e-On want £100 to convert gas & elec meters from pre-payment to billing type

Half_Price_Sky

We're currently with e-on and are spending a fortune on gas and electric on pre-payment meters. We need to do something to save a bit more money so figured that changing to a standard billing type meter would be more beneficial. Will also need to have a look at tariffs / other companies too.

My girlfriend rang e-on this afternoon to enquire about converting both of the meters over to the billing type but they wanted £50 to convert each one (£100 total).

I know for fact that other people have converted their meters with e-on, and maybe other companies, for free but today they were having none of it.

I told my girlfriend before hand to threaten to cancel if they didn't play ball but they still weren't interested instead saying that and any other company we switch to would only charge us aswell.

Is there any way to get round this, maybe to make e-on back down on the charges or another supplier who would do the switch for free?

Vestra

Change to a supplier that will change them for free, threatening to cancel does nothing as the advisor honestly couldn't care less about you switching (different story once you do switch).

MoneyMiser

Which ever company you contact make sure you make your intentions clear that as soon as you have switched to them that you want to get rid of the pre-payment meters. If they say they can do this for free then happy days but get it in writing as the sales people will say anything to get your business.

MM

turtlemoose

I had the same problem with Scottish Power, but they wanted £120 for one meter!!!!! yikes!!! I just kept ringing back (using a freephone number from saynoto0870!) every now and then, eventually I got through to a NICE person in their call centre, who said she would book it for me WITHOUT the charge.....so in my case it was simple persistance and a bit of luck with who I got through to on the phone....but they did it in the end!

willowtreebrae

Hi,

I've just been in touch with Eon myself regarding changing my prepayment meter to a credit one and I've been told that I have to pay £50 for installation and I had to set up payments by direct debit. The monthly direct debit would be £89!!!!!!!!!!!! which is more than I currently put into my meter. Am I required by law to agree to this direct debit in order to change my meter or can I pay when I receive my quarterly bills.

Magentasue

willowtreebrae wrote: »

Hi,

I've just been in touch with Eon myself regarding changing my prepayment meter to a credit one and I've been told that I have to pay £50 for installation and I had to set up payments by direct debit. The monthly direct debit would be £89!!!!!!!!!!!! which is more than I currently put into my meter. Am I required by law to agree to this direct debit in order to change my meter or can I pay when I receive my quarterly bills.

This has been discussed this week - it's up to the supplier how you pay. They may offer you quarterly billing if you have a good credit score and you've been with them a while. Some tariffs are DD only, some are quarterly billing too but, as the supplier is giving you credit, it's up to them if they want to take the risk.

You can always get the DD adjusted after a few months once they have a realistic idea of how much energy you need to budget for.

Half_Price_Sky

My girlfriend also mentioned some conflicting reports of some of e-Ons call centre reps saying that we had to be on a pre-payment meter for at least 12 months before they'd consider moving us over.

We've only been on a pre-payment meter since moving into our new house last May but she was on normal billing meters for several years in her old house before that.

Where do we stand on that then?

Magentasue

Half_Price_Sky wrote: »

My girlfriend also mentioned some conflicting reports of some of e-Ons call centre reps saying that we had to be on a pre-payment meter for at least 12 months before they'd consider moving us over.

We've only been on a pre-payment meter since moving into our new house last May but she was on normal billing meters for several years in her old house before that.

Where do we stand on that then?

It would probably make more difference if your gf had an account with eon but you can but ask.

credit_crunch_victim

eon said the same to me so i ended our conversation there and then and switched to BG
they took over my electricity supply first then that morning i booked in the meter change which was done 1 week later for free
they changed my gas meter within 1 week and now we are on there click energy 6 package

Dannii_B

There are quite a few credit management guidelines (as I would imagine there are with other companies) which is all based around a good credit history, so if you've been there over 12 months on PP meters, or had a previous property with credit meters and been supplied by E.On, they'll most likely look at changing them for you, sometimes without the charge.

But fixed direct debit is one of the criteria of getting them changed as well as an external credit check and sometimes the £50 charge.

Alias_Omega

When we bought the council house, we changed from pre-payment to quarterly meters,

We had to pay a bond / deposit on the accounts. I think it was about £275 to british gas which is due back to us soon.

It was free to change over. Ensure you write down what is on the meters before they are removed, as it may not be credited to your account as apparently, 'its on another system' or so as they tell / told us.