this time last year i was being billed by sainsburys for my combined gas & electric, paying by d/debit and paying £46.50 pcm. I'm in 3 bed detached about 20 years old, dbl gl etc etc, myself and 2 teenage boys. Gas central htg / combi boiler. D/debits always paid on time = good girl!

 

During 2008 sainsburys wrote and informed me they were no longer going to be supplying me and my account would now be handled by scottish power. Since then, my d/debit has been steadily increasing and the latest satement has now left me paying £104.50 pcm. In september my account was £187.44 in credit. Once i'd picked myself up off the floor, i did some checking. The current meter reading on both gas & elec was correct, so i went on line to check if i could get a better deal. Npower was the only one based on my projected use supplied by sp and that was only a saving of about £200 pa. Around this time martin lewis was popping up everywhere i looked, saying don't swap tariffs yet as the energy prices are supposed be coming down in early 2009. So i haven't done anything. I did compare my consumption with same period last year and it's actually gone down. My older son spends more time at his dad's now which probably accounts for some of that, plus being at work for longer hours etc.

 

But now it's the new year, i have spent far too much on the kids over crimbo, the world and his wife are sending me bills and so this evening i've been reading around, getting tips on how to save money etc. One suggestion is to take regular meter readings and inform your utility supplier say once a month. Good idea, i thought, so i've just gone online to sp's site to register. And now i've got a couple of questions, one of which has got me really fired up...

 

Has anyone registered online with sp before? Before i can enter any meter readings it seems to be trying to force me to sign up for a new tariff. I don't want to do that, just register, get a discount for paperless billing and be able enter my readings. I'm not too au fait with utility agreements - if i just click on the one i'm already on, does that 'tie' me in to a new contract with them? I'm on a very basic rate ie not capped.

 

But my main question = whilst i was filling in my details, a screen popped up showing my current tariff, payment method etc and shouting at me from the centre of the screen is "your account is in credit by £644"

 

I recall hearing a bit of hoo-ha about this a while ago and people being advised to ask for these credit balances to be repaid. Has anyone done this? Is it a bit of a battle? An mp was involved i think.

 

This money would sooo come in handy right now and quite frankly i'd rather it was in my account and not theirs.

 

Any advice on what to say when i call them tomorrow?

 

And i'm thinking i should be asking (demanding?) that they lower my monthly d/debit?

 

Help

hi all got sp with gas and electric paying them weekly plan received a cheque for £960.oo for being in credit with both gas and electric and when i cashed and spent it got a letter 6 months later u weekly plan is going up due to the fact im was in dept of £1200 so they are now taking 30.00 electric a week and 20.00 on gas and now nov 2010 sent them my meter reading for gas and electric now im in credit again £304.88 and £360.00 on the other so this time im just going to send the chque back