Prepayment / N Power Debt

Truncheon_2

Hi everyone, I currently have a prepayment meter for both my electricity and gas with N Power. When my husband and I separated I was left with a large debt with N Power, and eventually changed over to the prepayment method of paying for my electricity and gas.

I would like to get off these prepayment meters as soon as possible and rang N Power this morning to check the status of the debt. They told me that is was currently £600 for the electricity and would send me a letter with the details of the debt for the gas.

I also set up an online account with N Power this afternoon to keep track of everything, and after reading their website checked the electricity meter itself and it said a debt of £401 was still to be paid. I've emailed N Power asking for details of both debts, as well as details about how much of the debt is being paid off each month through prepayment.

Anyway I'd ideally like to transfer over to an online tariff since these seem to be the cheapest, but obviously need to clear the debt first.

I have some money put aside, should I clear the debt off in one go and transfer to an online tariff ASAP?

seafarers_wife

npower have recently changed their policy on changing pre payment meters. if the debt is paid off, and you meet the criteria you would need to speak to the meter exchange team and if they agree to you having the meter changed there could be a charge to have a billing meter put back in. you would need to pay the debt back first before they would even consider changing the meter. to check on the meter to see how much is owing, put your key into the meter and press the blue button until screen s shows on the meter, and this is the exact amount owing to the meter.

kjsmith7

If you can clear the balance, fantastic. Clear it and get a credit meter fitted. Whilst, for some suppliers, there is no difference between prepayment and credit meters is a pence-per-kWh-used basis, by being on prepayment you can't get Direct Debit discount and most of the best tariffs are closed to prepayment customers. Only stay on a prepayment meter if you prefer paying in advance to help budget, etc.

Add up your consumption in kWh for gas and electricity and do a comparison for prepayment and for credit meters on a direct debit and check that you're on the best deal. Once you've cleared the debt you'll be able to move if you want to/find a better deal else where.

PNPSUKNET

they may stop you due to the debt reason, even if paid to protect them

markharding557

Prepayment meters are actually quite good when there are no debts on them and are easy to manage when you have your consumption only to pay for.
You can also change supplier when your debt is gone