Just moved in with a prepayment meter

corbyboy

I have just moved into a house that has a prepayment meter for both gas and electric. It is with e.on.

The landlord says he is happy for me to have the meters removed and standard ones put in, but I am not sure whether to do it or not. In the short time I have been here I have noticed that I actively monitor it quite regularly and sometimes just turn the heating off if I think I am using too much gas. I know that prepayment meters are a little more expensive but I think having a balance displayed in front of me is helping me to keep the bills lower than what they might be with a standard meter.

Are there any drawbacks that people think I should be aware of? How does changing supplier work with a prepayment meter, and is there really much of a difference in their tarrifs? How do price changes work? According to e.on's website price changes can only be updated when I put credit on the key/card. What happens if I go 3 weeks between topping up the meter?

Thanks for any input.

Cardew

Not much difference these days between pre-pay and the 'Standard' tariff of companies.

However the best internet dual fuel tariffs are considerably cheaper.

Changing meters depends on the company. They all will check your credit rating as they are potentially offering you credit of £hundreds.

Some charge for new credit meters, others don't.

viv0147

Change as soon as you can prepayment meters are a big rip-off

Premier_2

viv0147 wrote: »

Change as soon as you can prepayment meters are a big rip-off

Why???

PPMs are often charged at the same or similar rate to credit meters standard pay on receipt of bill tariffs nowadays ... sometimes even cheaper

Eon, the existing supplier, will charge about £50 per meter if they agree to switch the meters (and possibly a refundable security deposit too)

The OP can switch do comparisons & supplier in exactly the same way whether it is a credit or pre-payment meter

mattcanary

It is not easy to get EON to remove a prepayment meter; many other suppliers will remove one if you pass their credit-check (in my experience, these checks are not that stiff).
I would say a pretty important drawback with prepayment meters is that if the meter breaks and you aren;t able to charge it - you may well be without power until the supplier (or one of their reps) comes out to your home to repair or replace the meter. This means you do not have control of the situation. It is not that unusual for meters to break - especially digital ones (which prepayment meters are).
I'd say this is an often overlooked serious disadvantage

spiro

If you are not good a budgetting etc then a ppm is a good way of keeping a lid on spending in the same way as a PAYG mobile phone is. Years ago ppm were only used by companies when people are in debt. Today about 80% of ppm meters are used as PAYG meters i.e. no debt collection.

You also have to factor in how long you think you are going to be there. Two exchanges at £50 doesn't make sense if you are only going to be there 6 months because it might exceed any savings. You also need to consider that you are now over the worst time of year for ppm when you are using a lot more gas than at any other time of the year.

You may have also noticed that most of the recent price reductions related to suppliers standard tariff (to which ppm is linked) as that allows them to quote high percentages whilst only impacting a small percentage of their customers.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi corbyboy,

I just wanted to let you know the guidelines E.ON work to when removing pre-payment meters.

If the property is rented the tenant will need to have been there for 12 months, before the meters can be considered to be taken out.

There is a cost of £50 to remove each meter, to cover the cost of the appointment.

An external credit check will need to be passed.

A Direct Debit will need to be set up for future usage.

The unit cost on a pre-payment meter is a similar rate to credit meters and standard prices.

Some customers do like to have pre-payment meters as it helps them to budget and monitor the usage.

Changing suppliers is just the same when you have a pre-payment meter, you can just approach your preferred supplier and initiate the switch.

Your pre-payment meter will be up dated with price changes electronically, the message is sent to the device in the shop, so when you top up this is transferred to your key/card, once you have put your payment key/card in the meter it recognises the new prices. This can take around 3 seperate top ups at the same shop.

If you are not ready to top up when there has just been a price change, just top up £1.

If you need any more info, just let me know.

Helena

corbyboy

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

If the property is rented the tenant will need to have been there for 12 months, before the meters can be considered to be taken out.

Thanks a lot for the information. Would this still be the case if the landlord initiated having the meters removed?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena wrote: »

Your pre-payment meter will be up dated with price changes electronically, the message is sent to the device in the shop, so when you top up this is transferred to your key/card, once you have put your payment key/card in the meter it recognises the new prices. This can take around 3 seperate top ups at the same shop.

If you reduced your prices and I didn't top up the meter for, say, 2 weeks, would my prices be reduced retrospectively?

spiro

corbyboy wrote: »

If you reduced your prices and I didn't top up the meter for, say, 2 weeks, would my prices be reduced retrospectively?

:rotfl: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

corbyboy

spiro wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Why is that so funny? Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly.

Say E.ON's rate changed on 1 April but I didn't top up my meter until 15 April, will they refund the difference since I have been charged extra for 2 weeks?

Since E.ON's representative said this might take 3 payments at the same shop for the price to be updated, I don't want to be charged too much for too long.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi corbyboy,

If the landlord initiated the switch, the account would need to be in their name, payment, credit checks and a Direct Debit for future payments would all then have to be set up by the landlord. This would make the landlord completely responsible for paying the bills on behalf of the tenant, which I think many would not do.

If you didn't top up your meter after a price change, you would be paying the old prices on your meter until you do top up.

But, your actual account with E.ON will have been up dated with the new prices so your charges would reflect this and show on your statement.

Therefore, we can work out the difference in payment on incorrect prices and credit you back.

Helena