Question: My Energy Account is £900 Credit How Do I Get My Money Back?

Question: I am £900 in credit with energy supplier, they have said twice they will credit my account but have not done so and they continue to take Direct Debit of £200 pretty month? 

Some might think there quickest way is to just cancel your monthly Direct Debit for a month or 2, to get back £200 each month by not paying, BUT would it be a sensible thing to? 

Please remember prices are likely to increase again in April 2023 😢 

We all must make changes and adapt our daily ways of living to reduce our energy consumption.

However cancelling a DD is not a smart move, and something that should be carefully thought about before going ahead and doing it. 

It will leave a dark mark on your credit score.  

It also could leave your financial situation far worse off in the long run. 

Best to have patience and speak with your suppliers, ask what are the options available to you. 

Some energy suppliers charge less if you pay by DD? So it's important to check if this in the case, because if you suddenly stop paying, you will be in debt with your supplier, get a dark mark on your credit score and you might have a lump added onto your yearly bill! All this would make matters far worse. 

Check you won't lose money if you just cancel DD without notifying them. 

Ask for a supervisor or manager on the phone. 

Stay calm. 

Call first thing in the morning. 

Whilst you are on hold keep distracted so it does not annoy you.

Why not email? 

I've had experience of this and it can be difficult getting through to an adviser on the telephone and then even more difficult to get them to credit your bank account. 

If you do telephone my advice is to be polite but very direct, and keep repeating yourself like saying "My energy account is £x amount in credit, it is my money and so can you please credit my bank account with £x amount of my money today plz and thank you" after all this is your money. I find by repeating something like this statement, it will get the ball rolling quicker, since they will stop dawdling and trying to get out of giving you the credit, I'm pretty sure they are trained to do this to make the company money in interest. 

Also if your energy supplier has told you twice they are doing this and not completed the credit transaction, then you have cause to make a complaint TWICE! 

For all they know because they failed to credit your bank account with £x, you might have defaulted on your credit card bill and you might have been charged a fee of £12 per month, or some other bill and incurred other overdue charges. 

So if I were in your situation now, I would telephone the complaints department, if you struggle to get through try getting through to the cancellation department. This does not mean you have to follow through with cancelling your account, it's just more likely you will get through faster, because companies do not like losing customers, so they tend to prioritise cancellations and try to talk customers out of it. 

You really should be getting some kind of 'sorry we made a mistake payment' like a courtesy extra £20 per mistake?  

I have also found in the past that it takes longer to get dealt with, but gets taken more seriously if you send an email about your complaints, I have done both before. The telephone call dealt with doing the credit, and the email then offered at a later date a sorry courtesy payment for their error or mistake.😁

Also if you telephone for the credit, ask the representative to call you back to confirm when the payment has reached your bank account. 

And keep a record of the time, date and name of each representative you speak to, I often record conversations now so that if I have my own record of everything said. Previously different representatives have said different things and I got so fed up with dancing in their circles, that now, by recorded evidence, names and details, I'm able to play them at their own game. However please do as they do to you, and notify them at the start of the telephone conversation that you are recording it. 

If you find you get no where with your energy suppliers then your next step should be to contact Citizens Advice Bureau.  

Turn2Us online can help you to check you are getting all the benefits available to you. 

Gov.UK also has an online benefit calculator.

Good luck