MSE News Story: Millions of prepay energy consumers overcharged

Vestra

Oh we got an internal brief about this at work, obviously I can't post it but it said that these claims are not backed by the industry or Ofgem and they don't care. It also mentions that it costs more to maintain the prepayment network.

1carminestocky

As long as you haven't overcharged your punters by more than £87 then you have no worries, lol. Having said that, your regulator is OFGEM so you have no real worries anyway (you just have to read the npower sculpting thread to realise what i'm saying is true). Having said that, once the EU get the bit between their teeth....

A_fiend_for_life

If there is to be recourse for a refund it should be given rather than applied for for the simple reason a significant proportion of people on prepayment meters might not get hold of this news.

Be interesting to hear what the government has to say about it as part of that extra cost eats in to winter fuel payments.

Joyful

Prepayment meters break down so need Engineer visits much more often than credit meters. It also costs the Energy company every time someone tops up. Include sending replacement keys and cards and you can begin to see where the costs of maintaining Prepayment meters comes in. I personally think that the majority of companies will be able to back up their charges against their costs so I hope no one spends any money in anticipation of a windfall.

1carminestocky

Joyful wrote: »

Prepayment meters break down so need Engineer visits much more often than credit meters. It also costs the Energy company every time someone tops up. Include sending replacement keys and cards and you can begin to see where the costs of maintaining Prepayment meters comes in. I personally think that the majority of companies will be able to back up their charges against their costs so I hope no one spends any money in anticipation of a windfall.

Ofgem has quoted an £87 figure. You also have to remember there are savings for the energy company with pre-pay meters which offset some of the costs...

lyndorset

When I moved into my HA house, it had a prepayment meter, I was told I could change it, when I contacted the electricity company, they missed the appointment and then told me it would cost me 85.00 to change the meter and electric would not be any cheaper (!). So we decided to stick with the meter, we were VERY surprised at how much we were using, much more than our old house, but that had gas central heating & hot water, this one is all electric & did not have heating. Recently we have noticed, despite the only change in usage being a reduction in lights (all have economy lightbulbs) that our weekly spend has gone down by a massive 2/3 or more. However when we went on holiday for a week, we used more electric than when we were here?!

Please is there anything I can do to get the overcharge back?

Prepay should be cheaper than any other method, due to it being prepay! Not more in the first place and then overcharged on top.

Vestra

1carminestocky wrote: »

Ofgem has quoted an £87 figure. You also have to remember there are savings for the energy company with pre-pay meters which offset some of the costs...

Sorry if I'm being silly but what savings?

adprob

WeeSlavey wrote: »

My 82 year old mother has only ever had prepay meters. I phoned Scottish Hydro Elecric to say I wanted the meter removed so she could go on to a competitive tariff. They said she'd have to pay £45 to remove the meter and a further £145 deposit and stay with the company for a further year. I said that my mother had overpaid them for years so shouldn't have to pay for the privilege of leaving them. They said TOUGH! I'd appreciate any advice about whether they are within their rights to do this.

Hi

I would double check on this. I had a paygo meter changed (by hydro) to credit without paying for a meter change and without paying a deposit. I know they ran a credit check before they agreed to take the meter out. I don't mean to be insensitive but does your mother have a good credit score? If she has never really had credit in her life, and a lot of people her age havent, then she could have virtually no score.

Let me know how you get one. :beer:

adprob

(i've posted this in another thread as well so apologies to those who get upset by tha)
The problem with this news article is it is one group stating this without the backing of OFGEM or the Govt. Without these 2 onside it will be hard to get a refund. Also the relevant European legislation was only passed in 2006 so you would need to find out when your supplier came in line with this. Once you know this you would be able to claim (if you can) for the period between the legislation being passed and your supplier coming in line with it.

andrew_c_6

i was charged £80 for gas+electric meters by scottish power on prepay .We also are being charged between £60 to £80 week for both utilities and were told that is normal for a 3 bedroom house