Low fixed rate energy deal finally ending and I'm in credit- what to do?

[coffeerevelsrule]

I have been very lucky in that I had fixed a deal from before the price rises that will end next month, so up to now I've not had increased bills. The supplier (BG) has just got in touch and it seems that my new tarrif will be about double the cost of the old one so they're doubling my dd to about £250, though saying they will be in touch as soon as they're able to offer a better deal. At the moment I am about £600 in credit, despite having just come through the winter. While I delayed putting the heating on until about November, other than that I used the same amount of energy as I normally would and so I feel like the original dd was too much anyway.

Should I now request my credit back and start just paying monthly? Is there any point looking for new deals? I keep hearing that prices will come down soon but this doesn't seem to be the case with BG anyway.

Have you checked your usage using the prices you're transferring to, to check that BG aren't just racking up your DD because they can? That's the first thing I'd do. If they're over-inflating it, send them the maths and tell them how much you should be paying based on your last year's usage.

EDF send me my credit back when it's over £100, so I've put all of the last year's refunds into a savings account in case I need it when my fix ends (end of August this year; I got a 2 year fix in 2021). I also saved the government money as EDF paid it into my bank, plus the £150 I got as DS is on DLA, so I've a bit of a buffer when I get a price increase (dreading it somewhat!).

So there is a useful tool on Martins money for working out if your dd is correct based on usage. Check this if £250 is correct then personally I would be requesting your credit back. Make sure you give meter readings the day your fix is due to end so that it's charged at the lower rate as well!

If the tool shows you shouldn't be paying that much then call BG armed with the info of the tooling and its suggested dd and state your account is in credit by a significant way - nearly 3 months of the new estimated rate

Depending on your fixed rates, I think doubling is at the lower end of the price increases (I'm expecting out gas to triple, and electricity double when our rate ends in the summer), so the credit may well already have been taken into account.

If that's the case, reclaiming the credit will result in the monthly direct debit increasing.

Do you have your yearly usage from a recent bill? I'd use the calculator below to see what you should be paying. Then either ask for the credit back or ask to pay £50 less a month for the next year to clear it. It's normal to be at nil after winter.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits#calc www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#calc]]

Not sure with BG, but with Scottish Power you can adjust the DD to whatever you want (in theory), but if you set it too low, they want an up front payment to allow it. For instance, mine was £125 but have reduced usage so almost made it to the next month without being in debit. So I lowered it to £114, and then again lowered it to £108. However now if I go lower, they want the up front payment.

i’d never leave any money with them if I didn’t have to. £100 is £3.77/year in Chip at 3.77% easy access. £500 is £18.85!

BG only actually bill you twice a year, so for 6 months all payments you make show your account as going up in credit, then they bill you 6 months of payments and take that off your credit, either leaving you still in credit but much lower, or in debit. Mine are 1st of may and 1st of november, but your billing months may be different. Have you had one of your 6 monthly bills recently?

I don't understand that at all? I've been paying the dd and sending in meter readings so in what sense have I not been paying? I've googled it and still don't understand. It does say on the website that your account may be in credit in warmer months but I've been in credit all winter. This all just seems really obtuse from BG.

I agree that if you've built up a £600 credit, then you were probably paying too much for your old tariff, so if your current tariff is twice as expensive as your old one, you probably don't need to double your monthly payment, but you might be happy to leave it as it is rather than try and convince BG to lower your DD.

However, MSE is your friend here.

Your bill should give you annual usage figures, so use the calculator to check what your DD should be:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

If it's too high, you could call them and say you've used the MSE calculator to work out what your DD should be and you'd like to pay that amount.

MSE are also advising people to ask for any credit back now, as this is the time of year when you'll be at zero, as you'll build up credit to go towards your winter bills.

As for what prices are going to do, if you've come off a fix, chances are you're on the standard price guarantee tariff. This is related to the market price and is subsidised by the government. It automatically changes each quarter, so is expected to go down at the beginning of July. There aren't really any new fixes that are cheaper than this.

As for whether or not it's worth changing, you might decide to stay where you are. Or you might decide to switch for better customer service, or an easier online experience. I'm with Octopus, and I think they're great. You can do a lot of things online yourself and they're very transparent and fair with DD amounts. We've made quite a lot of changes to cut our gas usage and I was able to just click in my online account to get the excess credit back.

If you're interested in switching, if you use my referral link, we each get £50 credit (or you could stay where you are, or just sign up yourself without the referral if you prefer)

https://share.octopus.energy/loved-moon-894

Thanks for that @BarbaraofSeville I had a look at the link and I don't think I can delay the start until end of June - I would definitely have used that otherwise as they quoted a fair but cheaper than BG have. I'll look again nearer the time.