Scottish power prepayment meter

gem4

Hi,
If a bill is in credit and you have a prepayment meter, with no debt to be paid off, can you claim back from them the money that is in credit, like you can if you have overpaid on a budget scheme?

A friend is on a meter with Scottish Power. They sent a bill for almost £200 last week but, as we knew it must be an error, we took a meter reading and the meter id no. and phoned them.
A revised bill has now come with the correct readings and a credit balance. As the electricity is on a prepaid meter surely this amount can be claimed back from them?

Giddytimes

Yes, you can phone them and ask for a refund.

Any credit in the meter should show as a credit on the bill, so if your friend has £50 in the meter say then her bill should also show £50 credit, check that this isn't the reason first and if not phone them with another meter reading and the amount of credit in the meter and they will check if a refund is due.

If it's a large credit it's unlikely to be right though and they will want to investigate it first. If a prepayment meter is set at the right prices then no credit should ever accumulate on the account. An estimated start meter reading might be one reason for a false credit on the account and there are a number of other reasons so I wouldn't take it as guaranteed that a refund is due but it's certainly worth ringing to ask.

gem4

The revised bill had a credit balance of £55. The meter is only topped up with £5 or £10 when it gets to the point of going into emergency so it is literally paid and used, and always on the borderline of 'running out' so to speak.

I'm not sure I understand why you receive a bill when its on a prepayment meter. It's topped up electronically with a swipe card not by feeding it coins as I remember doing with meters when I was a child

kat21

I had a pre payment meter with scottish power and can confirm you do receive a statement showing how much credit (or debit) you have, and yes you can claim this back they will send you a cheque as they did with me. Apparently my pre payment meter tariff was set too high so, I was sent a cheque but also asked if the meter could be set to show the correct levels actually used.
kat21