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Consumers could reclaim up to £1.2bn from energy firms

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
04/06/2014

More than 13 million British households are in credit with their energy supplier and could reclaim up to £1.2bn between them, research suggests.

The proportion of households in credit has risen to 52 per cent compared to 47 per cent in 2013, with the average household in line to claim £86, according to the study by uSwitch.

It suggests that more than a fifth are in credit by over £100, with 260,000 households across the country potentially being able to reclaim more than £500 back from their supplier.

The milder winter means some households paid for more energy than they used, the report said.

The ‘big six’ energy companies – E.ON, EDF, SSE, British Gas, npower and Scottish Power – have committed to reviewing all direct debit accounts every 12 months and refunding any credit directly back to customers.

Regulator Ofgem has also ruled that they must refund any credit on the request of the customer at any point in the year.

With Spring the best time to claim back any money, after the high usage winter period, uSwitch is urging customers to provide up-to-date meter readings to their supplier and discuss with them whether there is excess credit or debt on their account.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, said: “Energy bills are often based on estimations rather than actual usage and so they can be very far off the mark. Reclaiming this credit has never been easier as new rules from Ofgem mean suppliers must refund this money to customers whenever they request it.”

Meanwhile, the report found that almost four million homes are in debt to their energy supplier with the average energy debt per household standing at £128.

SSE’s recent annual results also revealed that the total aged debt – customers who are more than six months in arrears – shot up to £118m from £90m a year earlier as millions of households across the country have struggled to stay on top of bills.

 


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