Martin Lewis issues advice on how EDF, British Gas and Octopus customers can claim back £180

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has urged energy firm customers to “ask for it back” as they could be owed up to £180 by the company.

Monthly Direct Debits - which allow customers to pay the same amount every month throughout the year - go through a cycle were users generally build up debt in the winter and credit over the summer months.

Martin Lewis explained that early May is the bottom of the cycle where you shouldn’t have much credit.

Therefore, “if you've done an up-to-date meter reading (or your smart meter has), your bill is up to date, and your Direct Debit is the right level, now is the perfect time to see if you've too much energy credit.

”Energy firms are sitting on over £3 billion of our cash - around £180 per household. And a decent whack of that should be back in people's pockets.”

If you have more than month’s worth of energy credit, it is worth asking for it back.

Energy firms may throw lots of reason to hold onto the cash, including timing, but by checking now, customers can defeat the timing excuse and make the process a lot easier.