Why can't you not pay an energy bill for a few months, so they drain down the credit you already have?

[Fuckoffeverything]

I have 300£ on credit with Shell from overpayments. They've just put my dd up to 75£ a month. My bill is usually about 46£ (single person). I'm annoyed I can't just opt out of paying for a while & they drain down my credit. As it is, the best I've been able to do is reduce my dd but the lowest they'll let me go is £55pm so I'm still overpaying!

I'm pretty sure you can ask for credit balances to be repaid to you?

Seems logical. I can only assume it's because they're money grabbing. We pay our bills as we go along after submitting monthly readings.

Just cancel your Direct debit. That's what I've done. Then submit monthly meter readings, and they'll bill you for your actual amount, and then just pay the bill via BACS.

I was allowed to drop my payments to £1 for a few months with SSE. Is it just online the option is not available? I would call and discuss it. My energy company always put my DD up with zero need for it so I would call and tell them to reduce it again.

You can. Cancel the DD with your bank, but keep an eye on your account to set it back up once your credit is exhausted.

Some years ago My dear Dad had a £3k credit on his account. They told him to cancel his DD as they wanted to avoid paying him a lump sum back. It took a legal letter to get it!

They have to give you the credit if you ask for it.

I think you CAN just not pay it - however, i'd be wondering whether or not it would show up on a credit score? Does anyone know the answer to this?

I used to change energy companies partly for this reason. They’d refund the credit and I’d claim whatever signing bonus was available.

I am also with Shell and was once in the same position so I switched to a variable direct debit. They did then use up the credit so I had nothing to pay for a couple of months. Paying this way would not work for everyone, and most smaller suppliers won't actually allow you to pay this way, but it works for me. This is how you change it - help.shellenergy.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360001142398-How-do-I-change-from-a-monthly-to-a-variable-Direct-Debit-

They're allowed to charge you more for doing it this way.

Just ask for it back; they have to give it to you if requested. However, it's preferable to build up credit in the summer which then gets used in winter, so that's something to take into account.

Can you not just request it back? It took me about 3 clicks, and my money was back in my account the next day with Octopus. Similar procedure to drop the dd.

Thank you for this, I've had the same and have reduced my dd down to the minimum they'd allow but was still in credit and therefore overpaying.
I've trued to change it on the app but haven't been able to.
Just tried again, and this option doesn't seem to be available on the app, but was via a browser so I've now changed it.