…By Henry George for TDPel Media.
Energy customers in the UK have a combined credit balance of £6.7 billion with their energy suppliers, with over 16 million households in the country having amounts of above £200, according to a study by price comparison website Uswitch.com.
Energy companies now have £5 billion more in credit than they did this time last year due to a mix of benign winter weather and increased consumer efforts to cut energy use.
Typically, direct debit customers would build up credit during the summer when usage is low and then deplete it during the winter when consumption is higher.
If you are paying your energy bill via direct debit, you can find yourself in a situation where you are in credit with your supplier, which means it owes you money.
There are two ways a supplier can pay back your credit:
it can either refund any money owed to you or it can reduce your direct debit payments.
You may choose to request a refund of the difference if your account balance exceeds the amount of your monthly direct debit payment.
Credit can be reclaimed at any time.
However, in order to pay off larger winter bills, Citizens Advice suggests that you should usually leave money on your account during the summer and autumn.
To claim back your credit from your supplier, you can tell your provider how much credit you would like to get back when you contact it.
Your bill or online account should have its contact information.
The company will require a current meter reading from you and it must provide justification for its choice if it declares it won’t issue a refund.
If your supplier has a solid reason, it might decide against refunding you.
For instance, if you have a little balance of credit on your account over the summer, it can decide not to reimburse you.
This is due to the likelihood that you will require the credit to cover your higher winter and autumn payments.
It’s worth noting that you can still claim back credit if your supplier has gone bust; your new supplier will tell you how you can claim back credit.