?? £497 in credit with our energy company ??

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Just done the meter readings and this is what we were told. We don't have a Smart meter so it's a monthly surprise.

How is it possible?

Like everyone else, our gas and elec bills have doubled this winter. We have been a lot more careful about having the central heating on, but not kept it totally off in the real cold snaps. I would say we have had some heating on most days since October.

I am a lot more vigilant about lights being left on and some of us are showering every other day instead of every day.

But still ... very confused. Has our energy supplier been over-estimating our usage all along for years?

You just need to know your usage.
Once you know your usage, you can then see what your annual usage is predicted to be and then use that to predict your DD.

You could be paying more on your DD than you need to.
Your usage could be lower than predicted.

What is your monthly payment?
If you're using less than you're paying per month then your credit balance will increase

Have they actually calculated the bill based on your latest meter reading? What do you pay each month? How up to date is the meter reading, ie does it include the pre Christmas cold snap?

Don't forget that you've had £200 applied to your account towards the cost, and you say you've tried to cut back. That means you could have built up a credit, but we could have quite a bit more cold weather to come. However, we were £450 in credit and I've just been allowed to take £170 back as it was a little more than we needed.

We are paying roughly £300 p/m as opposed to £150 p/m last year.

Live in a large Victorian 3 bed terrace. All rooms are big, high hallways, high ceilings. Has good double glazing but not loft insulation or any other special provisions.

Your house sounds similar to ours. We have almost the same amount of credit we pay £165 a month plus the government £67 at the moment. Our credit was built up early part of this year when we were still on fixed and over the summer. After this winter we will need to increase our DD to around £300 to cover next winter

Although ours is a semi so might be a bit chillier than yours

What's your actual usage though? Is it less than this time last year?

You will also have had the govt £66 a month credited to you as well, which will have not been taken into account by your DD amount.

We'd been building up a big credit over the past few months. Just eaten through half of it during the recent cold snap. You want to be in credit as we still have half the winter to come.

It is usual to be in credit at this time of year. My usage for the past month is £600. I pay £250pm and I am still in credit over £700. If Jan Feb and March are all cold then I might briefly go into a debit before building a credit again in the spring and summer. That's how it works when you pay the same amount all year around.

Yes, obviously usage is less than last year (as described in my OP) we have been more mindful and careful.

I suppose I'm just surprised we have managed to be this MUCH more mindful - and frankly would have had the heating on a little more on the really cold days - to the point our energy company have nearly £500 of our money which we could really use atm.

Have you received a bill from them with the meter reading and showing the actual charges for the period?

This is why I moved to Direct Debit payments based on ACTUAL use rather than the ridiculous £350/mth Shell Energy wanted us to pay.

Energy costs have increased

At the same time, there has been the £400 plus people have reduced usage

The only way to know is to know your monthly usage and make a prediction on your annual use.

I have a Smart Meter and I pay by variable monthly DD. I also have a spreadsheet so I can track usage.

No surprises here. I can see what the cold snap cost me and I know roughly what my heating is depending on the weather outside and the house temperature.

We're only officially a week into winter, tbf..

Have they actually billed you yet? We pay a direct debit monthly but it shows in credit until we are actually billed quarterly. This time we were £30 off in debit so had to top up the account.

You've doubled your payment an cut your usage? It's not a suprise that you're in credit

Asl for it back if you need it or leave it to cover the increases in April if you don't.

But still ... very confused. Has our energy supplier been over-estimating our usage all along for years?

Only you know the answer to that one, have you been sending in meter readings and checking your bills? If yes then they haven't been overestimating, if no then it's perfectly possible. It's your responsibility to send in readings for accurate bills.

But the cost of energy per kWh has increased - so the actual cost per year (based on predictions) will increase.

However, there has been the £400 from the Government and people have cut down usage.

I'd simply forget about it till March or April.
As a pp pointed out, we're only a week into winter. Who knows what's coming in Jan and Feb. Give yourself some breathing space, should you need to up your usage. Imagine if your boiler broke down and you had to use electric fan heaters u til it was fixed. If you can squeeze through, then do so.
On the brighter side, if you pay your council tax by direct debit then remember January is our final payment - we've got that extra money in Feb and Mar to help cover energy.

It depends on how your energy company bills you, we are over £900 in credit but that is because British Gas only bill every six months and our bill is not due for another month so the money is sat there waiting from our direct debits

A week into winter? Doesn't feel like it but I suppose if you consider 21 Dec to 21 March to be winter, 21 March to 21 June to be spring, 21 June to 21 Sept to be summer and 21 Sept to 21 December to be autumn then it kinda works

But still ... very confused. Has our energy supplier been over-estimating our usage all along for years?

its not a secret that utility companies use their customers money as interest free cash flow for their business

I give weekly readings, which makes it very difficult to increase the DD and if they did I’d switch to payment monthly by DD and put the average amount of money away monthly in a separate bank account. That way I’d make 5% interest in the money over the year

Your estimated usage (which is what your DD is based on) won't really reflect any changes in gas usage in the last quarter of this year.

My gas use has more than trebled since November compared to last year but isn't reflected in their projection yet; on the other hand my electric usage has been about half that of previous years consistently over the last six months - my annual estimated consumption has only dropped by about 25%.

Re the date they begin, seasons can be astrological or meteorological - I've always gone by the former.

I think my energy co adjust my estimated usage every month, so we 'move up' a month each time.
In Sept when I first began tracking and checking my annual usage was estimated to be £4400+ for electricity. This would have included a few months of the previous year of using the hot tub (Sept/Oct/Nov of 2021).
Now it's £3900 as the hot tub has been turned off and covered over for 13 months. I wouldn't let anyone use it this year as was jumpy s out the energy cost crisis.

£3900 for electricity!
Do you use it for heating?

That seems a lot of kWh