Can't get rid of prepayment meter

t0rt0ise

I don't know if anyone here will know about this but I have moved into a half a house.. upper maisonette of a listed Georgian house and have been told that they can't change the electric prepayment meter to an ordinary credit meter as the fuse is common to both halves of the house. My question is why does that stop them from changing the meter? Can't they simply remove the fuse, change the meter and put the fuse back? The other maisonette is empty so that wouldn't even inconvenience anyone.

ste1985_2

Hi,
The issue there is that when metering services come to change the meter, they are not able to do anything with the main fuse as this is the responsibility of the local distributor. It must be possible to change, but its all down the engenier on the day as to if he wants to do it. Did you stress that the other part of the house is empty so wouldn't inconvenience?

spiro

ste1985 wrote: »

Hi,
The issue there is that when metering services come to change the meter, they are not able to do anything with the main fuse as this is the responsibility of the local distributor.

A meter operator can remove the fuse to change a meter. Who said you can't change it?

What type of prepayment meter is it? Card, Key, Coin? If it is the latter then I suspect it may be that the house only has one supply and that this meter is a 'sub meter' which has nothing to do with a supplier. If it is not a coin one then you have what is referred to as a 'related' metering point i.e. 2 metering points that share a single supply (fuse). This may have been done at the time of conversion from house to flats to save money. The issue with related metering points is that they both have to have the same supplier so you and you neighbour would have to agree on the same supplier.

t0rt0ise

Thanks for your replies. And that's interesting. So I couldn't change supplier even if I wanted to. I'm with British Gas and they have messed me around so much with this account, not transferring it to my name for weeks on end and not sending me the payment over the internet USB gadget, that I was considering going with someone else. It's a key meter and has just sprung a fault so we are in danger of running out of electricity altogether before they can get here on Friday. Oh what joy the prepayment meter plan is.

spiro

If you want to PM me your postcode and house number I can check on the central register if your meter point is registered as a 'related' one or not.

SwanJon

t0rt0ise wrote: »

I'm with British Gas and they have messed me around so much with this account, not transferring it to my name for weeks on end

t0rt0ise wrote: »

So I couldn't change supplier even if I wanted to.

If you are 'independent' enough to have an accoun in your name then you are able to change suppliers. A shared main fuse won't affect this, but sub metering would. (If you were sub-metered you wouldn't have an acount with the supplier.)

t0rt0ise wrote: »

It's a key meter and has just sprung a fault so we are in danger of running out of electricity altogether before they can get here on Friday. Oh what joy the prepayment meter plan is.

What fault? If you are out of electricity give them a call and they should get someone to you within 4 hours. If the problem is with the key they can arrange a new one in 1 hr. If the problem is with the wiring, that's a different problem. (0800 048 0303 / 0330 100 0303)

Thinking about it, they must have managed to get the PP meter put in, and it's not the best situation to have one main fuse for 2 premises. Your local distributor may need to split this.

spiro

SwanJon wrote: »

A shared main fuse won't affect this, but sub metering would. (If you were sub-metered you wouldn't have an acount with the supplier.)

A shared main fuse does affect this and it is due amongth other things to health and safety which is why the 2 meters should have the same supplier & meter operator. Imagine 1 fuse 2 meters - household A wants do to work on the property and contacts supplier A who arranges for the fuse to be removed. MPAN A is now deenergised according to the industry records and MPAN B is energised. Household B calls out the supplier because they have no power and meter operator puts new fuse in. Meter Operator for MPAN A then comes to do work on meter expecting it to be deenergised and gets a shock because its not.

t0rt0ise

SwanJon wrote: »

What fault? If you are out of electricity give them a call and they should get someone to you within 4 hours. If the problem is with the key they can arrange a new one in 1 hr. If the problem is with the wiring, that's a different problem. (0800 048 0303 / 0330 100 0303)

I'm not out of electricity yet which is why they won't send someone immediately. If I get below 50p apparently they will. I have an old key, the last tenant's key which appears to have broken as the shop can't put money on it. And a new key got from the shop last night that just gives an error when put in the meter.

Thinking about it, they must have managed to get the PP meter put in, and it's not the best situation to have one main fuse for 2 premises. Your local distributor may need to split this.

The distributor will split the supply apparently but will charge and the Housing Association who owns the property are refusing to help. They say it's up to me as I want the meter changing but the supplier and distributor say it's up to the owner to arrange. So I have no idea how much it would cost but I know these things are not cheap so I have not pursued it further.

SwanJon

Spiro - cheers for the details. I can see the issue with that, but I've not seen the industry stop one of these moves yet - I'm often suprised at what they actually let through.
Tortoise - What error are you getting when you put the key in? This will help determine if it is a meter fault or a key fault.
As to getting the fuse split - depends on how confontational you want to be with the HA. Could you look into the difference in price on the meter and the best deal you could get with a normal meter, then present a bill to the HA? Or pay to get the work done and then put in a claim to the HA? I'll admit I know very little about that area.

davidgmmafan

I'd say it is the owners responsibility, just as it would be if an extension was to be built! I don't see how they can expect you as a tenant to pay for it, and as SwanJon suggests although prepay meters are generally the same as the standard prices there will still be a significant difference between that cost and the cheapest online rate paying by direct debt.

undaunted

ste1985 wrote: »

Hi,
The issue there is that when metering services come to change the meter, they are not able to do anything with the main fuse as this is the responsibility of the local distributor. It must be possible to change, but its all down the engenier on the day as to if he wants to do it. Did you stress that the other part of the house is empty so wouldn't inconvenience?

I's not true that they are unable to do anything with the fuse. IN fact Meter Plus (you know the company Npower contract to do the job!) will happily remove a fuse as the quickest means of disconnecting & reconnecting a supply.

The truth may perhaps be that if you've not been an Npower customer before (or even if you have but have a poor payment history) they simply don't want to change it! (they themselves state that they normally dont unless there are "special circumstances - see page 17 below)

http://www.npower.com/idc/groups/wcms_content/@wcms/@busi/documents/digitalassets/wcms_000972.pdf

Why do so many of Npowers staff comment on things as "fact" without actually knowing what they are talking about?

Quite what happened to Ofgems supposed requirement to offer you a range of payment options is beyond me!