Changing Prepayment meter for ordinary bill meter - Help pls

travel_freak

Hello

Friends of ours has just moved into a new rented flat. There is a prepayment meters which currently has no key and debt on the meter - so they have no electricity!

They have called the company supplying (EON) and asked if they will change the meter to a normal meter.

EON say their policy is not to change a meter for at least 6-12 months and even then they will charge to change it. They say this is a policy for all rented flats due to problems with people disappearing off and leaving bills behind.

Friends are worried because prepayment meters always cost more to run and they are on a low income.

Please does anyone know if there is a way EON can be held bound to change the meter? If not, are there any other suppliers who they could switch to who would put in an ordinary meter, preferably without charge for doing so?

Many thanks in advance.

CloudedPearl

It is common practice for all suppliers to request a security deposit be paid before a prepayment meter is removed, particularly if you have not previously been one of their customers - clarify with them if it is a refundable deposit they are requesting or a non-refundable charge they are making for the meter to be changed.

EDF have aligned their prepayment prices with their standard quarterly prices and Scottish Power's prepayment prices are lower than than their standard quarterly prices so it may be beneficial to switch to one these suppliers and keep the prepayment meter.

However, be wary of switching to another supplier under the premise that they will remove your prepayment meter without levying either a charge or a deposit for this - you may be advised of this by a sales agent to clinch the sale but you will more than likely find that you will then be requested to pay a security deposit to have the prepayment meter removed.

Magentasue

Our situation was a bit different but we bought a house with a prepay meter and tried to change it - it was several years back but I think there was some issue about delay/deposit or whatever. So we tried our old supplier and they changed it free of charge and put us on normal billing straight away. If your friend has a good payment record with a previous supplier, that may be worth a try.