FYI - changing from a powercard meter to smartkey

dr_del

Hi,

This morning a Scottish Power representative turned up and changed my old powercard meter to a new smartkey one.

The downside of this is that instead of the £14 emergency credit I previously had I now only have £5 and they refuse to change it back

I tried to explain that as an unemployed person I only get money every two weeks at the moment and (because I have snake tanks) my energy usage is quite high - around £40 every two weeks I frequently have been over £5 in "debt" owing to a cold snap in the weather. They said I "shouldn't be using it anyway " as it's an emergency fund. I asked if he had ever broken a bone and said "well you shouldnt have done that either - somehtimes sh*t happens" but obviously that was never going to help

I don't owe them any money and have not done so in the ten years I have been here but have always liked the "security" of having the electricity paid for when my money arrives whether I was working or not as I thought it prevented them surprising me with any huge bills.

Basically I wanted to ask if they are allowed to remove two thirds of my "security blanket" without consulting me and are there any ways to save money on the bill so this is less of an issue?

I worked out I spend almost half my income at present on the electricity bill and can't help thinking I could save money if I switched supplier.


dr del