread seem to back up. We are actually still in credit even after that many months.
We'll pay our bills as soon as we get them, but I'm not playing ball with the profiteering of the energy companies through artificially inflated DD's. They must have billions sat in their accounts with everyone this much in credit.
I remember a few years ago being a couple of grand in credit - which is ridiculous in itself - so I requested it back. They did it eventually but I had to hassle them repeatedly and it took absolutely ages
Just shy of £300 for me.
With the cash from the energy rebate sitting nicely in my bank account for when the winter bill inevitably chews through what I am paying. Overall I reckon by April I'll be about even again.
Zero - I pay as per meter readings.
I'm not in the business of providing interest free loans to energy companies.
What would happen if everyone demanded their credit back at the same time?
Would any of the remaining energy companies go bust?
£300 ish IIRC, probably get used up in the next few months.
Did this at the weekend. Credit of 460 has been paid back.
Had solar PV & battery fitted last month and they have cut the DD to 120 from 260.
Once I have the paperwork for the install I'll be moving to octopus.
I always try to owe them money, I think we were £300 in debt after last winter, which cleared during the summer.
Bingo... That's where I'm at at least!
how much (if any) of that credit I should be claiming back?
All of it! Otherwise you've paid for something in advance that you might not necessarily need any time soon... You're not earning interest on it either!
Better off in your bank than theirs...
Better off in your bank than theirs…
Yip, just by the replies on this thread alone we can see that a lot of cusomers are serveral hundred pounds in credit and getting no interest payments.
Times that serveral hundred quid by several million customers and the energy companies have a massive, vast pot of money to toy around with, with no benefit to the customer.
This is fundamentally wrong.
When I was with Ovo a few years ago they paid interest on credit balances which went up the longer you stayed with them. No idea if they still do.
Ovo currently pays me 5%, so...
I’m not in the business of providing interest free loans to energy companies.
...it's not necessarily necessary to do so. It's earning as much as it would in easy-access savings.
I’m not in the business of providing interest free loans to energy companies.
Another happy Ovo customer here....
We are in a 70s 3 bed semi. Octopus credit currently £574 and they just emailed me to say my £170 a month DD (before govt help) isn't high enough. They want £200. Wouldn't let me cut it below about £190 without phoning them.
I'm not sure they have caught up with my reduced usage yet. Oct- Nov bill this year was 60% of last year due to new boiler, better controls, and (a minimal amount) better loft insulation.
Last year Jan Feb were huge bills. I'll go wit £190 and review in March after seeing gas use for a few cold months.
At what point does an entity cease to be an energy retailer and become an investment bank? are they subject to the same regulations as banks?
For example, does this apply to OVO? https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/
Earning 5% on a £600 credit balance is all well and good, but that 5% won't mean much if they go bust and your £800 dissapears.
At what point does an entity cease to be an energy retailer and become a bank? are they subject to the same regulations as banks?
No, but there is a system in place to manage ones which fail and it has been used an awful lot over the last few years...
No residential customer has lost money as a result of them folding.
I'm the winner....just logged onto my OVO account and its £1138, although my usage has gone up considerably lately.
Times that serveral hundred quid by several million customers and the energy companies have a massive, vast pot of money to toy around with, with no benefit to the customer.
That's not true at all (the last bit).
From a budgetary perspective, having the winter peak usage spread over the whole year, so you pay the same per month regardless of how much you use, will help many people. Not everyone has spare cash at hand after Xmas to stump up for the largest fuel bill of the year.
No, but there is a system in place to manage ones which fail and it has been used an awful lot over the last few years…
No residential customer has lost money as a result of them folding.
Yet.
Yet.
It coped with Bulb at a cost of over £6bn so far - unlikely anyone bigger is going to fold.
Earning 5% on a £600 credit balance is all well and good, but that 5% won’t mean much if they go bust and your £800 dissapears.
Just as well there is a tried and tested scheme in place to prevent that scenario ever occuring!
£400 in credit and £145 per month direct debit. Lowest temperature I’ve ever seen the house drop to is 16 Celsius.
Regularly 25-30 Celsius in Summer with £15 a month gas usage.
Electric is £50 in summer and £70 in winter.
I’m the winner….just logged onto my OVO account and its £1138, although my usage has gone up considerably lately.
*cough* look a few posts further up. Loser!
No residential customer has lost money as a result of them folding.
We all have. The lost Bulb balances are passed on to higher standing charges to all customers this year.
"But a far bigger part of the increase is from the “supplier of last resort” scheme – every household is expected to pay the billions that have gone into rescuing customers from failed companies."
From a budgetary perspective, having the winter peak usage spread over the whole year, so you pay the same per month regardless of how much you use, will help many people. Not everyone has spare cash at hand after Xmas to stump up for the largest fuel bill of the year.
This is the rub of it. For every one who will stash some money aside to pay the big winter bills, I’d hazard there’s many more who will budget based on non-existent summer use and then complain about evil energy companies when they can’t pay the winter bill. Enforced savings by means of a regular direct debit helps more people than it hinders, I reckon.
We all have. The lost Bulb balances are passed on to higher standing charges to all customers this year.
The same with any bailout scheme, be it FSCS, Bank of Scotland nationalisation, Covid, Foot and Mouth - we all end up lumbered with cost and and pay for it one way or another.
In the case of Bulb, by far the biggest cost is the cost of energy whilst it's been held in a special entity by the government - something like £5bn...
£1629 as of today with Ovo (gas & electric)....most so far i think having skimmed this thread. Probably should claim some back but if i do get interest its likely more than in the bank
Enforced savings by means of a regular direct debit helps more people than it hinders, I reckon.
I would agree. It's those with the least who need the most help. Those who can just pay of a £500 extra bill in Januray, don't need any consideration....
My ovo balance gets 4% because it is in the second year. I don’t think it will be available when I renew in July
£550 with a £145 DD and a winter usage of around £100.
We also have around 600l of oil, so about £500.
By the time we get to March, we’ll be £700 in credit and using almost zero.
Isn’t this a reason why SmartMeters are a way to go? Actually pay what you use ?
Not really IME. All they do is mean they don't have to send a person to your house/rely on estimates. They still use some algorithm to work out your DD, which always seems to overestimate so you are quite a bit in credit.
I'm about £300, I keep my DD set to the lowest their algorithm will let me, every year they tell me my DD will rise dramatically just before winter 'because our model shows you'll use more'. Our usage is completely flat all year, wood and oil for heat.
£68.77 with Ovo. Who are predicting we'll be £61 in credit when our tarrif ends (Oct 23).
I'm OK with the principle of paying 'more' in summer to balance out greater use in winter.
A lot, which is strange because they haven't actually charged us for any of the electricity we have used since we signed up in November (Octopus)
£528.39
Due a bill next week and my electric meter has stopped sending its readings so it’s a bit higher than usual.
£350.
I don't know, as my supplier (EDF) no longer reveals or updates balances when you provide meter readings of your own accord.
Zero. I pay the bill when it turns up. I’m not here to provide an interest free loan to the energy companies. Last checked 2 months ago that we are on the best deal so sticking without that
£150 and I've reduced my direct debit to £1 so they have to use some of my unofficial octopus savings account.
As of yesterday I had £1774.52 credit on my electric bill account. So naturally I thought I'll ask for that back. Email was sent and got a reply back within 24 hours saying my account was actually in debit of £39. Even though it clearly said I was in credit(even took a photo) for a few days. Where would I stand with this?
I owe them 8 days consumption. They debit what I've consumed at the end of the month based on the smart meter readings, how hard is that?
Blimey the firms will be earning some nice interest off us all at the moment!
We were with that company that paid interest on your credit balance (that then went bust) at that point we tried to use it as a savings account and they limited how much we could put in 😂
We are £450 in credit with Bulb. This month they tried to reduce are DD to £30! We are using roughly £130pm
We were ~£1000 in credit back in aug/sept I think, just had a letter through and at the end of November we were £1200 in credit. But the heating is on fully now in a house full of (WFH) women that refuse to comprehend how a thermostat works...
We'll have burned through that by the end of Feb I reckon...
Around £400 which we will no doubt eat through during the winter although with the DD being higher than they recommend and the monthly rebate might be OK. I appreciate they have our money, in my case I'll probably owe them at some point. I don't get the I'm happy to pay more to pay on actual usage, especially as that means bigger bills across the winter.
When I was with Ovo a few years ago they paid interest on credit balances which went up the longer you stayed with them. No idea if they still do.
Still a thing. Shame they can't set up a time of use tarrif so I'll be leaving in the spring.
Mentioned this thread to the wife, she checked and we were over £900 rather the £600 I thought. Octupus 'allowed' us to withdraw £360...
Quite like the idea of OVO paying us interest though.
Mentioned this thread to the wife, she checked and we were over £900 rather the £600 I thought. Octupus ‘allowed’ us to withdraw £360…
Pretty sure they have to let you withdraw the entire balance, but they may make you jump through hoops to do so and apparently there is no max time window for them to complete the process in....
Scottish Power hide the link to withddraw your cash - best found by googling it, then you can find the page. they do pay you back within a few days.
Unfortunately their energy consumption calculations don't reflect everyone cutting use, so they will only allow you to adjust your DD very slightly.
Quite like the idea of OVO paying us interest though.
I think they've realised the 'generous' nature of this as Interest Reward was stopped on all tariffs from September 2022.
Had an email from Bulbtopus the other day to say that going off our recent usage we can drop our monthly payments down to £73. I dropped it from £190 to £145 a couple of months ago anyway, I'll keep paying £145 & make sure we're warm thanks.
