Electric key meter-is it worth it

24

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  • roswell
    roswell Posts: 2,447 Forumite
    The best bit is if your fridge / washer breaks you go past the shinny silver ones and go straight to the A rated cheapest cost unit and watch your bill drop in days, same with energy saving bulbs, look at your useage for a few days then replace with energy saving bulbs and see the savings roll in. Iv seen some phillips energy saver bulds in home bargains £0.39 p i recon with in a month they could pay for them selves
    If it doesnt pay rent sell it.
    Mortgage - £2,000
    Updated - November 2012
  • i used to have the old card prepayment meter using about £13 a week now ive just had the new meter key and now using £25 a week something must be wrong here ..also my daughter has a quarterley bill all she pays is £6 aweek so how does a key meter cost much more than having a quarterly bill
  • i've got the key meter for electric run up a similar bill to you and was paying 10 a week plus electric for the week have just paid the debt off now 12 months later and if you tend to spend what youv'e got theyre a good idea it's hard getting into the routine but we worked out what we was using a week and used to put that on once a week wouldn't want to go back to dd as i now with this i won't get in trouble again
    :confused::confused::confused:
  • kriskin wrote: »
    i used to have the old card prepayment meter using about £13 a week now ive just had the new meter key and now using £25 a week something must be wrong here ..also my daughter has a quarterley bill all she pays is £6 aweek so how does a key meter cost much more than having a quarterly bill
    When did you have your old pre card meter read?
    It may be that you were on a wrong tariff because nobody read it and now you are paying it back bit by bit.
  • SwanJon
    SwanJon Posts: 2,333
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    ejones999 wrote: »
    When did you have your old pre card meter read?
    It may be that you were on a wrong tariff because nobody read it and now you are paying it back bit by bit.

    It could even be that you were paying on old prices, and the key meter has new (correct) prices 3 companies will also make you pay back the difference, 3 won't so it depends on who you are with.

    You can't really compare very well with othger people/houses as everyon uses electricity differntly.
    PP meters are more expensive, but cost more for the company to run, so they pass this on.
  • hI we also have a keypad meter for the electricity and have had it for years. We are very happy with it and it does make you think about keeping lights on etc when not needed. We also have gas here so we pay with a little card too and buy it from our shops locally and we find this a real help too and we keep an eye on it so we don't have a bill coming and we prefer this way. Many years ago we owed a few hundred pounds(electricity) and it was very tight for us then and the man came out and set the meter so we were paying a small amount each week off the debt and it soon went down, and we really found it helped us. Good luck
    Do a little kindness every day.;)
  • achtunglady
    achtunglady Posts: 1,459 Forumite
    We have a key meter, have always had one and £25 lasts us a month, we use electric for cooking, tv, computer, washing machine etc but our heating is gas central heating. We have no debt on it and were debating on whether to change to a quarterly meter, but looking at some of the posters on here and seeing how much they put on their meters and the lady whose daughter pays £6 a week on dd makes me think twice. When hubby gets paid once a month, he puts £30 just to cover any emergency or if we cant get to top up the key instead of running into the emergency and risk it running right out.
    And yes the lady in the avatar is me

    Slimming World started 12/5/11 : Starting weight 12st 3lb
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  • I get paid monthly, we put £40 on the gas meter thing, and £40 onto the electric meter.

    We want to get off onto the quarterly meter system as we feel that we are paying too much.
  • I've had them in the past and hate them - they're more expensive, and you have to remember to check them / get them charged up. That's fine for some people, but a nightmare for me.

    Depends on your priorities. Do you want:

    a) To be forced to budget well and repay your debts
    or
    b) To pay the lowest tariffs and know that your electric will always continue to run without effort on your part.

    If a) is the priority, get a key... but if b) appeals, don't! I owe my leccy company about £800 at the last count, and they've been very reasonable and courteous in setting up a payment plan - no "collections department" involvement at all.
    Mortgage | £145,000Unsecured Debt | [strike]£7,000[/strike] £0 Lodgers | |
  • panavia
    panavia Posts: 112 Forumite
    On a positive side. If you have a the token meter, once the meter runs out of credit the electric/gas will go off. With the token meter, the electric/gas will not switch off after 6pm at night, or 6am in the morning (I am not positive about the morning time) It will also not go off over the weekend. You will still pay for the added extra emergency power used when you do top up though. So at least you will not be left without power outside shop opening times.
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