Domestic energy customer credit balances, January 2024 to December 2024

Data
Publication date
Industry sector
Supply and Retail Market

Related links

Live domestic energy customer accounts in credit, by households who pay by fixed Direct Debit, and credit held by energy suppliers. 

Main points 

  • In the year ending December 2024 the total customer credit balance in the market for people who pay for gas and electricity by fixed Direct Debit averaged at £3.28 billion. This is a reduction of £460 million from £3.74 billion reported in the year ending December 2023. When compared against our last reporting period of October 2023 to September 2024 this is a decrease of £246 million. 
  • Over the last 12 months the highest amount of credit (£4.58 billion) in customer energy accounts for those who pay by fixed Direct Debit is between July to September 2024 (Quarter 3).   
  • The average household credit balance for fixed Direct Debit customers across the 12 months ending December 2024 was £215, a decrease from £233 across the year ending December 2023. 
  • The average household energy account for fixed Direct Debit customers was in credit by £206 between October to December 2024, a decrease from £272 reported in the same period in 2023. 

Things you need to know

Energy suppliers’ customer credit balances are an important part of the retail energy market. Details about how energy suppliers should treat customer credit balances are included in the rules in energy licences that set out consumer standards and what suppliers must do to stay financially stable. 

The amount of credit that is held in energy accounts goes up and down during the year. Accounts will have more credit in them during the summer but then more is spent in the winter as more energy is used. Each household may have different experiences with how much credit they have on their balance at different times of the year. However, this is the trend that is seen across the energy sector. 

Data are for live domestic customers energy accounts that are held by people who pay for their gas and electricity by fixed Direct Debit and have paid for the energy they use.   

The data are for households whose energy account was in credit on the last day to each quarter from January 2024 to December 2024. 

Get data 

Get all the live energy domestic customer credit balances data in the retail market indicators data on our data portal. 

Methodology 

We have removed the amount of energy that has been used but not yet been paid for from the data, as well as any credit held by closed accounts, and those on non-domestic tariffs. 

By including the quarterly figure alongside the yearly average, we show how households use their balances to keep how much they pay the same throughout the year. 

Further information

This data is published at the end of March, June, September and December each year.