Pre-payment Gas Meter Problem

fedup100pc

That’s only half the story though. I don’t owe that amount in reality. Prior to the utility company taking over my previous utility company I was making regular payments at the post office. Then problems occurred because the utility company payments which they received at their end didn’t tally with the payments I had made. In other words, there was a problem with their technology of sending and receiving payments and they claimed not to have received something like a third of the payments I had made and had receipts for. No doubt this subject has been discussed before.

I am a victim of their incompetence many times over, but trying to explain things to their useless call centre staff is rather like nailing jelly to a ceiling. They’d even make a parson swear with their nonchalance.

lyndac40

I would check the meter and make sure they are only taking a £1 a week maybe they have got it wrong again and are taking £10 instead.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

fedup100pc wrote: »

I’m wondering if any of your members can shine any light on this problem that is causing me a great deal of distress. A couple of weeks ago, to give an example, if I had £3.00 credit on my pre-payment Gas meter, the £3.00 would last me abut 3-4 days using the gas cooker and gas central heating for roughly 2-3 hours per day. The following day though I noticed that the meter was taking off about £1.00-per-hour if I was cooking or heating the house for only “one” hour. A massive difference.

I’ve contacted my energy supplier who claims the only thing that has changed is that they have done away with the standing change and recalculated the meter to take the money off in a different way by adjusting the unit price of the gas (I think that is what they said, you’d need to be a genius to understand how they explain it). I know that something drastically has changed for my meter to be gobbling up that amount of money. My supplier, however, is denying this and I feel as if I’m banging my head against brick wall. I’m absolutely desperate for help. I’m freezing cold.

Hi fedup100pc

I can well understand how upsetting it is to see money swallowed up as soon as it is put on to the meter. From this and subsequent posts, I thought I might be able to offer a couple of reasons as to why this is happening in the way it is.

Kim has already mentioned about the change in our gas prepayment pricing policy. The replacement of Standing Charges with two tier pricing earlier this year will, I believe, have contributed to your situation.

Thought it might help if I try and put some flesh on the bones of this new policy so to speak.

Prepayment gas customers now pay 6.525p per kWh for the first 670 kWh used each quarter and then 3.407p for each kWh used after this.

A quarter is 91.25 days and begins when the meter picks up the price change message sent electronically. This follows the purchase of credit and may take up to 4 separate vends to pick up.

During each quarter you will not be charged for more than 670 kWh at the higher rate. This is applied on a daily basis and your meter charges the first 7.34 kWh at 6.525p each at 2am every day.

Any usage over 7.34 kWh is then charged at the lower rate.

Where usage is low, the meter may need to re-calculate units previously charged at the lower rate to increase to the higher rate as you go through the quarter. However, as I said above, this will be up to a maximum of 670 kWh each quarter.

During periods when no or little gas has been used there may not be enough credit on the meter to allow the full collection of usage at the higher rate. This will be deferred and then recouped the next time you top up.

Also, if usage stops for a period and then re-starts the meter knows how many days into the quarterly cycle you are. It will then calculate gas used at the higher rate for the number of days into the quarter.

For example, if you use no gas for 10 days and then 250 kWh, the first 73 kWh will be at the higher rate. This can show up as a big chunk coming off any credit added to the meter.

This is one possibility why your credit is being eaten up. Another may be the debt on your meter.

You say the debt collection rate has been changed a couple of times recently. It may be the message changing the rate had not been picked up when credit was added. This would have led to collection at the higher rate.

Also, if you have not been putting credit on the meter during the summer the debt will have continued to build. The arrears will then be collected when you top up.

Re-payment of Emergency Credit works in a similar way.

If any of the above apply to your case then a proportion of any credit added to the meter will go towards re-paying these arrears. This is done on a 70/30 split with 70 per cent going towards the arrears and 30 per cent to ongoing gas usage.

For peace of mind, it might be an idea to check the settings on your meter. If you would like to post them on here I will be happy to check them for you.

I am sorry this is a long answer to your question but hope it helps explain what might have happened in your case.

There are a couple of points raised in other posts which I will try and answer separately rather than lengthen this post any further.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

fedup100pc wrote: »

Today the meter was about £4 in credit and I did as Kim suggested earlier and put £2 on the meter with plans to put a further £2 on every day. (Remember, I have already paid this week’s £1.05 debt to my supplier when I put £20 on the meter on Fri.)As soon as I put the card in the meter, though, it gobbled up 80p of that £2 (only adding £1.20 to the existing £4 for gas) and I can’t find out why. Why is it taking money off all ways?

I also checked the meter reading before I went to bed the other night and checked it again in the morning, and, once again, 40p (I think it was that amount) had disappeared off the credit even though no gas is used through the night.

Hello again fedup

Our standard gas prepayment meters start their week at 2am every Wednesday morning. This is when any debt, emergency credit or under charged higher rate payments are calculated.

However, the meter will not take the money then. Instead, the debt is taken the next time the card is charged up and put in the meter. If this is before Wednesday then it will take the debt on the Wednesday as well.

This is possibly what happened when you topped up yesterday.

As I posted above, any arrears are collected on a 70/30 split so you always have credit for gas.

If there is not enough credit available to cover the full arrears the meter calculates are due that week then the balance is carried over until the next top up.

Malc

Premier_2

fedup100pc wrote: »

I was paying back £5-per-week on the meter a month ago, then I asked my supplier to reduce this to £3-per-week a couple of weeks ago because my financial circumstances changed. Because of the amount of money the meter seems to be taking off more recently, however, I have asked my supplier to reduce this to £1-per-week which they have done.

I owe something like £1200 and I know it is an impossible amount to pay off therefore I’m between a rock and a hard place. I have to stay with my supplier whether I like it or not. I have even suggested to them that if they remove the meter I will pay the £1 debt and my existing gas by direct debit but they’re having none of it. They seem to be a law upon themselves these utility companies.

Let me get this right.

You owe your supplier £1200. That presumably accumulated, as least in the main, by you at one time having a credit meter and you not paying the bills for what you had consumed.

By your own admission, you are struggling to pay off the debt and have regularly asked to reduce the repayments which your supplier/creditor has agreed to do. In fact the most you say you can afford is £1 per week.
At the current low repayment rate, it's going to take you over 23 years to pay off the debt.

Are you genuinely surprised why your latest suggestion for more uncontrolled credit (a credit meter) has therefore been refused? :think:

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

fedup100pc wrote: »

That’s only half the story though. I don’t owe that amount in reality. Prior to the utility company taking over my previous utility company I was making regular payments at the post office. Then problems occurred because the utility company payments which they received at their end didn’t tally with the payments I had made. In other words, there was a problem with their technology of sending and receiving payments and they claimed not to have received something like a third of the payments I had made and had receipts for. No doubt this subject has been discussed before.

I am a victim of their incompetence many times over, but trying to explain things to their useless call centre staff is rather like nailing jelly to a ceiling. They’d even make a parson swear with their nonchalance.

I'm really sorry you have had bad experiences when talking to our call centre staff fedup.

May I suggest you write to our Director's Office. The address will be on your statements. Enclose copies of the receipts you mention and ask for a complaint to be raised.

An investigation will then take place into where the missing payments have gone. Once found, they will be credited to your account and a message sent to the meter to reduce the debt by the same amount.

The key here is the receipts. They will allow us to trace the missing payments.

If you are not happy with the response from the Director's Office then, after 56 days, you can refer the matter to the Ombudsman.

Again, I am sorry you were unhappy with previous responses but hope this helps a little.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

fedup100pc wrote: »

I’ve been round the house today and turned off all but two of the radiators to save gas, and, without fail, I now wear my coat in the house all day and every day. I close blinds and use thick curtains. It is also impossible for me to pay the debt off as I can only afford £1 per-week and I owe about £1200, so I’m stuck with my unsympathetic supplier.

One other thing that is really worrying me, though, is that I already suffer from mental health problems and I have noticed in the last few days that being freezing cold all the time is making me very irritable, even angry. I’m not sure I could survive the winter at this rate. I feel as if I’m close to having a mental breakdown.

Sounds like you are already taking steps to cut back on your usage fedup. This might be an area we can help with.

We have an Energy Efficiency team who specialise in advising people how they can cut back on their usage. Give them a call with a list of your appliances. They will be happy to help.

Ask them for a copy of a booklet called 100 ways to save money by saving energy. It's free and contains some really useful advice.

Check out our website; particularly the interactive house, energy menu and 10:10 campaign. There are some good tips there too.

If you have health issues, make sure you are on our Priority Services Register.

It might also benefit you to have a word with our Caring Energy team. They will make sure you are receiving the products, services and benefits you may be entitled to.

I don't know what area you are in but there is help available with utility bills for people who live in certain districts through the Water Trust Funds.

We work with Severn Trent, United Utilities and Southern Water to help provide debt relief in certain circumstances. If your water is provided by any of these companies you may be eligible for help.

Can't make any promises fedup but certainly worth talking to Caring Energy to see if you qualify.

Hope this helps. Give me a shout if you need more info. Always happy to help.

Malc

fedup100pc

No, the debt was accrued because my energy supplied claimed not to have received payments made though the post office even though we had receipts showing that £10-per-week had been paid. Had that problem been sorted out we would have owed a lot less than we do now. It hasn’t been sorted out because, and, as I have already explained in an earlier post, trying to get call centre staff to understand things is like trying to push water uphill with your little finger.


Also, far from my earlier suggestion being rather barmy, I thought it made financial sense for both me and my supplier to agree to me paying the £1-per-week debt off and my current gas usage by direct debit and take the meter out. I’ll explain it this way.


At the moment it is costing me a small fortune putting money on the prepayment gas meter, as a result, I am using very little gas. We all know it is much more expensive for the customer to obtain the gas through a prepayment meter. Therefore if it is costing me lots of money for very little gas usage then common sense will tell you that I can only pay back £1-per-week for the debt, and, let’s say, £10-per-week for gas usage. That is £11-per-my energy supplier is getting per week from me.

However, if my energy supplier took the meter out then I would be able to use more gas (because the gas usage would work out cheaper than having a meter) and my energy supplier would get more money per week from me (probably around £15), along with a likely increase on the £1 debt repayment because I would be in a better financial position.

Malc, there is something I don’t understand about your comments. On the one hand you are praising me for turning the radiators off to save on gas (which in case you hadn’t noticed means I’m absolutely freezing). While, on the other hand, eon will penalise me by taking more money of me via the pre-payment meter if I do not use a certain amount of gas per week. It is an absolutely crazy situation pre-payment meter users find themselves in.

C_Mababejive

fedup100pc...i wonder what happened to all the money you paid initially but which havent turned up in your account?. Did this happen when you first moved in? Did you use a card that was already in the meter i.e not your own new card?

Could this money be stranded in an orphaned account somewhere? Either way,you piad it over the counter and someone has it but who?

Do you still have all the receipts?

fedup100pc

Yes, I still have the receipts (I think). I suspect the money is up in the ether. The post office claim the money was sent via the then powergen card and eon claimed not to have received it. It’s vanished into thin air.