How much credit on energy account is normal?

[Hayliebells]

I have almost £700 it n credit on my gas and electricity account at the moment, with Octopus. I'm not current using as much energy as I'm paying in by direct debit a month, so next month that figure will increase. Apparently, if they think I'm in too much credit, there's an option to have some refunded in my online account. I don't have that option, so I presume they think that's normal? I'm not sure I agree with them if that's the case! Can I legitimately ask for a chunk of it back? I know I'll use more energy in winter, but I'm quite willing to take the credit, save it myself, and then use that money from a savings account to pay the winter bills. Why does Octopus get to earn the interest in money for energy that I haven't even used yet? I'm not a child, I can budget and manage my finances, I've been doing for 25 years! Has anyone had any recent success in getting the money back?

I am currently £1000 in credit and my provider has asked on several occasions if I want it back but I’ve said no. I’m quite happy for it to stay with them. If you request it, I believe they do have to refund it to you.

Bank accounts are still paying negligible amounts of interest so I’m not bothered about that.

Octopus will refund it , Greg Jackson spoke to Martin Lewis this week and confirmed. You're right, I'm getting 2.5% instant access on my Atom app savings and it's calculated and paid monthly,so you're better off taking most of your Octopus money out, particularly if you ignore the government subsidy, I.e. keep your DD the same as it was before the £66 is taken into account.

Alternatively could you reduce your direct debit and let the credit run down that way?

This says to contact them if you want a refund so do that!

I have nearly £900. Currently overpaying by around £50-£60pcm. I’m hoping it’ll soften the blow come April.

You don't have to pay by direct debit you can choose to pay your bill quarterly and just pay for what you use.
I prefer to pay by direct debit and have and credit of over 1k currently. My bills are likely to be over £600pm in Dec, Jan & Feb so I'm keeping there.

It depends on how much you are likely to spend a month on gas and electricity over the cold months of the Winter (December, January, February) and how much the DD is each month.

You are supposed to go into Winter with a big surplus and it’s expected that your DD won’t cover your bills each month until the weather warms up.

If you are in a modern 2 bed flat and are expecting to use £100 combined per month even in the coldest weather and they have your DD set at £200, yes, ask for it back. If you are in a 5 bed Victorian terrace that leaks heat and which will use up the overage, that amount seems about normal to me and I’d leave it there - the interest you will get over a couple of months before you have to pay them the money isn’t worth the hassle in my opinion.

I had 700 on my eon account. I contact them and they gave me two months of no payments but I am still 500 ish in credit especially now with the gov help, I think I will ask for a refund.

I had £650 credit in mine, in August, and it was building over winter. My logic was "if I ain't dipping into the surplus on winter then I won't need it in summer." I requested £400.

I do worry the DD will go up but it hasn't so far. My thoughts were that it's MY money.

Mine is £500 in credit but b gas are tryk
b to make me increase my dd by 208 more a month ???
they also haven’t refunded my £66 for the last two months like they are meant to

Is there another increase in april or is this when the gov help stops?

Government helps stops and another likely rise

My dd was set at £170 and then in October they upped it to £250. The bill didn’t explain why and haven’t been able to get through to them. Im guessing this is because of the price rise in oct but it’s thrown us. We do have £300 in credit so that’s a bonus but we didn’t turn the heating on til Nov so I guess it will go up again.

We are £350 in credit for the gas and £120 for the electricity.

Martin lewis says you should be two months in credit at this time of year.

We've got three months but know it's going to be expensive to happy with that.

I pay my actual bill every 6 months, next one is due mid November. On the app it says I'm over £1000 in credit but I take readings monthly and work my charges out myself. According to me I'll be about £250-300 in credit after the next bill but will see if I'm right soon.
I have been paying £200 per month, 3 bed semi, 2 adults, 1 working outside the home, 1 very part time worker.
I voluntarily put the payment up to be on the safe side and it'll be interesting to see if the power company want me to increase my dd. ( spoiler alert, that's not going to happen!) Mind you, not had the gas central heating on yet.

I’d rather build more credit I feel safer in the winter then I can keep one room warm and not worry.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I think I will ask for it to be paid back to me. I completely get that energy costs will be a LOT more expensive in the winter, so I'll need this credit to pay the bills, but I really don't get the argument that I "should" be in credit. That would only be the case if I was completely inept financially, and would just spend the credit on something else. I won't, I'll put it on a savings account earning interest for me, because until I've actually spend the money on energy, it's still my money! I think Martin Lewis is doing the public a disservice not to point this out, he's in the business of saving people money after all, if everyone followed the advice to be massively in credit before winter, that's potentially millions of pounds in lost interest. I see zero reason why an energy company should be earning interest on my credit balance, when I don't actually owe them any money. I'll have the money to pay them when I've used it, the affordability of my bills is in now way impacted if I have this money in my savings account Vs my Octopus account. I think we've been misled that this is necessary tbh.

I want as little credit as possible, why would you when you can get 2% in instant access saving and use that if necessary

I'm not an eejit honest, it's my phone's autocorrect that scuppers my ability to write coherent sentences!

That's the whole point of paying a set monthly direct debit though. You pay the same each month and build a credit up in the summer and run it back down in the winter. Or you could pay tiny bills in the summer and huge bills in the winter.

I have about £300 credit and will leave it so I don't worry about having the heating on when I need it

Exactly @Lcb123 . People talk like that money doesn't exist unless it's in the energy companies account. £700 in my savings account has more value to me than £700 in my Octopus account because it's earning interest for me, not Octopus!

And maybe people like the security of knowing they won't be hit with a large bill in the winter. Maybe they would have spent the money if it wasn't sitting in their energy account.

Would having in money in a savings account instead of in your energy account make you worry @dementedpixie ? If it does, why? That makes no sense, you still have £300 either way...