prepayment electric meters - any experience?

dreamcatcher73

Just had the most ridiculous conversation with British Gas about my outstanding electricity bill.

I owed them £88 and because I couldn't pay it it has now become £120 with late payment charges added on.

I phoned them today to ask how they could help me as I don't have the full amount now, wanted to pay by dd monthly to clear arrears etc but the woman I spoke to was so unhelpful! I'm sure was just reading from a script as she just kept repeating that I had to give her a payment by debit card immediately or I would be cut off. Kept explaining to her that I had no money and couldn't do this, but she wasn't listening!

Gave her the up to date meter reading and she said my debt to them was now HUGE and I had to pay today! I asked how much in total and she said £228.00 - If that's a HUGE amount then the £27,000 I went bankrupt for must be the equivilant to the National Debt! lol

Anyway, she said my option was to go on a prepayment meter, which I agreed to - one less bill to pay, but then went on to say that I would have to give them some money today before they would do it! I was kind of losing the will to live by now and I told her that not to worry, I would just switch providers today and they could swing for their money! That changed her mind and suddenly she was able to put me on prepayment without me giving them a penny.

It does leave me with having to pay them £8 a week to clear the arrears but I can live with that.

Anyway, after that waffle, does anyone else have a prepay? and how much does it usually cost a week to keep the house lit? lol

Thought it was quite amusing that they give you £5 emergency credit to get you going, I'm sure that would last about 5 minutes in my house :rotfl:

Anyway, going to turn all my lights on now and the washing machine and the tumble dryer and anything electrical I can find, and leave them on until next saturday when they come and fit the new meter!

ladylumps45

hi dreamcatcher
we have a prepayment meter that was in our house when we moved in.
its a 3 bed house,normal size and theres 2 adults,a baby and a 12 year old living here.we have a dishwasher on twice a day,washing machine twice a day.basically something is always on and it costs us about 10 a week.hope this helps!this cost is with no debt tho added on.

jenni75

Dreamcatcher,

When did you go br? if it was since your last bill you could give them the date of your br and request that they send you a bill up to that date. Then you let your OR know, who should be able to put it into your br. (As you are not permitted to pay any debts/bills from pre br date)

Sorry not sure of your br date, but just a thought.

We have pre payment meters for gas elec, small 3 bed house(semi). Our gas has been 25-30 £perwk and elec 25 £perwk, although gas now about 20 per wk. It is expensive but I think there is a company called ebcio(?) who dont charge the rental for the key meters.

Jen

dreamcatcher73

Hi lady, thanks for that info, sounds pretty much like my house, always something on! During the day, it's only me here, so can sit in silence with all the lights switched off! After school it becomes mayhem, pc's on, tv on etc etc. Will just have to train the kids to turn stuff off when they aren't using them, son is a sod for leaving his pc on then going up to his bedroom for 3 hours!

jenni75

Just looked at your posts and think you went br at end of Feb? so you should only be paying for March gas and electric used.

dreamcatcher73

I went BR on 25th February, the bill was for december and January - i didn't include it in the BR as I fully intended to pay it, had a gas bill at the same time and paid that.

That is for only part of what I owe them now, the rest is for the next bill which is due in a couple of weeks

Do I have to include it in BR? Would rather just pay it and not have any hassle from supplier

dreamcatcher73

If I do this, will they keep me on? Don't want to change suppliers, will I get in trouble for paying the gas bill?

If I don't tell OR would they ever find out?

jenni75

No dont think they would find out, but if they are putting you on key meters, what's the point of paying the debt. Most people would only take a little debt with them into br from energy suppliers to avoid the keymeter situation.

You don't have to change suppliers just because you have included a debt with them in br.

I would ask for the bill up to 25 Feb, they may estimate it then include it in your br. You've got nothing to lose if you are having key meters installed anyway, other than a weekly repayment amount which surely you dont want to have anyway! But thats me personally!

glam_jan_56

we av payment meter for electric an gas, we asked for them in, cos no bill we really dont notice cos you are in control, no bill and if you are having a bad week you can cut down that week. you may pay a little more not much.. but no bill, so no hassle. also better than paying d.d. every month,as in summer you pay for gas you are not using.as in summer with meter, you can catch up with your debt.

spenderblender

Jenni I was with Ebico who make all this fuss that you don't pay for these things but, I was putting 15-20 quid a week in the gas and electric meter. I have changed over to e-on who also give you tesco clubcard points for what you spend and I now put in £10 per week in each and actually have credit left when I put my next tenner in.
I also live in two bed with hubby and two kids, one of which is a teen and they have tv and computers on in their rooms.

Bethankim

We were with british gas when we moved into our flat and it was easily costing 15 - 20 a week..we changed to scottish power and our electricity is down to an average of 8 a week and gas about 5.

i could change to a credit meter but right now with our finances so stretched im happy on a pre payment meter because we can budget for it more easily.