Have you tried to reclaim old bill credit?

A question about : Have you tried to reclaim old bill credit?

Hi all,

We've created a step by step guide on how to claim unpaid bill credit from your old supplier.

This is a new guide but we need your help! Please let us know your feedback, as well as how you got on with your claim. Please share any tips that may help others too. Just click reply below to share your tips.

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Thanks for your help,

MSE Marcel

Best answers:

• I have been trying to claim money back from Scottish Power for three months now. I moved home in December 2013, at which point my account was over Ј150 in credit due to overpaying by Direct Debit. I informed them I was moving and switching providers and (eventually) they said they would cancel and settle the account. However, they continued to take Ј50 Direct Debit each month and did not refund me the balance.
  I was reluctant to cancel the direct debit as I have friends who've done so and ended up with more complications, so Scottish Power now owe me over Ј300. I can't get through to them on the phone as every time I try i'm kept waiting for nearly an hour on hold.
  Finally, after threatening to go to the Ombudsman a few days ago they emailed me and said they were terribly sorry and would send me a cheque. I replied to their email saying thank you very much and asking them to confirm how much the refund would be for, to ensure it was the correct amount. They have not replied, so the saga continues!
• I switched from EDF last october and at the end of last month realised they had not refunded the amount in credit which was nearly Ј200.
  After contacting them they refunded the amount within 2 weeks and after some complaining they have agreed to pay me Ј25 for not refunding the money in a timely manner.
• After 5 months, Scottish power still owe we Ј54. I told them in September I was moving home later that month. Called again in October to give the final readings and request a refund. Each month after that I have called or emailed (total3 complaint emails) and yet I still don't have my money. Each person tells me it's been or is being raised, they have the correct bank details but it never arrives.....
• I am waiting for Ј212.12 from EDF since 24th Feb. No sign of the money yet.
• I switched from Scottish Power to npower in October 2013.
  My Scottish Power account was closed in December 2013 at which time I was Ј335.82 in Credit. I was refunded Ј111.78 in January this year and am still waiting for the balance of Ј224.04
  I have been told that it will be credited to my bank account in 7 working days. I'm not holding my breath.
• When going for a refund of monies owed....just remember that you might owe them money...and they haven't picked it up!! I took Martins suggestion to request a refund and ended getting a bill for Ј108!!
  Beware....
• I've just discovered that Scottish Power hasn't fully closed my duel fuel account because the gas bill hasn't been finalised; the "final bill" is listed as an estimated bill. Although I moved to Npower in late October and cancelled my SP direct debit, SP hasn't been in touch to sort out final readings in order to pay the bill, and so the account is still active. I rang them in November to ask when my credit balance would be refunded and they didn't tell me that there was an issue. The lady I spoke to told me the refund would take a few weeks but I would receive a cheque. They now say that they'll have to contact Npower as the gas meter reading is now "in dispute" as the switch happened back in October, and so they can't finalise my bill.
  SP won't refund the credit from my electricity account until the gas bill is sorted out, so they're sitting on over Ј100 of mine. I thought that a new power supplier was supposed to pass on final readings as part of the switching process.
  It's definitely worth checking your old energy account to make sure it's up-to-date; I only discovered the problem because I keep receiving emails from Scottish Power and decided to see if I could still log on to my online account in order to stop them.
  I used the freephone number via saynoto8070 and was put through to a person much quicker than by dialing the number printed on the bill.
• I am with Scottish power and a couple of weeks ago I rang them because for several months my account was in credit at one point I was in credit by about Ј464 so I made a phonecall to ask them to refund any money that was owed to me .... the response was that I am no longer in credit but in debit by Ј81. I don't understand how I can go from being several months of being in credit to being in debit. I pay a fixed price of Ј103 per month I was very frustrated and annoyed
• Same thing just happened to us. We switched from EDF to Cooperative Energy recently, and were over Ј400 in credit at the time.
  We provided a final meter reading, at which point we were told that we were owed nothing and had still to pay over Ј100 for final bill settlement on the account!
  We were paying Direct Debit at a rate that ought to have well covered our usage. It was just two people, mostly out during the day, in a tiny 1 bed flat! How can this possibly happen?
  I was livid. We're paid up to avoid issues, but I want an answer from them as I cannot simply believe that we owed them over Ј500 at the rate we were paying them on a monthly basis.
• What about Seeboard -- do they still exist of one of the existing companies responsible for them?
• Another Scottish Power customer here with money locked away in their high interest saving account !
  I did a 'dual switch' from Scottish Power to First Utility moving my supply of Gas and Electric. As far as I was aware both companies kept me up to date throughout the switch process and advised me when it was complete. I thought that was the end and I would receive a bill from just First Utility. However each month Scottish Power continue to take money out of my bank account and issue me a bill for just gas, when I log online it says Electric supply=Closed; Gas=Live. When I logged on to First utility website I am being charged for both gas and electric usage.
  On contacting Scottish Power by phone they cannot access fully an account which they say is not live? I suggested cancelling my direct debit but the representative did not recommend this, as this could instigate automated systems include debt recovery agents (bailiffs). Also not wanting to damage my credit rating I have continued to pay for five/six months Ј66 per month.
  The Scottish Power representative recommended contacting the new supplier (First Utility) as they must not have done the dual switch properly. Either way I did the dual switch and I am paying twice for Gas supply. I have contacted tried on numerous occasions to call First Utility however there call on hold time is slow. I have messaged both suppliers using email recently but not heard anything back yet, so I have contacted the Energy ombudsman.
• I switched 24th feb so not expecting wonders where my credits concerned,my account shows Ј390 credit and no dd was taken this month,i have switched from bg to co op,meter readings have been supplied to both companies.hopefully dealt with soon.
• I have been trying to reclaim just short of Ј400 from Scottish Power since I moved abroad last October. I have emailed, written and spoken to them on the telephone often waiting unreasonable lengths of time for the call to be dealt with but to date I haven't received any money back. I have now submitted a complaint to the ombudsman. I do not understand how Scottish Power is allowed to keep hold of our money. It seems to me a very dishonest practice.
• I tried reclaiming money from First Utility back in November/December 2012. For a while they simply ignored my request and then sent an estimated bill for the property I had sold, followed by threats of court action and cutting off my supply. I pointed out that they no longer supplied our new property nor did I owe money on the old property (rather they owed me), having sold the property several months earlier. I was advised to pay the bill even though it was not my responsibility. I did and over a year later, First Utility still owe me money. They have acknowledged the fact but so far refused to pay up. The amount of time and effort spent trying to sort this has been considerable and still to no avail. Having made a formal written complaint, which received no reply, I guess I should have followed it up with the ombudsman - and I didn't. In all fairness I haven't tried in recent months maybe will have to start the whole process again.
• Until January this year I was on this account - Online Fixed Price Energy January 2014 - with Scottish Power. I decided to move to nPower, as this was a cheaper account so I filled in all the relevant meter readings and filed them online with my account number.
  A couple of weeks later I got several phone calls from a Scottish Power representative, who offered me a tariff that he said was cheaper than the one on offer from nPower. So I agreed to switch back. At that point he mentioned that my account was in credit to the sum of around Ј460 and that a rebate would be coming to me because this money couldn't be transferred to the new account.
  I waited for this until February and checked the account online, which showed that now I was Ј580 in credit. But still no cheque or direct debit or payment of any sort. I have been trying ever since to get hold of a human being to talk to about this but have only ever had an email from the customer care centre with an Indian name as the signatory, mysteriously claiming that the credit was now only Ј287.26. I checked online and the amount had changed there too. I have no idea why.
  To add insult, the email also said: "Currently we are experiencing a high number of calls that is the reason for the long hold in queue." So, nothing to do with Scottish Power not employing enough staff or treating its customers very poorly.
  All I know now is that I have received no money at all and absolutely no explanation as to why I have had to wait so long, why no one ever answers the phone or why nearly Ј600 suddenly became nearly half that amount. It's now around two months since the original Scottish Power account came to a close and still nothing has been refunded, despite me conscientiously putting in the meter readings when required.
  Any ideas?
• Called my old supplier Scottish Power today after getting a final bill in December stating I was Ј122 in credit and my current bill from new supplier made no mention of it.
  They are sending me a cheque for the balance. Too right they are!
  Can't believe they were going to hold on to it until I called them!
  Thanks for the tip MSE!
• According to Audrey Gallacher, Director of Energy at Consumer Futures on this moneybox programme (at 2 minutes 50 seconds) the billing code, that the major suppliers are signed up to, means you should be refunded credit within 28 days of leaving the old company.
  However when I tried a while ago I couldn't find any verification of the source of that 28 days and nor could anybody else on the forum (note you can find the billing code but you can't find the 28 days reference). So the MSE guide needs to find out where that 28 days comes from as I think it is a good way to insist that a refund happens in 28 days.
  I had major problems getting EDF to refund my credit when I switched to Npower in November 2013. Npower said they didn't have my opening electricity read even though I gave it to Npower promptly on the switch date. I rang up Npower and eventually got them to phone through the reading figure to EDF. Rang up EDF they say they haven't got my electricity read. I say it was phoned through yesterday. They say yes it was but they can't use that they need to wait until it is sent through their flow process. Npower aren't able to send the reading through the flow process, because their computer system doesn't work. Result: deadlock.
  Eventually resolved when I persuaded EDF to create a bill (not a final bill) using the phoned through read; although initially EDF wanted to hold back Ј5 from the refund. When I said that wasn't acceptable, I wanted the full credit refunded, the EDF person tried to end the call. I raised another complaint that trying to terminate a call before an issue was resolved was rude and disgraceful customer service. The full refund was then made.
  Quote:
• Having using the Cheaper Energy club, I established that I could save a reasonable amount by switching to a fixed online tariff with Eon.
  I submitted my details in December 2013 and in mid-January 2014, Eon confirmed that the transfer had taken place and my energy supply had transferred. However, this wasn't strictly the case.
  Despite my electricity supplier moving across on the UK energy supply database, the gas supply didn't follow suit and remained with NPower. This meant that the NPower account didn't automatically close and they continued to take a direct debit from my account in February and March for Ј105.
  As a result, and as a combination of overpayment and non account closure, my account is now in credit to the sum of around Ј1700. So, if I hadn't followed advice from this site and called my supplier, my gas supply would have never transferred (I had filled in an online form but it had been actioned incorrectly). NPower advised me to cancel my direct debit and told me to expect a standard letter saying that my gas would no longer be paid by direct debit.
  As it stands at present, I was given a 40 day time period in which to expect my final bill. Owing to the fact my last bill was paid in early December 2013, I expect to receive Ј1700 less two months energy supply, so about Ј1500 in total. The lesson to be learnt here is not to rely on your previous energy company to close off the account, a telephone call, whilst frustrating being played lift music, could pay dividends in terms of expediting any refunds due.