Gas and electric bill. What does this mean?

[ADHDDDDDDDBOOM]

I'm clearly being thick.

This time last year we were paying an extra £100 because we owed the company money.

This year we are paying the very same but it all looks identical.

It says new balance of five hundred and something.
So in a whole year we haven't paid them
off?!
im so fucking confused

Why do you think you're paying an extra £100?

The bill last year says your usage is £119 and you're paying £134 so £15 towards the balance. This year you're using 277 an paying £297 so £20 towards the balance. You'd need to check all your usage compared to payments.

So when it says balance does that mean we are in credit?
I spoke to them and they told us we were in debit so we are paying £100 extra to cover that.
That was a year ago though.

The £100 won't be sectioned off and used against your debt though, its not a payment plan in that sense Your whole payment is used against what you have used and any excess will reduce your balance.

Ok, so does "the balance" mean we are in credit at the moment?

No, you're in debt. It would be clearer if if said "outstanding balance" or "remaining balance" or similar.

No you are still in debt. In 1 month April to May you used £277 and paid £297 so your debt has only reduced by £20.

You're only paying a small amount more than you're using, so the debt is coming down very slowly.

So on the 5th april you owed 532.44, you were then billed 277.57. You paid 297.79. So remaining amount to pay is 512.22

My bill says credit or debit. Why don't you just message them?

It's the same energy company as I use, and it definitely means it's a debit balance. As in, the amount you owe them. It is confusing, unnecessarily so imo.

I can't see how you are paying the £100 extra?

I would presume the OP means that they were paying an additional £100 per month on top of their previous Direct Debit amount.

Energy prices have risen so substantially this past year that your extra £100 payments could easily have been used up just paying for your current usage.

@ADHDDDDDDDBOOM if you check your billing history, has the balance been increasing or decreasing each time you've been billed? Or staying roughly the same?

Yes the extra £100 is just an increase to your DD amount. But as prices have increased the extra £100 has been mostly going on usage rather than debt. Energy companies do not separate the debt off into a separate payment plan from your usage.

Looks like a BG bill OP? Log in to your account & look at energy/payments/payments history. It will give you a much better picture of what you've been billed and payed over the years. A minus - figure/balance means you owe them. Good luck

Ah yes that makes sense about the extra. Sorry I thought OP meant they were paying the monthly amount and then £100 on top

This is not true. In most cases apart from bank accounts a minus figure is a credit which would mean they owed OP. A positive figure would be a debit meaning OP owed the energy company.

I don't know why British Gas need to make their bills so stupidly complicated and confusing - they aren't easy to understand.

That makes sense, it is British Gas.
With a previous provider it was really straight forward, it clearly stated credit or debit.

Agree 100%%%

Yes agree, in most cases, but not stupid BG. I agree their billing system is complicated & confusing.

Not all British Gas customers get that view of their account though. I don't, and their app doesn't work for me either, only the website. I was a fairly recent switcher to BG on their Evolve branded site, but then BG decided to merge that back into the main BG branding.

I used to get a lovely thing I could play with which showed monthly or daily or yearly electric ir gas use, and compare with the average etc... they upgraded their site and ti's all gone 😭

If you go to online billing with British Gas it’s very obvious as it says credit or debit

Totally agree that the app is crap since they changed to the new accounts .