Energy providers are sitting on 3 billion of your money – what it means for you | Personal Finance | Finance [Video]

Energy suppliers are sitting on £3 billion of households’ money with the average home in credit having £210 left with their provider, new research shows.

16 million households (56 percent) have credit with their energy supplier at the end of this winter, despite households usually leaving winter with no credit having used it during the colder winter months.

One in seven consumers (14 percent) have balances surpassing £300, and 5 percent have more than £500 with their energy provider – but only a quarter (28 percent) of consumers plan to ask for it to be refunded, according to research from Uswitch.com.

Two in five households (44 percent) with more credit than this time last year attribute their balance to their direct debit being set too high.

Two fifths of consumers (40 percent) attribute the increase in their credit balance to their efforts …