How To Claim Back Overpayments on Utility Bills

It seems to be in the news every week – utility bills keep rising, and anyone opening the envelopes from utility companies has certainly noticed that it’s true. We’re all having to shell out a lot more for the energy we use for heating and cooking.

But it can seem like adding insult to injury when we’re overcharged on the payments for our utilities. Having to reclaim that overcharged amount can seem like a tortuous process, but it’s a very worthwhile one. After all, it’s your money that the utility companies are holding, and you have every right to have it returned.

But, in addition to reclaiming those overpayments, it’s worth taking steps to ensure they don’t happen in the first place.

How To Avoid Overpayments

In some cases, with electricity, gas and water, companies often use estimates when they send out their utility bills, and those can result in your being overcharged if you’ve been frugal in your usage.

You can request exact readings for your utility bills, or even call the energy companies yourself and give the exact readings (which is what you would do if you were moving from a property, for instance). Doing this regularly will make sure you’re not overcharged.

In the case of water companies, you can ask to have a water meter fitted. This will ensure you’re only charged for the exact amount of water you use, which, for many people, has resulted in a strong reduction in their water bill.

The meter is free and the water company will fit it (there are, however, some instances where they’re unable to do so because of the physical location on the pipes).

How Overpayments On Utility Bills Occur

Utility bill overpayments can only occur when estimates, rather than exact readings, happen, and those tend to be on energy use, namely gas and electricity. Your usage of those will vary during the year, so if you use a system of spread payments through direct debit, then at some point during the year you’ll almost certainly go into credit. In theory, then, by making your payments you’ve been overcharged, and can reclaim that money.

However, it’s a swings and roundabouts situation, as you’ll only have to pay it when the weather turns colder and your energy consumption rises (often along with energy prices). At that time, for a month or two, you might well be in debt to the utility company, but they don’t demand payment in full (unless you’re moving, of course, and settling a final bill).

When To Pursue Repayments On Your Utility Bills

There are, however, times when you should seek to have overcharged payments refunded to you. When you’ve been obviously overcharged, for example, then you do need to contact the company that issued the utility bill.

If you’re in credit when it’s time to move, after your final reading, then you should request that the company send you a cheque for the amount you’ve been overcharged.

When requesting a refund of the overcharged amount, the company will probably request a current reading from your electric and gas meters, then deduct that amount from the payments they send you, meaning you’re back at zero with each other.

It will be rare that you’ll have to fight for the return of your money, although in can happen in the case of direct debit payments. If you do want the overcharged amount back, press a little and you’ll find that it will be sent to you quickly.