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?

People are crazy leaving their money on energy accounts. They are making millions in interest. Why would you not take the interest yourselves.

unless you have absolutely no ability to budget and keep the requisite amount saved for your bills then it’s just crazy

I'm not the sort of person who's going to spend the money on something else. I just don't believe that most people aren't like me.

Good luck getting through to them. I had built up credit and asked for it to be refunded and it took me three attempts and over a month for them to actually do it - they wanted "up to date" meter readings before they would refund me but took so long to respond after I submitted them I had to keep submitting new ones.

It used to be an automated service where you could submit a request from the app but it has recently changed. Unfortunately I wasn't in a position where I could afford to have hundreds of pounds sitting in credit and needed to use it for other things - they were absolutely hopeless.

I was £700 in credit and requested a refund of £300, to leave us with 2 months balance. It was paid within a couple of days no issues, all by email, we’re with So energy.

I've just clicked "can I withdraw crediton my account?" on the main website dashboard (not the app) and it gave me the option to request a partial refund online, or email them if I wanted more back.

If that's not working for you, just phone them on Monday (their email response time isn't super fast atm).

My account is £500 in credit. In November I used £60, my direct debit is £70 a month and the government thinggy £66 a month, so at the moment my credit is increasing. I thought I'd leave it over winter as the heating hasn't gone on yet, and see how things stand in the spring.

We're £390 in credit, much more than usual for time of year, monthly overall payment required - £135. We're trying to cut back and hoping with our credit and monthly payments we'll be in credit when payments go up in April. 75% if time, just two of us.

Totally agree. We pay BG monthly by variable DD, the exact amount owing, no big credits building up.
I keep a close eye on usage and know in advance how much the bill is going to be, so no surprises.

Why hand over your money in advance?

Mine (shell) is £400 in credit and they want me to increase it. I’m not

This

I’ve been paying £260 as that times 12 is what I use roughly in the year

so yes in summer paying that and bills being say £130means come Winter can have the heating on

saying that I am much more frugual and said on previous thread gas was 21 this month and last year same month was 57

so used almost 2/3 less but as price is 3 times a as much. Was 3p now 10p that price I pay is roughly the same as last year