General process for energy bill credit refund

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If you are sitting on lots of credit with your energy supplier due to months of (over)estimated usage, does anyone know if there is a standardised process to follow to have it refunded - is it as simple as giving the energy company a meter reading, then requesting a refund via customer services?

Also does anyone know if there is a penalty free option to pay for exactly what you use on a monthly basis, rather than an averaged/estimated direct debit? I've seen it discussed (I can't recall the exact term) but also hinted at it actually costing more per unit to pay for exactly what you use.

What supplier are you with?

Shell

Ask to pay by variable monthly direct debit.

And yes it should be as simple as asking via customer services with current readings.

I'm also Shell.

No dea about refunds, but the 2nd question re rates - I switched to direct debit in receipt of monthly bill & the unit rates are the same.

Typos!!

The option wasn't there on the app, but was on a web- browser.

It usually costs less to pay by direct debit as a payment method, as opposed to bank transfer/debit card etc - afaik that applies to both 'equal' and variable payments.

OK thanks for the replies! I'll check the online account for the variable DD/in reciept of monthly bill option.
If you are on that arrangement, what happens if say you miss giving a monthly reading due to being on holiday? do you just get billed for an estimated & then it immedistely catches up with the next reading?

Bear in mind that your bills over the next 2 or 3 months are likely to be much higher than your DD amount so your credit will reduce significantly in that time, so your supplier is unlikely to be willing to give you all your credit back. They'll have an algorithm to work out how much your 'spare' credit is.

For example, we are £450 in credit and pay £160 pm. According to the online account, we can have £170 back, but the rest of the credit is needed to pay the rest of our winter bills.

Yes, if you miss giving a reading they will estimate the bill and take the DD as usual. It will correct itself on the next reading you give.

If you don’t submit a meter reading they will just estimate the reading for that month.

I obviously don’t know how big the credit is or your financial position but have you considered whether now is the time to be removing the credit you’ve built up, wouldn’t it help soften the blow of the huge increases we’re all facing?

I've never missed a monthly reading, but I have sent them in slightly late - the bill is generated on an estimate, and the following bill catches it up.
Mine is electric only (with oil heating & hot water) so tends to be pretty level usage anyway.

I'm with Eon Next and I got £400 of my credit back in the summer. I called them and they transferred it to my bank account. I was told I could have as much of it as I wanted so chose to leave a couple of hundred in there.

I was worried they might increase my dd but they haven't. Now I am building another pot. In spring I will take what I feel is the surplus.

this is a helpful thread thanks. We have £1200 credit on our utilities account - no way we need all that!

Not sure how much credit there will be but I think it's over £1k, possibly £1.5k+. House has been near dormant for extended periods (this is on behalf of someone else who has been caring for/basically living with a family member for 9months) bit still paying estimated bills.

Personally i'd much prefer to have that money in my account, earning me interest, and pay what is due when it's due.
Maybe its a point of principal but the way it's averaged out over the year feels like excessive nannying to me. I believe individuals are better at managing their own finances than some corporation.

The companies must be earning huge amounts of interest on all the credit they have sitting in their accounts. Averaging at £500 for every household? That's millions of pounds. WE should be benefiting from that interest. It takes the pi$$.

I believe individuals are better at managing their own finances than some corporation
That's probably not true in a lot of cases unfortunately.

But it is true for many, and if you or the someone else is one of those then the individual concerned can address it.
In this situation with an almost dormant house and that much credit I'd be demanding a refund.

I have the same in credit and have been thinking the same, I don't think I need to be in that much credit.

sorry meant to say £1280.00 in credit