Why Haven't My Utilities Bill Come Down? UPDATE
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I understood bills would be less from July but I have been paying the same monthly amount for nearly a year. When I got my current bill yesterday, I opened it up (I don't usually bother as it's all gobbledy gook) to find i was over £700 in credit with electric and £349 with gas.
So my question is why haven't they reduced my direct debit instead of earning interest on over 1k of my money which should be earning interest for me in my bank?
I guess I will have to spend hours trying to get through and sort this causing stress, they really should treat customers better!
Yep, they're very quick at putting DD up but don't or rarely tell you to reduce it. They are also inconsistent with their choice of customer, I manage 3 accounts (mine, disabled brother in law, mother in law) mine is ok but does have a reasonable credit, BIL they want to reduce his amount and he's on the line for costs and uses a lot of gas/elec, MIL they want to increase DD as they don't think she's paying enough, she's well in credit as she's been in hospital since May. If you have an online account go to change my payment and see if you can drop it or do a live chat.
This is very common, if you don’t notice they will just keep some of your money in a holding account. I think you can ask them to return any credit to you automatically, but that should be the norm not something you have to request
Give them a ring and ask for half to be refunded and reduce your direct debt. It’s best to keep some credit in your account ready for winter.
I'm with Octopus and haven't had a problem. I've been overpaying for a while and am £600+ in credit.
Using the app, it was easy to request that some or all of the credit be returned to my bank account. They also reduced my direct debit from £138 to £77 without me having to ask.
I check my account every month via the app/website, changing the direct debit accordingly.
My husband got an email saying they were increasing our DD and he phoned them and said no you aren't, we are in credit, use that first. We are still in credit now, despite them wanting to increase our DD.
I hope you get it sorted. It seems so many companies are just purely greedy these days and don't actually care about the service they provide or customer service.
Midnightflower it does seem as if mostly bad people and companies are ultra rich with very few willing to at least be honest in their dealings.
I thought I read a while back that once you get to a certain point in credit they were obliged to give it back to the customer but I can't remember where I read it.
Pjran in the blurb it says overpayment will be refunded at end of each year and as that is only next month I will wait and see if they are true to their word. If not I will definitely take action.
In my opinion end of year is just not good enough when you are paying double+ what you are using, they should just reduce the direct debit.
Utility Bills are estimated across a 12 month period generally by a computer, it is perfectly normal and expected for you to be in credit now at the end of summer as you build a credit in order to help with the larger winter bills. You are however quite entitled to ask for a refund of any credit balance if you so wish and you can also adjust the direct debit up or down yourself if you think the payment is incorrect I have done this many times.
Well I emailed, got a reply same day and will be getting a £1000 refund and my direct debit down by £66 per month. Can't fault their customer service.
Lynibis Great news and a nice retirement present, hope you spend it on something nice that you want - jam jars?
lilyflower I am far too sensible to spend it frivolously
. The jam may have to wait a while but I will definitely take my immediate family for a slap up meal for my 70th birthday!
Pjran yes that's true but if you remember from a previous topic last year I am new to UW having spent 50 years with other companies who were not so easy to deal with. EDF refused to repay £300 I had to pay in termination fees (long story and totally their fault) I could never speak to a human just a Bot that constantly asked me to rephrase my query etc. Most do not have, or make email contact so hard to find, you give up.
Yesterday I also spent nearly an hour on the phone with SKY to change my package and first spoke with an Asian lady and then a Scottish one. I found myself saying sorry and pardon throughout, which is not their fault as everyone has an accent which may/may not be understood by others.
Anyway with UW I found a contact form filled it in and received same day reply with the offer of them keeping the 1k and making silly payments of about £30 per month or the option I went for by having my money returned and still quite a big reduction in monthly payment.
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