I am so cross! £210 to remove my pre payment meter!!! What shall i do? Please read

mattcanary

PS: I doubt there is any truth in SP's assertion that it is a new policy as from February. Utility companies seem to impose the restriction as and when they wish - and have done for many years. The person you spoke to was almost certainly fobbing you off

KimYeovil

mattcanary wrote: »

It is a disgrace in most cases that suppliers won;t remove a prepayment meter without a hefty deposit. If the customer has been in debt before with their utility bills, then that is a valid reason to refuse the request. Otherwise, there is no excuse. People cannot take advantage of special offers if they have a prepayment meter. This is unfair and a restrictive practice.

What utter rot. Has Tax Dodger assumed yet another identity?

mattcanary

Er, why is this rot? Nurse34 has prepayment meters. She did not ask for them to be fitted, nor did she have them fitted becasue of debts (or at least she didn't mention this). Why should she be penalised? I could just as well say that you work for a utility company, without informing anyone. For the record, I do not post on theis forum under any other name.
Just one question, why do you bother posting on this forum if all you can do is criticise posters, rather than offering any proper advice??!!

KimYeovil

I've ended up with a nasty cream bathroom suite. I prefer plastic avocado. Why should I have to pay to change the suite?

Nurse34 moved in to a property with the meters in place that were in place. He or she had to consider the inconvenience or cost of alterations when deciding whether or not to move there. Why should completely uninvolved parties (the supplier's other customers) have to cough up the money to change the meters?

mattcanary

Of course other customers shouldn't cough up. The utility company should cough up and some do seem to be prepared to do this in some cases. - without charging the rest of their customers more for the privilege. The comapnies earn large enough profits anyway. It would be good customer service to offer this facility. They are quick enough to provide incentives to new customers to sign up to them (if they pay by DD and often, receive bills via the internet).
I understand that prepayment meters don't exist in most European countries.
Some people like them, that's fine and it is an extra option for people. However, they should not be forced into having them. Plenty of people do not have a choice as to where they move into - council tenants for example, and prepayment meters are far more often than not in council or housing association homes (of course you'll assume that that all council tenants are the scum of the earth). It is normally people on a low income that have prepayment meters in their house - they are thus penalised further for being poor.
Of course, you wouldn't have a clue about that, would you?

Cardew

mattcanary wrote: »

Of course other customers shouldn't cough up. The utility company should cough up and some do seem to be prepared to do this in some cases. - without charging the rest of their customers more for the privilege. The comapnies earn large enough profits anyway. It would be good customer service to offer this facility. They are quick enough to provide incentives to new customers to sign up to them (if they pay by DD and often, receive bills via the internet).
I understand that prepayment meters don't exist in most European countries.
Some people like them, that's fine and it is an extra option for people. However, they should not be forced into having them. Plenty of people do not have a choice as to where they move into - council tenants for example, and prepayment meters are far more often than not in council or housing association homes (of course you'll assume that that all council tenants are the scum of the earth). It is normally people on a low income that have prepayment meters in their house - they are thus penalised further for being poor.
Of course, you wouldn't have a clue about that, would you?

Thanks clicked in error!!!

You seem to think that we still live in the age of 'The gas Board and Electricity Board'

Like it or not(and I don't particularly like it either) the Utility Companies are privatised companies in a competitive industry.

It should be their commercial decision who they have as customers and what sort of meter shall be fitted. If, for whatever reason, they decide that they do not want a customer to have a credit meter without certain conditions being met, then that is perfectly reasonable.

Nobody would dream of telling any other commercial company that they must offer credit, and spend money on their customers (as the Utility companies would have to do to change meters). Try telling Tesco, Asda etc that they must let people have credit. Tesco made more profit in the last 6 months than all the Utility companies put together - so if you argue that SP make big enough profits so that additional cost should be paid from those profits, why shouldn't Tesco be made to offer subsidies to poor people?

If, as you say, people should not be forced into having pre-pay meters, what is the alternative? Cut them off when they get into debt, or just let them continue to run up bills that they will never pay?

turtlemoose

back to the questions asked in the OP....Nurse34, give them another call. I was told the same thing as you, I was told there was no other option except to pay. I later had to ring them (a few weeks later) about some other matter, and happened to mention it to the (different to last time) advisor on the phone, and how I didn't really see why there is a charge when the direct debit will ensure no debt etc....she hummed and hahhed about it and then said "well ok I don't really see why not" and booked an appointment for me to have an engineer out to change the meter, free of charge, result!

I would recommend ringing them again and just trying to see if you get a different answer out of a different advisor.

mattcanary

Absolutely turtlemoose. There is no consistency between different advisers. If you try ringing again Nurse, you may well get a different, positive answer too.

Cardew - read my earlier posts fully. I said that if someone is in debt, the utility company is perfectly entitled to refuse a credit meter. If a customer is not, never has been in debt and did not ask for a prepayment meter in the first place, they should not be forced into keeping it.

Oh, and as I have stated in another thread paying by DD is in effect the same as having a prepayment meter, - you are paying for your supply before it has been billed. People don't pay for building work until they have received a bill, do they? That is as good an analogy as your comparing electric or gas supply to buying shopping in a supermarket.

Plushchris

mattcanary wrote: »

Oh, and as I have stated in another thread paying by DD is in effect the same as having a prepayment meter, - you are paying for your supply before it has been billed.

No its not, if you dont put credit on your prepayment meter you lights will go out, if you miss a DD payment they will stay on.

With a prepayment meter you pay for it as you use it, while you also do this paying by DD the company doesnt have the security of knowing you cant use what you cant pay for.

Tia_Maria06

When I moved into my Housing !!! home it already had pre-payment meters in and I thought that it would be ok, but at the moment I have my heating on twice a day for a couple of hours a time, and spend the day with a blanket on me or in bed (but thats due to illness too, but it is warmer there) I dont need a lot of hot water as I dont have a bath just an electric shower and I am using roughly £20 -£25 per week in gas.. i asked them to check the boiler which the HA did and that fine apparently. I only use about £8 tops in elec a week... I wanted my meter changed but they told me its gonna cost me, so I gave up.... Maybe I should try again