Pre-paid electric meter

marc3

My wife has a buy to let property with 'normal' electricity supply chargeable to the tenants on account.

The tenants have acted on their own accord and applied to have meter changed to pre-paid.
We are not 'jumping up and down 'about it; but would prefer this not to occur.

Our tenants and the electrical company have both said that the tenants are allowed to do this; and that as the electicity account is in the tenants name; they can in effect 'make the rules' on this.

Is that correct ?

HelenYorkshire

It may depend on the company involved, but when I enquired as a tenant a couple of years ago, they said I would be allowed, but it would be wise to check with landlord as it would be a permanent change?
I don't know how accurate this is though.

On the plus side, at least your tenants are anticipating and/or dealing with potential financial difficulties

lonestar1

So long as they agree to have it converted back when they leave I cant see a problem (Must point out to them though that its one of the most expensive ways to buy electricity)

clutton_2

depending on the supplier this could cause problems way down the line. i inherited a house with a prepayment and needed power for the refurbishment. The suppliers (Scottish power) wanted copies of my house deeds (and this was earlier on this year, so it shows how not up to date SP is ) or a tenancy agreement for the new tenant. The only way round it was to issued a tenancy agreement to my builder so that he could get a pre-payment card and then go put money on it to get power, and then charge me the earth for fuel costs !!!!

but - i dont think you can legitimately object to having a meter installed - but i suggest you talk to your tenant as to the supplier.

(This is the part of my business i hate the most - dealing with the utlitities - well next to council call centre HB staff that is)

eco-friendly_2

Nothing you can do about it! apart from advising tenants what a con these meters are, :eek:


When I get a property back and phone scottish power to get shot of one of these things, I always get the feeling I'm being classed as a 'second classed citizen' maybe it's just my imagination. :rolleyes:

benjo

Had dealings with these type of meters twice, once I moved into accomodation provided by my employer that had a pre paid electricity meter fitted, it wasnt a problem getting it removed as I had been paying by direct debit with no problems for years at my previous address. (No gas in the village where I moved to).

When I moved back to my previous house, which had been rented out for 3 years the tenant had had a prepayment gas meter fitted and I had holy hell with British Gas to get them to replace it. Since I hadnt been paying for gas for 3 years I was 'unknown' to them - despite paying for the British Gas service each year for gas/boiler and central heating system, I had to fax all sorts of ID over them so they could 'consider' changing it. I got fed up of waiting for them, asked my electricity supplier to supply duel fuel, they changed the meter within a couple of weeks. I got a letter from British Gas 4 months later offering to change the meter!!!

All in all I probably lived with a prepayment meter for about 5 weeks in total and I really hated the damn things - Im not organised enough to to keep feeding the beasts and I really object to highway robbery!

mlz1413

I came across tenants that had to have a prepayment because they were already in debt with gas and elec, as others have said try buying cards for the damn things when the tenants leave can send you grey!

The units also clock up a daily standing charge so run up debts even in empty properties and then need resetting when they go past the emergency credit. I think its normal that the utility company clear off any debt run up by a property being empty but I've had really limited experience of these so this may just have been a nice engineer.

If you really don't want them I'd put in writing to tenants that whilst you agree that they can pay for utilities any way they wish that the meter must be returned to normal type inline with when they started the tenancy. It maybe a good idea to add these meters type to your inventory too.

Clutton if you come across this again get your builder to run the electric off diesel generators, I had this when I bought my current house and the days (about 14 in total) inbetween getting the prepayments reset and then changed my builder had a couple of generators for power and industrial extention leads to each room, much much cheaper than tokens.

clutton_2

""Clutton if you come across this again get your builder to run the electric off diesel generators,"" great idea thanks mlz

sarah_elton

I rented a property which had a pre-payment meter, because the previous tenants had appalling credit histories and weren't allowed a normal meter. When I moved in, I phoned the electricity supplier and asked for a switch to a normal meter and they came and did it - no charge, no hassle.

Kylie

sarah_elton wrote: »

I rented a property which had a pre-payment meter, because the previous tenants had appalling credit histories and weren't allowed a normal meter. When I moved in, I phoned the electricity supplier and asked for a switch to a normal meter and they came and did it - no charge, no hassle.

Did you ask your landlord first? Is this a problem for them? I have been on a prepaid meter for a few years in current property - costing a FORTUNE!!!

Does it make a difference in your bills (let alone the hassle of it flicking off all the time!)