How much credit do you keep on your energy account?

[Amandatelly]

How much balance (if any) do you have sitting on your energy supplier account?

I got an email yesterday from Octopus saying they want to increase my DD by another £30. This despite the fact my monthly DD is already £240 (gas and elec), and have a credit balance every month at the moment. I’m currently £280 in credit.

I can’t find it now but recently I saw it suggested I should be having a balance of over £500 just sitting there.

Now, I know my usage is low this time of year and that will begin to increase over the next few months but I will deal with that as it happens. I’m not going to just let them sit with even more of my money in their bank accounts.

True tho why are they so much in credit. Are they overpaying each month for months

I have almost £400 credit on my Octopus account and they have e-mailed to say they are putting my DD up by £40 a month. I have adjusted it down on the website to the current amount.

Just checked and I'm £451 in credit. I'd rather be in credit than in debt!

I’m over £700 in credit and they just increased my payments. It seems nuts but I will use vastly more energy in the winter so maybe it works out.

It's great that you can do that with Octopus. Im very impressed with them. Even won on the spin the wheel!

😅 Umm that is nuts. I would be taking out at least £500 to put into an ISA.

How much is your bill in the winter per month?

The annual cost for your usage should be in your online account so you can compare with 12 x DD amount.

I average £150 or so credit on my electricity with EDF, if there’s a problem with my oil boiler and I have to use the electric immersion heater it quickly eats it up. If they suggest altering my monthly direct debit and I disagree for any reason, I WhatsApp them to explain why, and what I think it should be, and they’ve always accommodated my request.

I can see how it benefits the energy company, but I would keep the money in an instant access account with a high rate and adjust your monthly payment as and when.

I’m about £300 at the moment with Octopus although last month I did ask them to pay £100 back into my bank (very easy with them you just click a button on the app). I’ll keep an eye on it over the winter as if need be I just make a one off payment but normally I don’t need hundreds of balance.

I’m looking into getting a refund, as a direct result of this thread. I am quite taken aback by what I’m seeing on the OVO app, and have screenshotted it, will attach. I am over £1,500 in credit, but the most can request by way of refund is £270! What?!

were with octopus and £750 in debit, they don’t seem too fussed and I can set the direct debit to what I want so have been keeping it at what we use plus about £50 extra to steadily pay it off.

I have over 700 in credit .

A deficit if I can manage it. No way are they having my money for no reason.

Most companies automatically increase if your on DD because they say you need to build a buffer for winter.

Many arguments have ensued.

When I was on quarterly I just paid for what I use but then they offer you a discount for DD. Precisely because they are creaming hundreds off every person. You can see how that adds up and they obviously invest it and make money.

I was just letting it pile up...I did have nearly £400 credit most of the time, paying £120 a month (which they have tried several times to put up...in the middle of summer and several heatwaves? 🥴).

My previous bill from my readings was about £100 total and last month it was about £80, courtesy of not currently needing to put the heating on at all (gas hob/boiler/heating, electric oven), so I thought sod it and actually asked them to refund me £200, which they have, and that is roughly what I plan to keep in my account, unless we get a sudden cold snap...but that seems unlikely right now 😂.

That's ludicrous.

Message them and ask them for bigger refund. They must give you the monry back. They use these limits to discourage people from getting the money out. Ovo should know better now!

I stick at £200 all year round, both for gas and electric. They’re not having any more of my money in their accounts.

In case you haven't figured it out, the reason they are putting it up in the middle of the heatwave now is to cover the increased gas cost during the winter period, both in terms of usage and in terms of the cap increase.

The gas price cap has gone up from about 5.7p (April-Jun) per kwh to 7.33p (Jul-Sep) and might go up further for October-Dec.

I know that the price and usage goes up, I get that, but if the weather carries on being so extremely mild, I really can't see me using a lot of gas this winter at all. I've got no problem paying and putting away more if an increase in my usage requires it, though.

It’s now at £850 - I requested a refund of some and they declined as apparently my account ‘ looks a little
out of shape and they need to look into it’!!
I think their system my be a bit skewed 😬

Is it octopus WineNoMore20.