Martin Lewis says British Gas, OVO, EDF, Octopus customers can get £210 by being 'polite'

James Rodger
·2-min read

Martin Lewis says British Gas, OVO, Octopus, EDF, Eon customers can claim back £210 on average with energy firms sitting on £3 billion worth of consumers' money. Mr Lewis appeared on ITV Good Morning Britain today (Wednesday May 8) where he made the call.

"This is the PERFECT moment to check if you're in too much energy credit and owed £100s, here's my step by step, firm by firm guide..." the ITV star revealed. He added: "Do remember when you're asking for excess energy credit back, do it politely, it's not the call centre workers fault.."

Will Owen, energy expert at Uswitch.com, said: “Despite the expensive winter for energy bills, more than half of UK households are exiting winter with credit on their accounts. In recent years, when bills have been so high and unpredictable, it has been a good idea to keep a lot of credit with your energy supplier.

READ MORE UK tourists in Spain risk £5,000 fines over little-known '200 litre' water rule

“However, the fall in prices this spring means that consumers with excessive credit may want to consider reclaiming some of it. If you have a high credit balance, you may want to ask your supplier to check that your direct debit is set at the right level for the amount of energy you use.”

Replying to Mr Lewis, a Twitter/X user said: "I have emailed Octopus Energy, I have been refunded but they are still holding over 2 months of credit and we are heading into summer so that credit will only increase." A second said: "This should apply to any call to a call centre for anything. Even if the call centre screwed up it's unlikely that when you call back you're going to be shouting at the person to blame."

And another wrote: "I tried it last year over £500 in credit but British Gas refused to give it to me, they said I could potentially need to in the winter months when my usage goes up!!!!" And another wrote: "Appreciate you trying to tell people this Martin but it won't work sadly. I work in retail and customers love to shout at my cashiers working for min wage rather than actually formally complaining to the company."

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