‘I made a 20-minute phone call to E.ON Next and now I’m £200 better off’

Things have been tough over the last 12 months – especially when it comes to energy bills. At the start of last year, I was paying around £90 a month for energy. We live in a three-bed semi and have two kids, so we are pretty much your average household.

In a process which has now become very familiar with many people who keep a close check on their finances, every three months, the energy regulator announces a new energy price cap. This sets how much we pay for our gas and electricity – and the more you use the more you pay.

When energy bosses say what a typical household will pay annually – which is due to fall to £2,074 in July – our own energy bills have been coming in just under that amount. So when the government introduced the £2,500 energy price guarantee, we were paying just under that amount.

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All households were also entitled to £400 off their bills over the six months from the start of October 2022 to the end March 2023 – so we benefitted from an extra £67 a month off our bills – which were of course higher because it was winter. All in all, by the end of last year and into this year I was still paying nearly double the original £90 a month.

Thankfully, the outlook for energy prices is now a little better. The average annual price comes down by £425 next month – a monthly saving of about £35 – and forecasters say prices should remain relatively stable for the rest of the year.

With all that in mind, it is prudent to check your energy bill to see if your current monthly direct debit is too high – and also whether you still have any credit on your account, now that summer is here. Generally speaking – and fans of the Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert show on ITV will know this – most households pay a set direct debit amount each month, regardless of how much or little energy you use.

This means that we tend to build up a bit of credit in the summer months and then this helps out in the winter months when we are using more energy. So if you are still in credit now, at the start of summer, then you should be able to withdraw some of that credit. It could come in handy for your summer holidays.

We’ve been with E.ON Next for the last couple of years and so far they have been good to deal with. You can check your energy usage on their smart meter and the app is pretty good for checking your bills and also finding out if you are in debit or credit.

I’m not going to lie, I’m a bight tight with money, and I check all my different accounts every day, including on the E.ON Next app. So when I realised I was more than £200 in credit, I decided I was going to ask for my money back. Better that this cash is in my bank account than someone else’s.

When you call up E.ON Next, you generally have to wait a good while for someone to answer – but the hold music isn’t that bad, so I just stick the phone on speaker mode and crack on with something else while I wait for a response. The number to call for E.ON Next is 0808 501 5088.

Make sure you have your customer number ready. It is also a good idea to update your meter readings a day or two before you call – that way they have an accurate picture of your energy use. Once you get through to someone, there is no hassle and you don’t need to kick up a fuss.

You just politely ask if it’s possible for the company to refund the credit to your bank account. They are used to taking these calls and usually go through a couple of questions then check that your meter readings are up to date. Then they’ll process the refund. They say it can take up to two weeks for the money to come back to you – but I called up last week and already the money has landed back in my account. That’s £200 in my account for what was probably a total of 20 minutes on the phone.

Have you tried to claim back money from your energy provider? How easy did you find it? Let us know in the comments below.

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