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Is your energy supplier sitting on your money?

You may be owed money by your energy supplier if you pay by direct debit and have built up a credit balance — that credit is your money, and you can reclaim it. Here’s how to check, and how to get it back.

• Why it piles up. Your monthly direct debit is an estimate, smeared evenly across the year. You overpay in summer when you barely use anything, to cover winter when you use loads — so a bit of credit by autumn is perfectly normal.
• When it’s a red flag. If you’re carrying a fat credit balance going into winter, or it just keeps climbing month after month, your direct debit is set too high — you’re lending the supplier money, interest-free.
• How to check in five minutes. Log in to your supplier’s app or website, find your balance, and compare your direct debit × 12 against what your energy actually costs over a year.
• How to get it back. Ask them to refund the credit above a sensible winter buffer, and to right-size the direct debit. It’s your money, not a favour — they should do both on request.

A quick example

Say you pay £130 a month by direct debit — that’s £1,560 over the year. If your energy actually costs about £1,150, your supplier is on course to hold roughly £400 of your money as credit. A little credit heading into winter is normal; a pile that keeps growing is yours to claim back.

What to do next

• Find your credit balance. It’s in your supplier’s app or website, usually on the account or statement page.
• Compare payment to cost. Your direct debit × 12 against what your energy costs over a year. If the payment is well ahead, the surplus is building as credit.
• Ask for it back. Request a refund of the credit above a sensible winter buffer, and ask them to right-size the direct debit so it stops piling up again.

The free bill check reads your rates and direct debit off a photo of your bill and tells you straight whether your payment is over-collecting — in about 30 seconds, with nothing saved. Want the whole-home picture? Check your whole home → · See the full overpaying check →