Prepayment Meters Refunds

phild145

I know that in the past you have been able to claim refunds if your statement shows you are in credit.

Is this still possible as I have just had a statement showing I am in credit.

Premier_2

How come you are in credit on a PPM?

Have you not just loaded the meter with credit? If so, stop feeding it until you've used the credit up

only_mee

We had a £300 rebate of EON recently, we are on a PPM and like you just paid for the gas, as it was used.

We queried the refund several times.
Paying for a week away soon it is

sonnysmummy_2

i think sometimes they still take a weekly charge for a debt, and once the debt has been paid off you become in credit, they still do refund the credit as my friend has recently had a cheque for over £100 from them off a pre payment meter, not sure which company she was with.
and once you have been refunded i think you can get the meter updated as to not take the money for the debt anymore, also givng ou less to pay each week on the meter, or you can ask to get them taken out when you are in credit, which is what i done and switched to monthly direct debits, much easier than having the gas and electric going out on these dark cold mornings!

phild145

Thanks for the replies.

I changed suppliers late last year with no debt on the account to be cleared. Topped up yesterday by £10 which gave me £15 in the meter. Account is showing a credit of £28 before yesterday. My Gas is the same but the figures shows £43 in credit and £18 on the meter.

I have in the past allowed these to get upto over the £50 mark and then rung them for a refund.

Thanks

Terrylw1

Your opening reading when you changed Supplier might have been incorrect hence you get a false credit or debt on the statement. So, it might not be real. They need to check for you.

It could also be that the charges on the meter don't match what they are on the bill. This can happen when you change Supplier or when they just change their prices since they have to change the meter's charges to be inline.

So, when you changed Supplier, are your rates cheaper now? If so, that could be why. They would then owe you and would need to change the meter's charges or you would keep building up credit.

dekaspace

I have a totally different theory which sorry if people take offense but I would say was far more valid.

Even if you use a pre pay meter, at least with N Power and Scottish Power and all their departments do is estimate your readings even if you pay by a dongle or card.

I left a property with about £65 in credit last year, 2 months later got a bill claming I owed N Power £85 and when I rang they told me that was because though I put in £80 in may and was away for most of summer being a student at the time so only used like £20 in just over 3 months they estimated the bill at X amount per week which meant that with the £80 I had put in, £85 was still due.

After arguing they decided as a "goodwill gesture" to remove the £85 but said I couldnt get my £65 back!

And with my current situation, I was with Scottish Power for 7 months but spend about 5-6 nights a month in property due to family issues and today recieved a bill for £14 and when I rang was told it was for standing charges as my top ups didnt cover it!

Terrylw1

dekaspace wrote: »

I have a totally different theory which sorry if people take offense but I would say was far more valid.

Even if you use a pre pay meter, at least with N Power and Scottish Power and all their departments do is estimate your readings even if you pay by a dongle or card.

I left a property with about £65 in credit last year, 2 months later got a bill claming I owed N Power £85 and when I rang they told me that was because though I put in £80 in may and was away for most of summer being a student at the time so only used like £20 in just over 3 months they estimated the bill at X amount per week which meant that with the £80 I had put in, £85 was still due.

After arguing they decided as a "goodwill gesture" to remove the £85 but said I couldnt get my £65 back!

And with my current situation, I was with Scottish Power for 7 months but spend about 5-6 nights a month in property due to family issues and today recieved a bill for £14 and when I rang was told it was for standing charges as my top ups didnt cover it!

Their bill & your meter's inbuilt charges have to 100% match. If they don't, you get underbilled or overbilled.

Everytime they change prices or you change Supplier's, they need to update your meter with the correct charges. If they don't you get out or synch, even if they use Firm accurate reads for your statement.

There is nothing which says the meter fails to update, but they can see how much you are paying and the charges on the meter from that.

dekaspace

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Their bill & your meter's inbuilt charges have to 100% match. If they don't, you get underbilled or overbilled.

Everytime they change prices or you change Supplier's, they need to update your meter with the correct charges. If they don't you get out or synch, even if they use Firm accurate reads for your statement.

There is nothing which says the meter fails to update, but they can see how much you are paying and the charges on the meter from that.

I had to ring up before anyway as they were sending me letters hinting that I was fiddling the meter, and pretty much confirmed that when I rang because they said that i was only putting in around £10 a month and that was suspicious!

I tried explaining to the woman that I was almost never there, and even if I was I am such a low usage person that at most it would be £20 a month anyway and she got rude and said how most people(like her) pay £15-£20 a week for electric alone in a property and I was lying!

What doesnt make sense though is the times when I was away for like 8 or 9 days it took the exact weekly charge divided by the amount of days so 23p a day came to over 7 days the same amount as standing charge with every item in house turned off at mains and unplugged, and every fuse in the main fuse box turned to off.

They couldnt explain why the exact amount came off daily for the standing charge despite nothing being turned on or 3 other advisors telling me that standing charge comes off daily so it makes the full £1.61 odd over the week.

Terrylw1

dekaspace wrote: »

I had to ring up before anyway as they were sending me letters hinting that I was fiddling the meter, and pretty much confirmed that when I rang because they said that i was only putting in around £10 a month and that was suspicious!

I tried explaining to the woman that I was almost never there, and even if I was I am such a low usage person that at most it would be £20 a month anyway and she got rude and said how most people(like her) pay £15-£20 a week for electric alone in a property and I was lying!

What doesnt make sense though is the times when I was away for like 8 or 9 days it took the exact weekly charge divided by the amount of days so 23p a day came to over 7 days the same amount as standing charge with every item in house turned off at mains and unplugged, and every fuse in the main fuse box turned to off.

They couldnt explain why the exact amount came off daily for the standing charge despite nothing being turned on or 3 other advisors telling me that standing charge comes off daily so it makes the full £1.61 odd over the week.

Standing charge is deducted daily, whether you are there or not. It works exactly the same as anyone who pays it on a credit meter, or used to. It is not linked to usage or whether anything is on. It's a way to recoup costs and pay for the additional services they have to provide on a PP meter.

Anyone in their call centres should know that. So, sounds like you spoke to a numpty! I would love to know how she could claim there was a possible tamper from what you have said. It tends to take a bit more investigation than making a judgement about someone!