Have you checked your gas bill against your direct debit recently? According to research by moneysupermarket.com, gas suppliers are estimated to be stockpiling £490m of their customers’ money due to the delays in adjusting payment amounts for direct debit customers. Suppliers are believed to be only checking systems every six months, leading the way to an overpayment in excess of £100, as found in one of eight of the 2407 research participants.
Mish Tullar, Director of media relations at British Gas was quick to reject these findings, saying: “We are not sitting on a big cash windfall”, continuing to point out that their customers were on average £60 in debit and not overpaying.
Many people within the industry believe that whilst suppliers such as British Gas are offering cheap gas, they are too slow in reacting to the changes when it comes to customer payments. Particularly Powergen, who on average had the most cash “on float” at around £78 per household.
A new argument that is emerging is that of winter payments, when accounts are most likely to be in debit. This means a solution is needed to ensure good cash flow for suppliers, whilst recovering this debt from its customers. By placing the £490m in a typical business bank account, gas companies are likely to be earning £24.5m of revenue per annum.
So what can be done to ensure you don’t continue to give even more money away? Contact your supplier and discuss your current tariff and average bills. They should be able to give you this information over the phone and come up with a satisfactory amount for direct debit.
Gary Parsons is a UK based writer with experience in the utilities industry.
