Gas prepayment meter servic charges

essexkatie

hi all,
im with npower for both my gas and electric, my gas is a prepayment meter, and i get charged a service charge.

i have not used my gas for at least 6 months and my boiler has been off, as my hot water runs off the electric i didnt need to top up my gas meter.
on my meter it says i owe £72.88, i have never owed money on the meter and i havent used the emergency as its all been off for the summer

when i speak to npower they always tell me its a service charge, how can they charge me a service charge when i havent used the meter, and now it is getting colder i need to have the heating onbut i cant untill i pay it all off.

has any1 else had this problem or could tell me what i can do, i have looked into switching but i have no idea where to start.

katie

Pink_fluff

There will be a weekly standing charge that comes off your meter. Say £1ish per week. You probably haven't noticed before, as your meter was in credit and you were topping up. But now you haven't topped up for the past few months - the meter will have accumulated this service charge.

SwanJon

Think of the standing charge like line rental - you pay it even if you don't use the phone.