It seems that the energy companies are stuffing millions of pounds into their deposit accounts by fixing our direct debit payments too high.

According to the consumer magazine Which?, 70% of account holders are in credit with their electricity and gas providers. As a result the energy companies are sitting on a pile of cash which you and I own! And they don’t pay us interest on our credit balances – but you can bet your bottom dollar that they are receiving interest on their cash mountain.

Energy companies are supposed to calculate our direct debit payments on an estimate of our annual consumption and divide that by twelve. But the power industry doesn’t seem too good at maths! Which? Found that 20% of us who are in credit were owed more than £100 and 10% were owed more than £200. This has led to complaints that clients are being ripped off.

This anger about over payments has been increased because of the failure of power companies to pass on the full benefit of a 50% fall in the cost of wholesale energy prices since last summer.

As you might have guessed, the Energy Retailers Association has denied a charge of profiteering by over-charging through direct debits. Nevertheless, the industry’s regulator Ofgem, has taken an interest. It has launched an investigation following complaints by MP’s and consumer groups.

Bur wheels grind exceedingly slow. The energy companies are in no hurry to sort this out and I doubt whether Ofgem will get up early to investigate. After all who heard of a quasi-government department getting their skates on?