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Good energy - Alison Steed, MyMoneyDiva.com

Good energy

At last! Finally, we have an energy company that is doing something to help those people who end up building up a surplus in their account thanks to direct debit payments and lower bills in the summer.

New entrant to the market Ovo Energy is to pay anyone who has any surplus in their account the equivalent of 3 per cent a year – that is a figure you would actually struggle to get from any of the banks right now.

The money will be paid into your account with the company each month too. So that means during the summer when you are more likely to be in surplus because you are using less energy, you will get the money paid to you, rather than having to wait until the end of the year for the tally to be added up, when the winter months will have reduced any surplus you have.

Ovo Energy has been clear – it wants to do this so that customers are treated more fairly, and good on them for it. ScottishPower has a similar scheme, giving you £1 for every £33 above £100 that you are in surplus. But the amount you can get is capped at £12 – forgive the clauses here in that sentence, but blame ScottishPower, it is the one who gives customers those hoops to go through.

When you consider that, collectively, the UK energy customers have around £454m in surplus with the energy companies – around £89 per household according to Moneysupermarket – this offer from Ovo Energy if it was stretched across the whole industry would give back around £13m collectively to these families.
This has been a bone of contention for years, and finally it looks like energy companies are starting to take notice of just how fed up we all are of being taken for a ride by them.

But you have to question whether we are worrying about rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic with this point, when you consider that by simply not choosing the best deal for your energy, you could be adding £250 a year to your household bills. Essentially, you are volunteering for a rise in your bills, because it is now so easy to check the best deal you can access using an online comparison service.

Given that energy is also a postcode lottery – where the same company will charge customers in different areas different amounts for the same energy – you should really double check the amount you are paying. With so much money available to save, there is no need to pay more than you have to.

Alison Steed

Alison Steed is the editor and co-founder of the personal finance website for women MyMoneyDiva.com


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