Money-saving guru Martin Lewis says now is the ‘perfect time’ for households to check their energy bill – as many Brits across the nation could be entitled to claim back £100s
Martin Lewis has urged Brits to check their energy bills, stating now is the ‘perfect’ time to ‘stop the rip-off’ and potentially claim £100s back. The warning comes as energy firms are said to be sitting on more than £3 billion of customer cash due to the way Direct Debits are collected.
Most suppliers will estimate your annual cost and divide it by 12 months, resulting in equal payments every single month. As households tend to use more energy in the winter months due to colder temperatures, the idea is that your payments will balance out over the year.
The money-saving guru argues that while this concept makes sense, the ‘implementation’ doesn’t always work. “Monthly Direct Debits are based on an estimate of usage,” he wrote on his MSE website. “If the estimates are wrong, which is common, they can leave some unnecessarily overpaying with too much credit or others getting into too much debt.”
READ MORE: Urgent electricity meter warning as thousands of Brits risk being cut off
Martin explained that sometimes energy firms get our estimated energy use wrong if we don’t provide regular meter readings or have a smart meter – which will automatically send readings to your supplier. With soaring energy bills dominating headlines in recent years – many households are making more of a conscious effort to reduce their usage, which could also skew your annual estimates.
Despite wintry weather lasting until around the end of January, the expert argues it takes a few months for households to stop their energy debt increasing. Martin therefore says early May is the perfect ‘baseline’ for when you should have minimum credit.
So, if you check your bill is up to date, your Direct Debit is about right, you’ve done a meter reading and you’re still in credit (for example have more than one month’s direct debit in your account) you should look at getting your credit back.
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Energy suppliers must take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure Direct Debit levels are fair, and to justify why they’re at the level they’re set to. Try calling your energy firm to ask why you’re in so much credit – as they may provide an explanation that means you might not want to withdraw the funds.
However, the rules clearly state that if too much credit has built up and a customer requests it back, suppliers must provide a refund – or explain ‘clearly’ why they won’t. “If they don’t, you can make a formal complaint, and if it rejects it, escalate it to the Energy Ombudsman for free, which can adjudicate,” MSE added.
Each energy firm has different policies when it comes to refunds. For example, British Gas states it’ll reduce your Direct Debit if you’re in credit at the end of your ‘plan year’. You can still ask for a credit refund at any time.
EDF Energy states customers requesting a refund must provide an up-to-date meter reading first, while E.on Next confirmed customers can ask for a credit refund (but they won’t do it automatically). You can check other energy firm’s policies here.
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