Prepay or not???

Rhi80

Bear with me, first ever post!
Can anyone give me some advice, got cold called by Edf Energy and signed up a bit hastely as i mentioned i wanted to change to a bill and he said its free to change after 28 days with them on prepay. Im on a prepayment key meter with British Gas and wanted to change to a bill because i thought it would be cheaper. Now having second thoughts after looking around at prices and rang BG and spoke to a lovely man who advised me that BG are the cheapest provider of Prepay and have no standing charge. He also explained to me that i would not save automatically just by having a bill, but that i would save some money by paying by direct debit and could also save £10 on each bill, cant quite remember the terms of that bit. All in a tizzy now and not sure what to do......HELP!!!
Thanks

Gerrard_8_lfc

What he means is in terms of just a bill without direct debit the cost of the energy would be exactly the same. Some people like prepay as they feel it helps them manage their money however switching the meters would allow you a direct debit discount and access to some of the much cheaper tariff's e.g. Online Tariffs.

BG don't have standing charges on their pre pay meters and the cheapest standard electricity prices however their gas prices on prepay can be beaten. Ebico is a company that gets good write ups for Pre Payment Gas charges.

Rhi80

thanks for the reply. i only have electricity at the mo as gas is in with rent so think BG sounds the best deal. thanks again.

davidgmmafan

Prepay is NOT more expensive at least for the price per unit. However this view persists as there was a differential before.

However in practice direct debit is usually cheaper because there is usually osme kind of discount for paying by this method. Also direct debit payments are usually a condition of online tariffs which again usually offer significant savings with any provider.

Get the figures and work it out yourself, not wanting to cast doubt on what anyone is saying but the EDF guy is going to tell you they'll take the meter out whether or not they do to get his commission. The British Gas man is going to tell you they are best for the same reason.

The problem with DD is if its set too low you can get into debt, if you are happy on prepay then you can stick with that and keep an eye on your usage. Online tariffs are usually cheaper though.

Premier_2

I would strongly suggest to the OP that they use a comparison site to discover for themselves what would be the cheapest supplier for them, rather than rely on a salesperson claiming their company is the cheapest

ste1985_2

If im reading this right and you have a prepayment meter there at the moment, and it't curently with BG, then it might be worth seeing if they will change your meter without a deposit (might be a deposit of upto £450!) , currently EDF are the only company that are offering FREE OF CHARGE meter exchanges.

SwanJon

Ste - read it again. BG will perform a credit check - if you pass they will exhange it for free. If you fail they will ask for a security deposit then exhange it for free.
EDF may be the only supplier not to ask for a security deposit (I've not ersearched it recently), but there is a difference.

Premier_2

I don't believe SSE (or Ebico) charge either, although they too may require a refundable security deposit.

Sometimes agreeing to pay monthly by DD will be enough to avoid having to lodge a security deposit, especially if your credit status is borderline.

mattcanary

Yeah, and once the quarterly meter has been fitted you can phone the call-centre and ask to come off the DD plan if you don;t like paying by Direct Debit.

SwanJon

I've never tested this, but I imagine the security deposit is only valid while you are a credit risk to that particular company.....