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It won't come as news to anyone that our energy and water bills have risen significantly in recent years. According to government data, the average UK household's annual spend on electricity almost doubled between 2012 and 2022, and the amount we paid for gas increased by 80% in the same period.
Water bills have increased, too, and look set to rise again in coming years as water companies look to fund improvements to our water and sewerage system.
When we're all looking to keep the cost of household bills down as much as as we possibly can, research by comparison website Uswitch released in April 2023 showing that energy suppliers were holding a total of £6.7million in credit in customers' accounts, didn't make for easy reading.
If you’ve built up a credit balance with a utilities provider, and you want to claim it back, we've put together this handy guide to help you.
Why is my account with my energy or water provider in credit?
If your account with a utilities provider is in credit, it means you’ve paid for more than you’ve used. Credit can sometimes build up when a utilities provider has overestimated your usage and charged you accordingly and sometimes as a result of inaccurate or infrequent meter readings.
Having credit on your account isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it can help spread the cost of payments throughout the year. But if you want to claim the money back, you can. We’ve outlined how below.
How can I request money back from my energy supplier?
Most people build up some credit on their gas and electricity bills over the summer when we tend to spend less on energy. But if you build up too much, or if you move suppliers, you may be due a refund.
If you’re still a customer
If you want credit refunded from your current electricity or gas supplier, you will need to contact them and request it. Your supplier must refund you promptly unless it has a sound reason not to.
You may be asked to provide an up-to-date meter reading, so have this ready to speed things up.
Before you request a refund, it’s wise to consider whether the credit in your account could help keep your bills down at times when your usage is higher.
If you’ve closed your account
There are clear rules set by Ofgem that govern your rights when you close an account with an energy provider.
Your old supplier has six weeks to issue you with a final bill if you move suppliers and it must do this automatically. It must then refund any credit on your old account to you within a further 10 working days. If they don’t, they must compensate you.
You can also contact your old supplier directly to ask for your money back and there is no time limit on how quickly you must do this after switching suppliers. If you’ve kept your old energy bills, have these to hand so you can provide information about your old account or ask your old energy supplier to locate the account using the address the account was linked to.
If you aren’t happy with the way you have been dealt with, you can make a complaint to the energy supplier in the first instance (there's a template letter to help you do this on the Citizen's Advice website here) or to the Energy Ombudsman if the problem hasn’t been resolved within eight weeks of your complaint.
How do I get a refund on my water bill?
If you're on a water meter you may build up credit on your water bill, which can be refunded.
Every water supplier differs in how it handles this, but it's a good idea to check your water bill and ring your supplier if you're in credit. The supplier should either reduce your monthly payments or pay your money back.
If you have problems getting a water company to refund your money, you can take your complaint to the Consumer Council for Water.
A real-life refund
'The refund on my bills was a nice surprise'
Refund: £1,700
Donna Noble, 57, from South West London, is the founder of Curvesome Yoga
Donna discovered she was owed £1,700 by Thames Water when she logged on to check her bill. 'For a minute I thought I was over a thousand pounds in debt, and then I realised it was credit,' she says. 'I’m on a meter and I think the last bill I had was prior to the pandemic. It was only after a meter reader came round that I thought to check.'
Despite being in credit, she'd been paying £44 a month for water. 'It’s a bit annoying they don’t tell you, but it’s a nice surprise that I have a refund due,' she says.
