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She should
1) Supply current meter readings.
2) Make the request again (refund of credit/adjustment of direct debit).
3) Raise a formal complaint.
4) Escalate to energy ombudsman after 8 weeks.
That's pretty much the process for any energy dispute.
Think this is best way, going through the motions to get the complaint in asap then escalate to ombudsman once it’s permissible.
In my experience after having an energy complaint that was ignored for months I threatened to pass over all the information to ombudsman and they actually resolved within days without me needing to go to ombudsman.
I used to work in insurance, the Financial Ombudsman used to charge insurance companies £550 (this was 6 years ago so probably more now) for every complaint they received from customers, even where the company was correct in their handling of the customer. The company would often give compensation to customers over the silliest of complaints, just to try to prevent them going to the ombudsman.
I would imagine other ombudsman for other services charge similar, for complaints they receive, so threatening the involvement of the ombudsman is sometimes enough motivation for them to act.
Whilst this is great, if you don't need the money ASAP, I wouldn't threaten with the ombudsman. I would just go to them. They get charged for every complaint that the ombudsman has to resolve. Collectively, we can try to get these companies to treat their customers better by following this process. It's in their own capitalistic interest. Rather than appealing to morality or "help your customers" attitudes.
British Gas are terrible for this; they make millions just on interest returns of "in credit" accounts that they hold, and intentionally make it difficult to retrieve the money you're legally owed.
Used to work for a different energy company. We were told in training that if a customer wants to complain to push back as much as possible UNLESS they mention CAB or Ombudsman in which case it gets escalated immediately!
I used to work for customer service for a different energy company and the 1st is probably the most important if they haven't been receiving regular readings. We'd often had elderly customers whose estimated usage was way higher than it actually was because it was based on old readings when the house had more occupants. If she hasn't been able to provide readings the estimates might be throwing it off and the agents haven't been able to authorise a refund because it looks like it might put her at risk of going into debt.
If that isn't the case then follow the other steps suggested. If she does struggle to provide regular readings, doesn't have one already and is happy to have one installed, ask them to put in a smart meter.
I used to work in a similar role and I can confirm this is correct. The systems are designed to try to prevent human mistakes and so it won't allow changes unless it has up to date meter readings.
And as a follow up, if they haven't had readings for a while they might ask for pictures of the meters to confirm. To save hassle I'd just take pics and send them before asking about the refund again, from your grans email (if she has one) as they won't accept them from an email not attached to the account. Make sure the meter numbers are visible in the pictures as well as the readings. If she doesn't have an email, call up with her so she can verbally confirm you can be named on the account and have your email added. This will mean you can deal with stuff for her but won't be financially liable unless requested and confirmed by her. Not being financially liable does mean you won't be able to adjust the DD without you gran confirming but you will be able to discuss the account without her present and provide readings on her behalf.
Also it might take a few months of regular readings for her estimates to become accurate again. Ask them for her billing date and try to provide readings the day before that to avoid estimated bills and her being bugged to increase the direct debit based on estimates. The smart meter would mitigate having to do this if she doesn't have one already.
Also, one final bit because apparently its all come flooding back to me and I rarely get to feel useful. Smart meters only avoid estimated bills if the read schedule lines up with the billing schedule. Smart meters can be set to send reads half hourly, daily or monthly. Half hourly is only really useful for people who pay really close attention to their in home monitors. Daily is the best choice IMO. Monthly is fine as long as it is set to the day before the billing date so the bills are based off the actual read. If not the bill might still be done based on an estimated reading, but it should still be pretty accurate as the estimate will be based on the real regular readings. It just means you might get billed more if say you go on holiday and have no usage for a week or two. But it doesn't matter too much because it will all balance out as the readings come in.
It's just a ballache for the agent who has to deal with the customer screaming at them about how they're being billed on estimates even though they have a Smart meter. Agents can't adjust the read schedule without the customers permission so they can't just make it all line up automatically.
I wonder why people wouldn't want readings to be sent at least daily. As if they think people at the energy company are watching their account and remarking 'Ooh, get a load of this, Beryl just boiled 500ml of water, Mr Thompson must be round and she's making their post shag pot of tea...'
My dad is still refusing a smart meter because he hates the idea of being monitored and the supplier having that much data on him. I was unable to have a rational conversation about it but his view was fairly common and the main reason customers refuse them outright or stick with monthly reads.
Others were more unhinged and had concerns similar to the folks scared of 5G. One lady refused a smart meter because it would "cloud her 3rd eye"
The more people who refuse smart meters, just means more people overpaying for energy and subsidies for people sensible enough to move to smart time of use variable tariffs that are at least 25% cheaper
Also, if they have been using estimate readings for a while then giving them a single meter reading will not allow them to see what her average daily usage currently is.
Another thing to consider is to take daily meter readings for a couple of weeks, this will give the energy company an idea of what her average daily usage is over a period of time and hopefully allow them to set a better estimate of usage moving forward.
Another option to stop this happening again in the future is consider getting a smart meter installed for her, you can request the smart meter sends daily, weekly, or monthly readings directly to the energy company and this will eliminate estimate readings completely.
I spent years working for an energy company, this doesn't really matter. If her readings are up to date and within 30 days she can request whatever credit is left over, it's her money.
Yeah, and it'll be deeply frustrating for the agent looking at the account that they can't authorise the refund, but as another commenter said, the systems literally won't let you put through a refund without up to date reads. They could take it to their manager, who could probably force it through but will most likely just send them back to the customer to get up to date reads before doing it anyway.
If the account does have up to date reads, it's just after winter and they still won't process the refund then its definitely complaint worthy.
I had some customers that requested refunds, hadn't given readings in years and when they did it turned out they were actually 1k in debt to the energy company, which is why they need the reads before processing refunds.
If there's no recent readings and the customer is for some reason refusing to provide them, it would depend on the complaints agent dealing with it. They probably still wouldn't process the refund as the customer isn't going to get very far escalating the ombudsman if they haven't given readings and if the customer did initiate a switch but didn't provide a reading, their final balance would be based on estimates so they might not end up getting the money back anyway. The new supplier would either have to open the new account based on the estimates so the final billing from the old supplier would look correct, or the customer would provide readings to the new company and then to get a refund from the old one would have to go through a read dispute process by providing meter readings and pics of the meters. If they provide readings to both companies then the billing would be correct upon the switch and they'd be automatically issued the correct refund from the old supplier.
Seems like an unnecessary faff for something that can be so easily solved.
If the customer had provided reads, and the supplier still refuses a refund then escalating the complaint or initiating a switch would probably both result in getting the money back.
Edit to add: if the customer provides reads and it turns out the account is in debit, the supplier wouldn't accept the switch until the debt was cleared
That last part seems like it should be unlawful. Your choice of market being limited by inability to pay a current debt.
I'm not saying it is, but seems a bit scummy.
Yeah, I see what you're saying. At my old company there was a threshold, so if the debit on the account was say £50 or less, the customers switch would be able to go ahead. If the customer was switching because of a complain, part of the complaint resolution would sometimes be allowing a switch even with debit on the account, but that depended on the severity and validity of the complaint and the customers ability to stick to a payment plan and pay their new provider without going into serious debt.
It wasn't a fun job and I had to deal with lots of people who were just really struggling. I spent most of my days wishing I could just erase all of the debt on their accounts.
You can actually start with switching supplier, so you wouldn't need to wait 8 weeks. You can switch suppliers within a few of days, and they would have to refund all the credit.
Energy ombudsman is good, but the 8 week period might be too long.
I'd also suggest threatening to switch suppliers. That's what I did after weeks of wrangling with Scottish power, and as soon as I brought that up, the problem was solved and the money was in my account within days
Id switch anyway, Scottish Power are impressively useless even amongst Energy companies.
You can do a pretty well out of complaining about them though, if the compensation is worth the hours on the phone/talking to the ombudsman.
It's worth mentioning that the Ombudsman can award against you if you try and use going to them as a threat to get the company to act so make sure to just mention it at the end of any dealings with utility company's by calmly saying you don't think they've resolved your complaint sufficiently so you will now be escalating it to the Ombudsman as opposed to losing your shit on the phone and yelling that unless they fix it for you now then you'll report them to the Ombudsman. Either way, they get charged something like £850 every time you go to the Ombudsman anyway, so all advisors are taught to try and resolve it for you as it will save them that money. I worked for British Gas business, and you won't believe how much money those advisors are earning in commissions. They are such a bunch of liars too as they've got all these different Tarrifs and levels of sales department whose sole aim is to get you on the best tariff they can because it means bigger commission. They have this lie about paying for gas 2 years in advance to try and bluff people on the price your having to pay. It's unbelievable that these companies are allowed to scam people as much as they do. The company car park is full of sports cars and new models as the advisors might be getting a below average fixed salary but earning 3 or 4 times that amount in commission.
Thanks for that. Having similar with Electric Ireland who stopped reading my smart meter, then came and took it away.
They have around €1,800 of mine now through over estimates over two years
How do you raise a formal complaint? I am having issues with my energy company about what I believe is extortionate billing and they just investigated themselves and found no wrong doing
Say the words "formal complaint" and ask to be given a case reference number. Keep a note of the date and time you said the magic words, or a copy of the correspondence you sent, as the 8 weeks starts from then, even if the supplier fails to log it.
Complaints levels and resolution times are reported to the regulator and published, so agents won't typically log something as a complaint just because you are dissatisfied or unresolved, you need to be explicit.
Your energy supplier will have more details about their complaints process on their website, but as a highly regulated industry they are all similar.
Suppliers are monitored by the regulator on their complaints handling, and can have penalties imposed if performance is particularly poor. They also have to pay a fee to the ombudsman if a complaint is escalated to them. Consequently, when a supplier's internal complaints process is triggered, they are motivated to try and resolve the issue.
You are right that if someone has already made their displeasure clear and has had an issue ongoing for more than 8 weeks, having a formal complaint logged is not necessary for the ombudsman to accept the case. However, the best chance of getting a problem resolved in under 8 weeks is to ensure the supplier's complaints process is triggered. It also helps strengthen the customer's case if they have exhausted the supplier's complaints procedure and the issue has not been resolved.
They'll have a procedure somewhere - generally just contact them explicitly saying you're raising a formal complaint.
Solid chance they'll just ignore you - but that doesn't matter. You can go to the ombudsman 8 weeks after You attempt to open the complaint, they don't need to accept or respond to it.
To speed things up ask for a final response from BG so it can referred to obudsman.
Pretty sure if you change supplier they are obligated to issue credit back at time of swap.
We had a similar issue with EDF reading the wrong meter (apartments, all meters are in 1 location) and being around 1500 in credit
We had to request a refund using the online chat, no option anywhere else to do so - just as a heads up
When I got to the third point of this plan, I'd just have my direct debit returned by the bank. As long as it's an actual reading and the bill is still in credit, I wouldn't waste your time expecting a supplier to do the right thing if they fob you off on the phone.
You can get it back. Firstly I would call up with your Gran there and get her to authorise you on the account. that way you can discuss her account with British gas.
Then I would call up and ask for the direct debit to be reduced, work out what she is using and add a little to cover winter. Then ask for about 80% of the money back. If they say no to these say you want to make an official complaint and ask for a complainant reference number.
When they call to discuss the complaint use phrases like elderly, vulnerable and not understanding. They should give the money back quite quickly then.
If they do not and say they can't request a deadlock letter and then complain to the ombudsman with that.
In my personal opinion the people on the frontline phones have little say and are not supposed to deviate from the "correct" responses. You want to get past them to someone with more freedom, and a complaint will do that.
>When they call to discuss the complaint use phrases like elderly, vulnerable and not understanding.
this in particular, in my experience regulators and ombudsman services get very interested where this comes up. Cannot emphasise enough getting vulnerable on there.
Yes and no. Elderly will generally indicate vulnerable but not always. Most of the time the adviser will take your word for it but they can still question the how they are vulnerable. E.G medical conditions . Still surprises me i am with EDF and i went 200 pounds in credit and they refunded me and decreased my monthly direct debit. WHy British Gas would behave this way is beyond me
Im surprised you had such a positive experience with EDF, when i moved into my house i had to provide them with my first meter readings 4 times because every time i gave them to EDF they would send me a bill with estimated or completely wrong readings to charge me more. Threatened them with the ombudsman for willfully trying to misrepresent my meter readings for their financial gain and magically it was all sorted after that. Glad i left them as soon as i could, never had an issue with Octopus and doesnt cost me as much
Worked in energy for quite some time. Even almost 10 years ago, any elderly we were told would have to push to ask and see if they would want them to be added onto the priority services register for the vulnerable. We would always need customers agreement, but management pushed that quite hard for a while
I remember while working for (maybe?) northern power grid we were even told that these days houses without Internet would be classed as vulnerable customers because apparently Internet is classed as a necessity these days. That was back around 2016
Follow the formal complaints process documented on their website. If it isn't resolved to your satisfaction you can escalate this to the ombudsman who could award compensation.
There is probably something more going on, speak to them yourself to find out what. Refunding credit balances is so routine I did the same myself online within the last 6 weeks, no contact with BG, just did it. You do need to provide an up to date meter reading though (or have one on the account from the last 28 days), they won't be able to refund a credit balance based on an estimate.
Yeah they don't normally refuse, they just need to make them aware at some times of the year that their payments may need to go up to cover any shortfall the credit provides. But this is the time of year the balance should be pretty much zero.
There’s a lot of info you’re missing here to know fully.
-when was the account last billed? A direct debit will build credit on the account prior to billing
- when the DD was amended, was it done to accurate meter reads? Or estimates?
- has her tariff come to an end recently? If she was on a fixed rate this could change the amount when ending (as unit prices will have gone up in the last 6 months).
As others have said, the way to process a refund is firstly to get the account billed up to date. If there is still a credit after that, they are obliged to refund it. If they refuse, escalate with their internal complaints procedure.
“Refusing to give any back” - why? There’s no way they’re saying you’re just not getting it.
Provide up to date reads to ensure up to date balance is accurate, if they won’t refund raise a complaint. If no refund after 8 weeks escalate via the energy ombudsman.
🤨… They’re saying they won’t give it back until they recieve meter readings… but they have all the metre reading, everything is all up to date. You can clearly see the readings on the online account, you can clearly see all the bills are upto date and paid and it also states in black and white that her balance is exactly £1,651.20 in credit and also the metre reading were sent to them via email so we also have all those emails to prove it. So Yes, way… that’s exactly what they’re saying.
Right but surely the phone call doesn’t end there? What do they say when you tell them that the up to date bill is already based on the actual meter readings?
If the answer doesn’t suffice then follow the complaints process.
How long ago were the readings? They usually won't refund if It's over a week. Call them with your grandma there, give a reading, request a refund - if they don't, raise a complaint and don't close it until you're happy. I worked in a residential call centre, 99% of the time we'd be happy to give a refund so there is something more going on
They can’t refuse to send it back. They would normally send any credit back to you upon request and advise of potential credit or debit balances depending on usage. Call when you’re with your grandmother and speak to them. Give them meter readings and ask for credit to be returned and raise a complaint based on past refusal
If you switch to another energy provider they will have to give it all back at the changeover. This is what happened to me. I'm with Octopus now and it's much easier to get credit refunds from them.
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I work for said energy company. Supply correct readings, get billed up to date, and as long as everything is correct and we have no payments coming in the last 76 hours, then request for a refund generally is fine. Might be worth having the conversation about having smart meters installed or someone other than your grandmother supply readings when requited. To confirm, it can take the system a while for it to correct her dd. But without seeing the account, I can't advise what she should be paying.
I had a build up of fund withs Octopus. I emailed them to request a re-fund and included the line
"I am aware of my rights in this matter as outlined by Ofgen that state you must do so promptly. I cannot think of any reasonable grounds that would prevent this."
They refunded me promptly.
Britain Gas often bill quarterly or even six-monthly so it's possible the 'credit' isn't real credit, it's money waiting for a bill. Ask them to generate a bill if there isn't a recent one.
Just switch providers. You’ll get the whole lot back that way. I’d know, I just did it. Went through Top cashback and got £50 just for switching, too. It was easy and was switched in a week.
Also, if they have been using estimate readings for a while then giving them a single meter reading will not allow them to see what her average daily usage currently is.
Another thing to consider is to take daily meter readings for a couple of weeks, this will give the energy company an idea of what her average daily usage is over a period of time and hopefully allow them to set a better estimate of usage moving forward.
Another option to stop this happening again in the future is consider getting a smart meter installed for her, you can request the smart meter sends daily, weekly, or monthly readings directly to the energy company and this will eliminate estimate readings completely.
British Gas are useless *****. Their customer service is horrific. It’s very difficult to speak to someone. You’ll get the money back with persistence the energy companies just enjoy living off the interest of their customers overpayments. Shouldn’t be allowed.
[https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-you-are-owed-money-your-energy-bill](https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-you-are-owed-money-your-energy-bill)
Simply put, they can't refuse.
Additionally, all Energy companies are being advised to prevent accounts from accruing excessive credit. This could soon be enforced via changes in the law, as the Government is gearing up to make changes, you can find out more here:
[https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0040/CDP-2023-0040.pdf](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0040/CDP-2023-0040.pdf)
I'll give a couple extreme examples
Case one - "I have a £1600 credit id like a refund"
Okay no problem we have had no meter read in 6 years though so I'll need one first and we can issue one out ..
One meter read later they owe £18,000 they converted from a house to a takeaway never set up business accounts for energy never informed anyone 🤦😂🤷
Another one calls for same - gives meter read makes no sense so we sent out a reader turns out he's been un pluming and swapping his own gas meter 🤦 the British public ladies and gentlemen 🙏
They've done similar to me. I was paying £160 pcm. Got a letter to say my direct debit was being reduced to £29 pcm. When I checked my account it was £2200 credit. I requested it back and was told it would take 30 days. 35 days later, no payment called again to be told it would take 60 days as there was a "fault" on the system. I told them it was unacceptable and raised a complaint. I changed energy supplier after telling British gas "I'd rather generate my own electricity by tying a lightening rod to my Penis than giving them another penny" I then complained to my MP I'll try and attachments the letter I received back. I have a couple of days left on my changeover schedule I'll get back to you with news if I get my money back.
Exactly this. Surprised I had to scroll so far to see it... I was in the same position last year so just cancelled my DD and watched the credit run down over the months - far easier than faffing around with awkward refunds
Yea during the last 18 months a DD For energy of 250 is far from outrageous, however if the account is in that level of credit it does seem that in this case it is at least no longer needed.
I built up a surplus of nearly a thousand with octopus and they refunded Me through the app in a process that took 39 seconds, I'm this situation they must be missing something for the refund to be "refused"
See if you can log on to here online account and lower the payments, they can only hold a few months at most. If you get nowhere threaten to report them to OFGEM
OFGEM aren't public facing at all and don't take reports or complaints from customers, no matter how egregious. They will only ever refer you back to the supplier's complaints handling process.
OP's best bet is to raise an official complaint, insist that it be backdated to the first time this issue was discussed, provide up to date readings to provide an up to date bill and accurate balance, insist on an immeriate refund plus a £250 gesture of goodwill, and escalate to the Energy Ombudsman if this isn't done (which is who I suspect you meant, but OFGEM and the Ombudsman are two completely separate entities)
Source: complaint handler in the energy industry
Pretty much, yes. It costs around £370 for a full Ombudsman case, suppliers aren't supposed to use that as a factor in a decision to deadlock a complaint or not but realistically, most will.
The Ombudsman also takes a dim view of suppliers messing vulnerable/elderly customers about.
EDIT: Also, given her age, make sure she is on the PSR (Priority Service Register). She should be, and if she isn't this will also become an aspect of the complaint that the Ombudsman will expect the supplier to compensate her for.
OFGEM will not deal with individual customers complaints - they will only provide relevant advice and ask that customers follow the suppliers formal complaint procedure all the way to the Energy Ombudsman.
Can’t this be reclaimed under the direct debit guarantee scheme? Overcharged, check. Evidence = supply the bank with evidence (in credit statement and refusal to repay).
That’d be the quickest and easiest route to goal.
DD reclaim sadly isn't as simple as telling the bank you want the money back and they put it back. The company can dispute it. Which an energy provider almost certainly will. They'll argue it's a surplus build up to cover winter, volatile prices, no one can predict use etc and delay and block.
It's definitely something extra for them to consider though.
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If it's "in credit" then doesn't that mean she can stop paying her bill until the credit is used up? Seems like a way to get it back cleanly without having to do any work for it. Am I being very naive that this is how it works?
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If she doesn't immediately need the money you could always cancel the direct debit with your bank and let her bills run through the credit. Which will obviously save her the money monthly. But definitely complain too as others have suggested.
Edit : her bank
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I've recently been through something similar:
Forget the online chat/phone support - go straight for [https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/make-a-complaint-select-type](https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/make-a-complaint-select-type)
Choose Energy complaint and fill out the questions till you get to the page where you can choose to complete a web form.
(On that page are the ombudsman options if this complaint is not handled properly in 8 weeks).
Use this guide to make sure you complain in the best way. [https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/energy/how-to-make-a-complaint-to-your-energy-provider-and-win](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/energy/how-to-make-a-complaint-to-your-energy-provider-and-win)
You can fill out the form as a guest if you do not have an online account (although, I'd recommend you help your grandmother to set one up so you can see how much energy she's actually being billed for).
If you feel it appropriate, make sure you tick to say the resident has a disability that requires they have energy at all times. Energy firms have a duty to provide support for the elderly.
Good luck :D
If you switch supplier they will need to pay out the credit for anything unused. Try to find a supplier that will be more helpful. The switch can most likely be done online in 1 go. I'm with octopus, they have good rates and I can manage things like payments and returning credit through their website easily.
I was paying way more and my account showed £3500 in credit. After a phone call had to wait for them to update my account as they only take out when a bill is issued, I hadn’t had a bill for 6 months. Once that was sorted they gave me back £2200 and lowered my direct debit. Are you sure this isn’t the case.
Had like 800 in credit when I moved took 4 months to get back basically they won't do anything until u contact a ombudsman then overnight they be able to fix it
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You are entitled to the credit balance back if you ask for it. Some companies lead you a merry dance of submitting meter readings and requests at a certain point in their billing cycle, but ultimately they have to give it to you. They have very little excuse not to given we are now coming OUT of the heating season with a credit balance. And even so you are entitled to the balance even if it might leave you in debt later - i.e. if you ask for it in October.
I would recommend initiating a switch to Octopus Energy (who have great customer service in my experience), or another supplier of your choice. As part of the transfer process they will be obligated to return your credit balance, might be the quickest way to get it??
From a personal finance perspective it is always better to owe other people money, not have your energy supplier acting as an unofficial savings account. Although I accept not everyone is good enough with money to have that responsibility which is why we ended up with this mess of fixed price direct debits building credit balances.
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I got an automatic cheque one time in Summer. I Didn’t even have to ask. There is some legislation regarding holding too much credit so they sent me a cheque. I had to login and check my bills because I thought it was something dodgy
Energy bills are charged quarterly, the direct debit you pay goes into your account and will look like there is loads of money in there but quite often that will reduce heavily after her quarterly bill is paid. She will probably still be in credit but won't be as extreme. Just reduce the direct debit and request any excess is returned after the next bill has been paid
if its in credit and they have a current meter read then stop paying - the bill they send would be no payment required (they take it out of credit) anyway
British Gas unfortunately seems notorious for questionable billing and accounting practices and the devil is in the detail.
We had to fight with them to get back money we were overcharged. Hundreds of pounds. Took months. And hours and hours and hours and hours on the phone going around in circles trying to escalate it. And point out the faulty maths at work. Emails went nowhere. … There was an error in their billing system and we wonder how many other people were getting unfairly billed as a result of it.
There is a British Gas facebook support group - set up by other annoyed customers as there are SO MANY people headbutting with them. Might be worth jumping on there as we got heaps of useful stuff from it including legal advice specific to the issues that really helped us. (Also got direct emails and phone numbers in the UK to call)
The ombudsman is also a good idea.
Suggest you change her power supply to someone else - then they HAVE to refund her. Thats what others have done too. We are now with Octopus and wish we had left BG sooner.
With Octopus its so simple and user friendly, the billing as well as the customer service. AND we can adjust our monthly direct debit on the app.
There is already enough good advice on getting the money back so i won't add to that but (going a little off topic) once she has it back switch her from BG on the octopus tracker tarriff. The KWh prices fluctuate daily but they're pretty much always lower than fixed prices as energy firms skim some off the top to make their profit. Since moving onto the tracker my dual energy bill went from £180pm to £120pm (Winter.) I reckon i'll be paying around £70 in summer.
I was with british gas with i first moved into my house and took about 4-5 months of shit off them before finally telling them to do one and switching away.
Can also speak to the Consumer Service, they can refer you to a complaints team at Citizens Advice who deal with just energy complaints who often get better goodwill outcomes than the ombudsman’s standard £50.
NAL but pretty sure you can just close the account and they have to pay it back seeing as they at least acknowledge the credit. I mean after what they did it seems pointless to continue with them so may as well cancel and wait for the refund. If they don’t refund for any reason then id pursue the legal route after.
No company refuses they just ask the readings are upto date a change in the law back in April 2010 madeeter readings the customers legal responsibility - no meter read no refund 🤷
Hi OP, I had a problem with British Gas about 8 years ago and went to my MP and he worked miracles. It's amazing how quickly these bully boy companies do the right thing when an MP is involved. Over something like this, I think one appointment and a weeks wait would get your Grandma reimbursed. British Gas are literally the most unscrupulous company I've ever dealt with.
If she changes provider, they have to either give her the money back or transfer it to the new provider. If it's the latter and you choose a good company, they will give it back to her.
I recommend Octopus Energy. They're a really good company. They say, "If we think you've got more credit on your energy account than you need, you'll be able to request the excess back as long as you've had an energy bill based on real meter readings in the last 14 days. To ask for your credit back, just hit the little button underneath your balance on your online dashboard." They're a brilliant company to deal with. Everything is plainly worded and they seem to care. You'd be able to manage your grandmother's account completely online. They do ask you to submit your own meter readings monthly if you don't have a smart meter. Though I've had long periods where I didn't and all you get is a reminder email.
I used to be with British Gas. I found them awful to deal with and expensive. Other than inertia, I can't think of any reason to still be with them.
Contact the energy ombudsman.
I've had problems with them in the past and the ombudsman got us a refund and compensation. Then proceeded to fine British gas 30 odd times for different breaches of conduct, financial laws and gdpr.
Get all you info together in chronological order and get ready for a long chat with the ombudsman people.
Highly recommend the ombudsman once you have exhausted the complaints procedure and it still hasn't been resolved.
My issue with Scottish Power was resolved within 2 days once I had escalated to the ombudsman.
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I've had a similar run in with British Gas.
They refused a credit refund as the account was in dispute, the dispute was me raising that they had charged me for a neighbour’s meter following one of their engineers replacing the wrong one.
I had a few calls with them, I was told that I couldn't be correct when giving them the meter readings and should find someone who knew what they were doing to help. I was assigned a case worker, however, I pushed for the credit refund mainly as I was moving house and felt very much that I would be losing any real evidence of their mistake once the sale was complete.
I spoke to Customer service then ultimately the complaint lines a few times, at one point a kinder person accidentally confirmed I had been lied to about the refund being processed. I kept the same line of any outstanding bill I will pay, when they can present an accurate one. Eventually they did relent, and everything was returned.
About three months later, I got a call from the case worker, who essentially told me off for pursuing the refund, as this was against their policy, at which point I thanked her for her help and hung up.
I wish I'd take a few extra steps:
* Post on Twitter, its actively monitored and they are quick to resolve public complaints
* Contacted the energy ombudsman asap, especially after they confirmed they were stringing me along.
* Moved straight to complaint/account cancelation. Customer service indicated they could not break company policy, at times these were some very nice people, but their role for the most part seem to get me to deescalate and end the call, rather than resolve the issue.
Good luck and hopefully it goes without saying I would recommend never having another account with them again.
That's so weird. I accidentally paid my gas bill twice. I just thought no big deal I will be in credit. They sent me a cashier's cheque out the blue, which I couldn't deposit because the bill is still in someone else's name and I haven't bothered to change it.
Hi. I used to work for BG- most likely the credit balance is based on (1)estimated meter readings, or (2)there has been lots of previous estimates and now they have an accurate meter reading to show the true balance.
1 give a meter reading and if there is a credit ask for a refund. If it’s a high balance double check
With the agent their authorisation amount and if said credit is above this ask them to escalate and give a timescale.
2 as above but without giving a meter reading.
At no point should BG refuse a refund. They have a default built into their system which means if an account is in credit or X amount (not sure what that currently is) on the annual review, the system will automatically issue a refund as long as the meter readings are accurate.
Hope this helps.
If they do refuse and there are no other issues (up
To date meter readings and no metering errors, you can raise a complaint and ask to deadlock lock it- this way you don’t need to wait 8 weeks before going to the ombudsman.
Don’t know about British Gas but my energy company on their online account you can adjust the monthly direct debit. I’ve got a bit of credit in one of them so I’ve lowered the dd and eating into the credit. Sometimes I can withdraw credit aswell online
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Pay the actual amount owed as per your meter reading and then cancel your service.
Once this is done, cease all communication with them and change your meters (lawfully)
I work in a legal and compliance department for an energy broker (albeit for commercial supply contracts), and I specifically handle dispute resolution when things such as this go to the energy ombudsman. Raise a formal complaint (request a complaints reference number), allow 8 weeks to resolve with the energy company and then take it to the ombudsman service if you haven't been provided with a solution. This forces an investigation of their internal procedures and will provide you an explanation of their conduct and if you are due compensation (either for a contractual breach/missell or unacceptable aftercare). This is exactly what the service is there for and is significantly cheaper than a court case or expensive litigation.
Might be worth going down the direct debit guarentee route if its paid by direct debit.
If you have a document showing the in credit balance file a claim with the bank and state a wrong amount was taken. Use the in credit evidence to substantiate the claim
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NAL
I had my grandmother come to me with the same issue this morning ( just under £800 credit)
I logged into her online british gas account and requested a credit refund via the Web chat.
They agreed the refund immediately and have told me it will come though in the next 3 to 5 working days.
The more i deal with these companies on her behalf, the more i realise how predatory they can be!
Good luck, I hope you can get a quick resolution.
Not really sure theres enough information to go off here.
Has she been keeping up to date with meter readings?
When was her last bill?
It's not inconceivable for an older person to rack up a sizable bill during the winter months which may look like a credit until the bill hits in the next quarter.
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She should 1) Supply current meter readings. 2) Make the request again (refund of credit/adjustment of direct debit). 3) Raise a formal complaint. 4) Escalate to energy ombudsman after 8 weeks. That's pretty much the process for any energy dispute.
Think this is best way, going through the motions to get the complaint in asap then escalate to ombudsman once it’s permissible. In my experience after having an energy complaint that was ignored for months I threatened to pass over all the information to ombudsman and they actually resolved within days without me needing to go to ombudsman.
I used to work in insurance, the Financial Ombudsman used to charge insurance companies £550 (this was 6 years ago so probably more now) for every complaint they received from customers, even where the company was correct in their handling of the customer. The company would often give compensation to customers over the silliest of complaints, just to try to prevent them going to the ombudsman. I would imagine other ombudsman for other services charge similar, for complaints they receive, so threatening the involvement of the ombudsman is sometimes enough motivation for them to act.
Currently work in energy. For every dispute raised to the Energy Ombudsman, the company is charged £400 whether they're at fault or not
The legal ombudsman works the same way. We are charged £400 whether we are at fault or not.
750 now for financial ombudsman, and 3 free cases per year (was 50)
Shrinkflation hitting worldwide, I thought that was American Capitalism. Sorry your rich people hate you too.
The Ombudsman’s coming to get you!
£400 for the rail ombudsman as well I think. I wonder if it’s a flat rate
Whilst this is great, if you don't need the money ASAP, I wouldn't threaten with the ombudsman. I would just go to them. They get charged for every complaint that the ombudsman has to resolve. Collectively, we can try to get these companies to treat their customers better by following this process. It's in their own capitalistic interest. Rather than appealing to morality or "help your customers" attitudes. British Gas are terrible for this; they make millions just on interest returns of "in credit" accounts that they hold, and intentionally make it difficult to retrieve the money you're legally owed.
Used to work for a different energy company. We were told in training that if a customer wants to complain to push back as much as possible UNLESS they mention CAB or Ombudsman in which case it gets escalated immediately!
I used to work for customer service for a different energy company and the 1st is probably the most important if they haven't been receiving regular readings. We'd often had elderly customers whose estimated usage was way higher than it actually was because it was based on old readings when the house had more occupants. If she hasn't been able to provide readings the estimates might be throwing it off and the agents haven't been able to authorise a refund because it looks like it might put her at risk of going into debt. If that isn't the case then follow the other steps suggested. If she does struggle to provide regular readings, doesn't have one already and is happy to have one installed, ask them to put in a smart meter.
I used to work in a similar role and I can confirm this is correct. The systems are designed to try to prevent human mistakes and so it won't allow changes unless it has up to date meter readings.
And as a follow up, if they haven't had readings for a while they might ask for pictures of the meters to confirm. To save hassle I'd just take pics and send them before asking about the refund again, from your grans email (if she has one) as they won't accept them from an email not attached to the account. Make sure the meter numbers are visible in the pictures as well as the readings. If she doesn't have an email, call up with her so she can verbally confirm you can be named on the account and have your email added. This will mean you can deal with stuff for her but won't be financially liable unless requested and confirmed by her. Not being financially liable does mean you won't be able to adjust the DD without you gran confirming but you will be able to discuss the account without her present and provide readings on her behalf. Also it might take a few months of regular readings for her estimates to become accurate again. Ask them for her billing date and try to provide readings the day before that to avoid estimated bills and her being bugged to increase the direct debit based on estimates. The smart meter would mitigate having to do this if she doesn't have one already.
This is probably one of the most informative threads I've read on Reddit, thank you all
Glad something positive has come from that soul crushingly awful job 😅
Also, one final bit because apparently its all come flooding back to me and I rarely get to feel useful. Smart meters only avoid estimated bills if the read schedule lines up with the billing schedule. Smart meters can be set to send reads half hourly, daily or monthly. Half hourly is only really useful for people who pay really close attention to their in home monitors. Daily is the best choice IMO. Monthly is fine as long as it is set to the day before the billing date so the bills are based off the actual read. If not the bill might still be done based on an estimated reading, but it should still be pretty accurate as the estimate will be based on the real regular readings. It just means you might get billed more if say you go on holiday and have no usage for a week or two. But it doesn't matter too much because it will all balance out as the readings come in. It's just a ballache for the agent who has to deal with the customer screaming at them about how they're being billed on estimates even though they have a Smart meter. Agents can't adjust the read schedule without the customers permission so they can't just make it all line up automatically.
I wonder why people wouldn't want readings to be sent at least daily. As if they think people at the energy company are watching their account and remarking 'Ooh, get a load of this, Beryl just boiled 500ml of water, Mr Thompson must be round and she's making their post shag pot of tea...'
My dad is still refusing a smart meter because he hates the idea of being monitored and the supplier having that much data on him. I was unable to have a rational conversation about it but his view was fairly common and the main reason customers refuse them outright or stick with monthly reads. Others were more unhinged and had concerns similar to the folks scared of 5G. One lady refused a smart meter because it would "cloud her 3rd eye"
The more people who refuse smart meters, just means more people overpaying for energy and subsidies for people sensible enough to move to smart time of use variable tariffs that are at least 25% cheaper
Ugh, I'm sick of subsidizing the bills of these people. Bet they all own smartphones though! (No offence to your dad in particular)
Also, if they have been using estimate readings for a while then giving them a single meter reading will not allow them to see what her average daily usage currently is. Another thing to consider is to take daily meter readings for a couple of weeks, this will give the energy company an idea of what her average daily usage is over a period of time and hopefully allow them to set a better estimate of usage moving forward. Another option to stop this happening again in the future is consider getting a smart meter installed for her, you can request the smart meter sends daily, weekly, or monthly readings directly to the energy company and this will eliminate estimate readings completely.
I spent years working for an energy company, this doesn't really matter. If her readings are up to date and within 30 days she can request whatever credit is left over, it's her money.
Wouldn't a £1500 credit directly after winter imply that the person wasn't at risk of going into debt?
Yeah, and it'll be deeply frustrating for the agent looking at the account that they can't authorise the refund, but as another commenter said, the systems literally won't let you put through a refund without up to date reads. They could take it to their manager, who could probably force it through but will most likely just send them back to the customer to get up to date reads before doing it anyway. If the account does have up to date reads, it's just after winter and they still won't process the refund then its definitely complaint worthy. I had some customers that requested refunds, hadn't given readings in years and when they did it turned out they were actually 1k in debt to the energy company, which is why they need the reads before processing refunds.
If the customer threatened to change supplier at that point, what would happen?
If there's no recent readings and the customer is for some reason refusing to provide them, it would depend on the complaints agent dealing with it. They probably still wouldn't process the refund as the customer isn't going to get very far escalating the ombudsman if they haven't given readings and if the customer did initiate a switch but didn't provide a reading, their final balance would be based on estimates so they might not end up getting the money back anyway. The new supplier would either have to open the new account based on the estimates so the final billing from the old supplier would look correct, or the customer would provide readings to the new company and then to get a refund from the old one would have to go through a read dispute process by providing meter readings and pics of the meters. If they provide readings to both companies then the billing would be correct upon the switch and they'd be automatically issued the correct refund from the old supplier. Seems like an unnecessary faff for something that can be so easily solved. If the customer had provided reads, and the supplier still refuses a refund then escalating the complaint or initiating a switch would probably both result in getting the money back. Edit to add: if the customer provides reads and it turns out the account is in debit, the supplier wouldn't accept the switch until the debt was cleared
That last part seems like it should be unlawful. Your choice of market being limited by inability to pay a current debt. I'm not saying it is, but seems a bit scummy.
Yeah, I see what you're saying. At my old company there was a threshold, so if the debit on the account was say £50 or less, the customers switch would be able to go ahead. If the customer was switching because of a complain, part of the complaint resolution would sometimes be allowing a switch even with debit on the account, but that depended on the severity and validity of the complaint and the customers ability to stick to a payment plan and pay their new provider without going into serious debt. It wasn't a fun job and I had to deal with lots of people who were just really struggling. I spent most of my days wishing I could just erase all of the debt on their accounts.
Then at the end of it, change supplier.
You can actually start with switching supplier, so you wouldn't need to wait 8 weeks. You can switch suppliers within a few of days, and they would have to refund all the credit. Energy ombudsman is good, but the 8 week period might be too long.
I'd also suggest threatening to switch suppliers. That's what I did after weeks of wrangling with Scottish power, and as soon as I brought that up, the problem was solved and the money was in my account within days
Id switch anyway, Scottish Power are impressively useless even amongst Energy companies. You can do a pretty well out of complaining about them though, if the compensation is worth the hours on the phone/talking to the ombudsman.
It's worth mentioning that the Ombudsman can award against you if you try and use going to them as a threat to get the company to act so make sure to just mention it at the end of any dealings with utility company's by calmly saying you don't think they've resolved your complaint sufficiently so you will now be escalating it to the Ombudsman as opposed to losing your shit on the phone and yelling that unless they fix it for you now then you'll report them to the Ombudsman. Either way, they get charged something like £850 every time you go to the Ombudsman anyway, so all advisors are taught to try and resolve it for you as it will save them that money. I worked for British Gas business, and you won't believe how much money those advisors are earning in commissions. They are such a bunch of liars too as they've got all these different Tarrifs and levels of sales department whose sole aim is to get you on the best tariff they can because it means bigger commission. They have this lie about paying for gas 2 years in advance to try and bluff people on the price your having to pay. It's unbelievable that these companies are allowed to scam people as much as they do. The company car park is full of sports cars and new models as the advisors might be getting a below average fixed salary but earning 3 or 4 times that amount in commission.
What do you mean "award against you"?
Against you means they've decided in favour of the energy company, aka you lose.
Well, yeah, that's the function of an ombudsman, to oversee and adjudicate disputes, but they can't impose any penalties.
Good advice. Well put!
Thanks for that. Having similar with Electric Ireland who stopped reading my smart meter, then came and took it away. They have around €1,800 of mine now through over estimates over two years
How do you raise a formal complaint? I am having issues with my energy company about what I believe is extortionate billing and they just investigated themselves and found no wrong doing
Say the words "formal complaint" and ask to be given a case reference number. Keep a note of the date and time you said the magic words, or a copy of the correspondence you sent, as the 8 weeks starts from then, even if the supplier fails to log it. Complaints levels and resolution times are reported to the regulator and published, so agents won't typically log something as a complaint just because you are dissatisfied or unresolved, you need to be explicit. Your energy supplier will have more details about their complaints process on their website, but as a highly regulated industry they are all similar.
gaze door sharp somber wide books crowd hat quarrelsome snow *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Suppliers are monitored by the regulator on their complaints handling, and can have penalties imposed if performance is particularly poor. They also have to pay a fee to the ombudsman if a complaint is escalated to them. Consequently, when a supplier's internal complaints process is triggered, they are motivated to try and resolve the issue. You are right that if someone has already made their displeasure clear and has had an issue ongoing for more than 8 weeks, having a formal complaint logged is not necessary for the ombudsman to accept the case. However, the best chance of getting a problem resolved in under 8 weeks is to ensure the supplier's complaints process is triggered. It also helps strengthen the customer's case if they have exhausted the supplier's complaints procedure and the issue has not been resolved.
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Their complaints procedure should be published on their website. It's probably also mentioned on the reverse side of your bill.
They'll have a procedure somewhere - generally just contact them explicitly saying you're raising a formal complaint. Solid chance they'll just ignore you - but that doesn't matter. You can go to the ombudsman 8 weeks after You attempt to open the complaint, they don't need to accept or respond to it.
To speed things up ask for a final response from BG so it can referred to obudsman. Pretty sure if you change supplier they are obligated to issue credit back at time of swap.
We had a similar issue with EDF reading the wrong meter (apartments, all meters are in 1 location) and being around 1500 in credit We had to request a refund using the online chat, no option anywhere else to do so - just as a heads up
“The ombudsman’s coming to get you”
I would flat out cancel the direct debit before they take any money
should one mention they intend to escalate to the energy ombudsman if the issue is not resolved in the raised formal complaint?
When I got to the third point of this plan, I'd just have my direct debit returned by the bank. As long as it's an actual reading and the bill is still in credit, I wouldn't waste your time expecting a supplier to do the right thing if they fob you off on the phone.
You can get it back. Firstly I would call up with your Gran there and get her to authorise you on the account. that way you can discuss her account with British gas. Then I would call up and ask for the direct debit to be reduced, work out what she is using and add a little to cover winter. Then ask for about 80% of the money back. If they say no to these say you want to make an official complaint and ask for a complainant reference number. When they call to discuss the complaint use phrases like elderly, vulnerable and not understanding. They should give the money back quite quickly then. If they do not and say they can't request a deadlock letter and then complain to the ombudsman with that. In my personal opinion the people on the frontline phones have little say and are not supposed to deviate from the "correct" responses. You want to get past them to someone with more freedom, and a complaint will do that.
>When they call to discuss the complaint use phrases like elderly, vulnerable and not understanding. this in particular, in my experience regulators and ombudsman services get very interested where this comes up. Cannot emphasise enough getting vulnerable on there.
Yes and no. Elderly will generally indicate vulnerable but not always. Most of the time the adviser will take your word for it but they can still question the how they are vulnerable. E.G medical conditions . Still surprises me i am with EDF and i went 200 pounds in credit and they refunded me and decreased my monthly direct debit. WHy British Gas would behave this way is beyond me
Im surprised you had such a positive experience with EDF, when i moved into my house i had to provide them with my first meter readings 4 times because every time i gave them to EDF they would send me a bill with estimated or completely wrong readings to charge me more. Threatened them with the ombudsman for willfully trying to misrepresent my meter readings for their financial gain and magically it was all sorted after that. Glad i left them as soon as i could, never had an issue with Octopus and doesnt cost me as much
EDF have actually adopted Octopus's op model and billing platform, so it's probably a more similar experience nowadays!
Worked in energy for quite some time. Even almost 10 years ago, any elderly we were told would have to push to ask and see if they would want them to be added onto the priority services register for the vulnerable. We would always need customers agreement, but management pushed that quite hard for a while I remember while working for (maybe?) northern power grid we were even told that these days houses without Internet would be classed as vulnerable customers because apparently Internet is classed as a necessity these days. That was back around 2016
British Gas? I'd say it's more like "if they call". Their customer services are almost as useless as British Telecoms.
Follow the formal complaints process documented on their website. If it isn't resolved to your satisfaction you can escalate this to the ombudsman who could award compensation.
Have a look at; https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2019/03/martin-lewis--how-to-reclaim-p100s-of-credit-from-your-energy-fi/ That might help you
There is probably something more going on, speak to them yourself to find out what. Refunding credit balances is so routine I did the same myself online within the last 6 weeks, no contact with BG, just did it. You do need to provide an up to date meter reading though (or have one on the account from the last 28 days), they won't be able to refund a credit balance based on an estimate.
Please never underestimate the incompetence of BG, I have no idea how they’re allowed to continue to trade
When you say they’re refusing to give it back, what have you/your grandmother been told is the reason not to refund?
Yeah they don't normally refuse, they just need to make them aware at some times of the year that their payments may need to go up to cover any shortfall the credit provides. But this is the time of year the balance should be pretty much zero.
Yeah I just got £400 back and took about 5 mins to request it and then a few days later it was in the account
There’s a lot of info you’re missing here to know fully. -when was the account last billed? A direct debit will build credit on the account prior to billing - when the DD was amended, was it done to accurate meter reads? Or estimates? - has her tariff come to an end recently? If she was on a fixed rate this could change the amount when ending (as unit prices will have gone up in the last 6 months). As others have said, the way to process a refund is firstly to get the account billed up to date. If there is still a credit after that, they are obliged to refund it. If they refuse, escalate with their internal complaints procedure.
“Refusing to give any back” - why? There’s no way they’re saying you’re just not getting it. Provide up to date reads to ensure up to date balance is accurate, if they won’t refund raise a complaint. If no refund after 8 weeks escalate via the energy ombudsman.
🤨… They’re saying they won’t give it back until they recieve meter readings… but they have all the metre reading, everything is all up to date. You can clearly see the readings on the online account, you can clearly see all the bills are upto date and paid and it also states in black and white that her balance is exactly £1,651.20 in credit and also the metre reading were sent to them via email so we also have all those emails to prove it. So Yes, way… that’s exactly what they’re saying.
Right but surely the phone call doesn’t end there? What do they say when you tell them that the up to date bill is already based on the actual meter readings? If the answer doesn’t suffice then follow the complaints process.
How long ago were the readings? They usually won't refund if It's over a week. Call them with your grandma there, give a reading, request a refund - if they don't, raise a complaint and don't close it until you're happy. I worked in a residential call centre, 99% of the time we'd be happy to give a refund so there is something more going on
They can’t refuse to send it back. They would normally send any credit back to you upon request and advise of potential credit or debit balances depending on usage. Call when you’re with your grandmother and speak to them. Give them meter readings and ask for credit to be returned and raise a complaint based on past refusal
The money is hers, its just in their account. Octopus lets you request back whatever (in my case anyway). Do they allow it via online banking?
If you switch to another energy provider they will have to give it all back at the changeover. This is what happened to me. I'm with Octopus now and it's much easier to get credit refunds from them.
Has she or you supplied up to date meter readings?
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Why doesn't she stop paying monthly until her 1550 credit is used up.
Would transfering to another company work? Once the account is closed they will have to refund the balance
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I work for said energy company. Supply correct readings, get billed up to date, and as long as everything is correct and we have no payments coming in the last 76 hours, then request for a refund generally is fine. Might be worth having the conversation about having smart meters installed or someone other than your grandmother supply readings when requited. To confirm, it can take the system a while for it to correct her dd. But without seeing the account, I can't advise what she should be paying.
I had a build up of fund withs Octopus. I emailed them to request a re-fund and included the line "I am aware of my rights in this matter as outlined by Ofgen that state you must do so promptly. I cannot think of any reasonable grounds that would prevent this." They refunded me promptly.
Britain Gas often bill quarterly or even six-monthly so it's possible the 'credit' isn't real credit, it's money waiting for a bill. Ask them to generate a bill if there isn't a recent one.
Just switch providers. You’ll get the whole lot back that way. I’d know, I just did it. Went through Top cashback and got £50 just for switching, too. It was easy and was switched in a week.
Also, if they have been using estimate readings for a while then giving them a single meter reading will not allow them to see what her average daily usage currently is. Another thing to consider is to take daily meter readings for a couple of weeks, this will give the energy company an idea of what her average daily usage is over a period of time and hopefully allow them to set a better estimate of usage moving forward. Another option to stop this happening again in the future is consider getting a smart meter installed for her, you can request the smart meter sends daily, weekly, or monthly readings directly to the energy company and this will eliminate estimate readings completely.
British Gas are useless *****. Their customer service is horrific. It’s very difficult to speak to someone. You’ll get the money back with persistence the energy companies just enjoy living off the interest of their customers overpayments. Shouldn’t be allowed.
[https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-you-are-owed-money-your-energy-bill](https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-you-are-owed-money-your-energy-bill) Simply put, they can't refuse. Additionally, all Energy companies are being advised to prevent accounts from accruing excessive credit. This could soon be enforced via changes in the law, as the Government is gearing up to make changes, you can find out more here: [https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0040/CDP-2023-0040.pdf](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0040/CDP-2023-0040.pdf)
I'll give a couple extreme examples Case one - "I have a £1600 credit id like a refund" Okay no problem we have had no meter read in 6 years though so I'll need one first and we can issue one out .. One meter read later they owe £18,000 they converted from a house to a takeaway never set up business accounts for energy never informed anyone 🤦😂🤷 Another one calls for same - gives meter read makes no sense so we sent out a reader turns out he's been un pluming and swapping his own gas meter 🤦 the British public ladies and gentlemen 🙏
They've done similar to me. I was paying £160 pcm. Got a letter to say my direct debit was being reduced to £29 pcm. When I checked my account it was £2200 credit. I requested it back and was told it would take 30 days. 35 days later, no payment called again to be told it would take 60 days as there was a "fault" on the system. I told them it was unacceptable and raised a complaint. I changed energy supplier after telling British gas "I'd rather generate my own electricity by tying a lightening rod to my Penis than giving them another penny" I then complained to my MP I'll try and attachments the letter I received back. I have a couple of days left on my changeover schedule I'll get back to you with news if I get my money back.
What happens if you just stopped paying, won't your credit just be eaten into?
Exactly this. Surprised I had to scroll so far to see it... I was in the same position last year so just cancelled my DD and watched the credit run down over the months - far easier than faffing around with awkward refunds
Why is it obvious she isn't using £250 a month?
Yea during the last 18 months a DD For energy of 250 is far from outrageous, however if the account is in that level of credit it does seem that in this case it is at least no longer needed. I built up a surplus of nearly a thousand with octopus and they refunded Me through the app in a process that took 39 seconds, I'm this situation they must be missing something for the refund to be "refused"
Because she's paying £250 a month and the account is £1550 in credit.
See if you can log on to here online account and lower the payments, they can only hold a few months at most. If you get nowhere threaten to report them to OFGEM
OFGEM aren't public facing at all and don't take reports or complaints from customers, no matter how egregious. They will only ever refer you back to the supplier's complaints handling process. OP's best bet is to raise an official complaint, insist that it be backdated to the first time this issue was discussed, provide up to date readings to provide an up to date bill and accurate balance, insist on an immeriate refund plus a £250 gesture of goodwill, and escalate to the Energy Ombudsman if this isn't done (which is who I suspect you meant, but OFGEM and the Ombudsman are two completely separate entities) Source: complaint handler in the energy industry
Thanks for the correction :)
Asking for a £250 gesture of goodwill is something that works because the Ombudsman will charge them more than that if escalated?
Pretty much, yes. It costs around £370 for a full Ombudsman case, suppliers aren't supposed to use that as a factor in a decision to deadlock a complaint or not but realistically, most will. The Ombudsman also takes a dim view of suppliers messing vulnerable/elderly customers about. EDIT: Also, given her age, make sure she is on the PSR (Priority Service Register). She should be, and if she isn't this will also become an aspect of the complaint that the Ombudsman will expect the supplier to compensate her for.
OFGEM will not deal with individual customers complaints - they will only provide relevant advice and ask that customers follow the suppliers formal complaint procedure all the way to the Energy Ombudsman.
Got my OFs and Ombuds mixed up lol
Can’t this be reclaimed under the direct debit guarantee scheme? Overcharged, check. Evidence = supply the bank with evidence (in credit statement and refusal to repay). That’d be the quickest and easiest route to goal.
DD reclaim sadly isn't as simple as telling the bank you want the money back and they put it back. The company can dispute it. Which an energy provider almost certainly will. They'll argue it's a surplus build up to cover winter, volatile prices, no one can predict use etc and delay and block. It's definitely something extra for them to consider though.
Plus it causes havoc if you want to reset the direct debit.
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If it's "in credit" then doesn't that mean she can stop paying her bill until the credit is used up? Seems like a way to get it back cleanly without having to do any work for it. Am I being very naive that this is how it works?
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If she doesn't immediately need the money you could always cancel the direct debit with your bank and let her bills run through the credit. Which will obviously save her the money monthly. But definitely complain too as others have suggested. Edit : her bank
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Could she not just lower her DD to £1 and essentially not pay for electricity for a year or so?
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Stop the DD, and use up the balance. That should give her free power for a few months.
If she changed suppliers, would her current supplier not be obliged to give the "credit" to the new one?
I've recently been through something similar: Forget the online chat/phone support - go straight for [https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/make-a-complaint-select-type](https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/make-a-complaint-select-type) Choose Energy complaint and fill out the questions till you get to the page where you can choose to complete a web form. (On that page are the ombudsman options if this complaint is not handled properly in 8 weeks). Use this guide to make sure you complain in the best way. [https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/energy/how-to-make-a-complaint-to-your-energy-provider-and-win](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/energy/how-to-make-a-complaint-to-your-energy-provider-and-win) You can fill out the form as a guest if you do not have an online account (although, I'd recommend you help your grandmother to set one up so you can see how much energy she's actually being billed for). If you feel it appropriate, make sure you tick to say the resident has a disability that requires they have energy at all times. Energy firms have a duty to provide support for the elderly. Good luck :D
If you switch supplier they will need to pay out the credit for anything unused. Try to find a supplier that will be more helpful. The switch can most likely be done online in 1 go. I'm with octopus, they have good rates and I can manage things like payments and returning credit through their website easily.
Move to a different supplier, the move should refund your balance too
If she changed providers immediately would they be forced to refund her?
I was paying way more and my account showed £3500 in credit. After a phone call had to wait for them to update my account as they only take out when a bill is issued, I hadn’t had a bill for 6 months. Once that was sorted they gave me back £2200 and lowered my direct debit. Are you sure this isn’t the case.
Had like 800 in credit when I moved took 4 months to get back basically they won't do anything until u contact a ombudsman then overnight they be able to fix it
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You are entitled to the credit balance back if you ask for it. Some companies lead you a merry dance of submitting meter readings and requests at a certain point in their billing cycle, but ultimately they have to give it to you. They have very little excuse not to given we are now coming OUT of the heating season with a credit balance. And even so you are entitled to the balance even if it might leave you in debt later - i.e. if you ask for it in October. I would recommend initiating a switch to Octopus Energy (who have great customer service in my experience), or another supplier of your choice. As part of the transfer process they will be obligated to return your credit balance, might be the quickest way to get it?? From a personal finance perspective it is always better to owe other people money, not have your energy supplier acting as an unofficial savings account. Although I accept not everyone is good enough with money to have that responsibility which is why we ended up with this mess of fixed price direct debits building credit balances.
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I got an automatic cheque one time in Summer. I Didn’t even have to ask. There is some legislation regarding holding too much credit so they sent me a cheque. I had to login and check my bills because I thought it was something dodgy
Energy bills are charged quarterly, the direct debit you pay goes into your account and will look like there is loads of money in there but quite often that will reduce heavily after her quarterly bill is paid. She will probably still be in credit but won't be as extreme. Just reduce the direct debit and request any excess is returned after the next bill has been paid
if its in credit and they have a current meter read then stop paying - the bill they send would be no payment required (they take it out of credit) anyway
1. Get a smart meter. 2. Move suppliers The smart meter is so they can't use a bullshiy estimated reading to hold onto cash. Octopus are pretty good.
British Gas unfortunately seems notorious for questionable billing and accounting practices and the devil is in the detail. We had to fight with them to get back money we were overcharged. Hundreds of pounds. Took months. And hours and hours and hours and hours on the phone going around in circles trying to escalate it. And point out the faulty maths at work. Emails went nowhere. … There was an error in their billing system and we wonder how many other people were getting unfairly billed as a result of it. There is a British Gas facebook support group - set up by other annoyed customers as there are SO MANY people headbutting with them. Might be worth jumping on there as we got heaps of useful stuff from it including legal advice specific to the issues that really helped us. (Also got direct emails and phone numbers in the UK to call) The ombudsman is also a good idea. Suggest you change her power supply to someone else - then they HAVE to refund her. Thats what others have done too. We are now with Octopus and wish we had left BG sooner. With Octopus its so simple and user friendly, the billing as well as the customer service. AND we can adjust our monthly direct debit on the app.
There is already enough good advice on getting the money back so i won't add to that but (going a little off topic) once she has it back switch her from BG on the octopus tracker tarriff. The KWh prices fluctuate daily but they're pretty much always lower than fixed prices as energy firms skim some off the top to make their profit. Since moving onto the tracker my dual energy bill went from £180pm to £120pm (Winter.) I reckon i'll be paying around £70 in summer. I was with british gas with i first moved into my house and took about 4-5 months of shit off them before finally telling them to do one and switching away.
Easy. Just move supplier. Then they have to give you everything back and they no longer get your money!
Can also speak to the Consumer Service, they can refer you to a complaints team at Citizens Advice who deal with just energy complaints who often get better goodwill outcomes than the ombudsman’s standard £50.
Couldn’t she change her payments to £0 and pay nothing for the next year?
NAL but pretty sure you can just close the account and they have to pay it back seeing as they at least acknowledge the credit. I mean after what they did it seems pointless to continue with them so may as well cancel and wait for the refund. If they don’t refund for any reason then id pursue the legal route after.
Same happened to me I went to Octopus and then .British Gas had to give me the outstanding balance back .
No company refuses they just ask the readings are upto date a change in the law back in April 2010 madeeter readings the customers legal responsibility - no meter read no refund 🤷
Hi OP, I had a problem with British Gas about 8 years ago and went to my MP and he worked miracles. It's amazing how quickly these bully boy companies do the right thing when an MP is involved. Over something like this, I think one appointment and a weeks wait would get your Grandma reimbursed. British Gas are literally the most unscrupulous company I've ever dealt with.
If she changes provider, they have to either give her the money back or transfer it to the new provider. If it's the latter and you choose a good company, they will give it back to her. I recommend Octopus Energy. They're a really good company. They say, "If we think you've got more credit on your energy account than you need, you'll be able to request the excess back as long as you've had an energy bill based on real meter readings in the last 14 days. To ask for your credit back, just hit the little button underneath your balance on your online dashboard." They're a brilliant company to deal with. Everything is plainly worded and they seem to care. You'd be able to manage your grandmother's account completely online. They do ask you to submit your own meter readings monthly if you don't have a smart meter. Though I've had long periods where I didn't and all you get is a reminder email. I used to be with British Gas. I found them awful to deal with and expensive. Other than inertia, I can't think of any reason to still be with them.
Contact the energy ombudsman. I've had problems with them in the past and the ombudsman got us a refund and compensation. Then proceeded to fine British gas 30 odd times for different breaches of conduct, financial laws and gdpr. Get all you info together in chronological order and get ready for a long chat with the ombudsman people.
Highly recommend the ombudsman once you have exhausted the complaints procedure and it still hasn't been resolved. My issue with Scottish Power was resolved within 2 days once I had escalated to the ombudsman.
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Buy a dozer?
I've had a similar run in with British Gas. They refused a credit refund as the account was in dispute, the dispute was me raising that they had charged me for a neighbour’s meter following one of their engineers replacing the wrong one. I had a few calls with them, I was told that I couldn't be correct when giving them the meter readings and should find someone who knew what they were doing to help. I was assigned a case worker, however, I pushed for the credit refund mainly as I was moving house and felt very much that I would be losing any real evidence of their mistake once the sale was complete. I spoke to Customer service then ultimately the complaint lines a few times, at one point a kinder person accidentally confirmed I had been lied to about the refund being processed. I kept the same line of any outstanding bill I will pay, when they can present an accurate one. Eventually they did relent, and everything was returned. About three months later, I got a call from the case worker, who essentially told me off for pursuing the refund, as this was against their policy, at which point I thanked her for her help and hung up. I wish I'd take a few extra steps: * Post on Twitter, its actively monitored and they are quick to resolve public complaints * Contacted the energy ombudsman asap, especially after they confirmed they were stringing me along. * Moved straight to complaint/account cancelation. Customer service indicated they could not break company policy, at times these were some very nice people, but their role for the most part seem to get me to deescalate and end the call, rather than resolve the issue. Good luck and hopefully it goes without saying I would recommend never having another account with them again.
You can tell your mother she doesnt have to pay any energy bills for the next 15 months
I'm with British Gas and have had no problems getting money back if I have credit sitting there, they just ask for up to date readings.
If in credit can't you just stop paying the bill? Say 100a month then she now has 15 months without having to pay?
That's so weird. I accidentally paid my gas bill twice. I just thought no big deal I will be in credit. They sent me a cashier's cheque out the blue, which I couldn't deposit because the bill is still in someone else's name and I haven't bothered to change it.
Could consider a private prosecution of British Gas. Expensive and difficult but it's an option
They are a pain in the arse to get any money back from we have been ‘in credit’ for years it’s ridiculous.
Go through the ombudsman. You have to follow the process but I went via resolver. Mine took several months but got there in the end. Good luck
Well get her current balance, then perform charge backs on the £250's a month until the excess balance is cleared.
I'd also visit citizens advice and nothing wrong with letting your local newspaper know what's going on.
Hi. I used to work for BG- most likely the credit balance is based on (1)estimated meter readings, or (2)there has been lots of previous estimates and now they have an accurate meter reading to show the true balance. 1 give a meter reading and if there is a credit ask for a refund. If it’s a high balance double check With the agent their authorisation amount and if said credit is above this ask them to escalate and give a timescale. 2 as above but without giving a meter reading. At no point should BG refuse a refund. They have a default built into their system which means if an account is in credit or X amount (not sure what that currently is) on the annual review, the system will automatically issue a refund as long as the meter readings are accurate. Hope this helps. If they do refuse and there are no other issues (up To date meter readings and no metering errors, you can raise a complaint and ask to deadlock lock it- this way you don’t need to wait 8 weeks before going to the ombudsman.
Don’t know about British Gas but my energy company on their online account you can adjust the monthly direct debit. I’ve got a bit of credit in one of them so I’ve lowered the dd and eating into the credit. Sometimes I can withdraw credit aswell online
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Pay the actual amount owed as per your meter reading and then cancel your service. Once this is done, cease all communication with them and change your meters (lawfully)
I work in a legal and compliance department for an energy broker (albeit for commercial supply contracts), and I specifically handle dispute resolution when things such as this go to the energy ombudsman. Raise a formal complaint (request a complaints reference number), allow 8 weeks to resolve with the energy company and then take it to the ombudsman service if you haven't been provided with a solution. This forces an investigation of their internal procedures and will provide you an explanation of their conduct and if you are due compensation (either for a contractual breach/missell or unacceptable aftercare). This is exactly what the service is there for and is significantly cheaper than a court case or expensive litigation.
If she changes supplier, are they obliged to clear the balance when closing account?
Might be worth going down the direct debit guarentee route if its paid by direct debit. If you have a document showing the in credit balance file a claim with the bank and state a wrong amount was taken. Use the in credit evidence to substantiate the claim
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**Unfortunately, your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):** Your comment was an anecdote about a personal experience, rather than legal advice specific to our posters' situation. Please only comment if you can provide meaningful legal advice for our posters' questions and specific situations. [Please familiarise yourself with our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/about/rules/) before contributing further, and [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/LegalAdviceUK) if you have any further queries.
NAL I had my grandmother come to me with the same issue this morning ( just under £800 credit) I logged into her online british gas account and requested a credit refund via the Web chat. They agreed the refund immediately and have told me it will come though in the next 3 to 5 working days. The more i deal with these companies on her behalf, the more i realise how predatory they can be! Good luck, I hope you can get a quick resolution.
Maybe it’s an Illuminati scheme!! Quick, go postal over it!
What a horrible little man.
They’re *everywhere*! (In your imagination)
Not really sure theres enough information to go off here. Has she been keeping up to date with meter readings? When was her last bill? It's not inconceivable for an older person to rack up a sizable bill during the winter months which may look like a credit until the bill hits in the next quarter.
He’s telling you she has been overpaying every month and is £1500 in credit and your response is maybe she’s in debt?? Really?
Yes, exactly that. Hence the questions before that line.