changing from pre payment meter to direct debit

kayleighsmith

Hi,

In our house we have a pre payment electricity meter which was here from the previous owner. We want to change to a monthly direct debit but the supplier is saying we need to pay £50 just to get it changed? We have been with the supplier for over a year, should we have to pay this charge it seems unfair?

Also the electricity meter is about 7 foot off the floor and we have been told it breaks health and safety regulations or something?

Anyone have any knowledge on this?

Thanks,
Kayleigh

macman

It's not 'unfair'-some utility co's charge, some don't-the £50 is much less than the real cost of changing the meter.
They also may ask you to pay an upfront deposit, but perhaps because you've been with them a year they are not asking for this.
Meter should be readable without the meter reader having to climb a ladder-no doubt it was installed long before health and safety was a consideration.

central

I'm no expert, but I would have thought that if your current meter doesn't comply with current health and safety legislation then it should be changed at cost to the supplier.

middlepuss

kayleighsmith wrote: »

Also the electricity meter is about 7 foot off the floor and we have been told it breaks health and safety regulations or something?

Suggest you ring the electricity people (find an 0800 number for them!) and ask if the meter breaches H&S.

If so, ask them to come and change it, at their expense of course. Having got them to agree to do that you could, in the same phone call, suggest that since they are coming anyway, would they like to change it for a debit meter rather than another pre-pay meter. Point out this makes you a more desirable customer and so would be to their advantage anyway.

Worth a try?

Also, have you tried ringing another electricity supplier and asking them if they would install a debit meter for free if you switched to them?

Pincher

7ft? You just have to tilt your head back.

My electricity meter is about 9 ft up on the garage wall.
It's in plain view, but not readable from ground level.
It was upgraded to a digital one about two years ago by Transco,
in situ. No mention of health and safety.

The meter readers have been using my step ladder happily for two years.

hillcats

kayleighsmith wrote: »

In our house we have a pre payment electricity meter which was here from the previous owner. We want to change to a monthly direct debit but the supplier is saying we need to pay £50 just to get it changed? We have been with the supplier for over a year, should we have to pay this charge it seems unfair?

We was also in the same situation when we moved to our present house.
We had previously been with NPower for just over four years at our previous property, so we started the procedure for changing supplier on the day we moved in and got all the meters re-read etc to allow a complete change over to dual fuel to be the way we was previously, standard meters paying a monthly DD to NPower for both fuels.

After about 2 weeks the changeover went through and we were being served by NPower again, then I stated I wanted the electric meter changed from a prepay to a std meter, after a few days of arguing and pointing out that I had NEVER failed to pay them and was always in credit they agreed, and they accepted the full cost of the meter change.

That was over five years ago and we are still using the same supplier as not really had any major problems from NPower apart from estimated bills to start with, but I stopped this by moving both Electric and Gas over to an online internet account (also a tad cheaper) whereby I am responsible for providing the readings, no further probs .....

t0rt0ise

kayleighsmith wrote: »

Hi,

In our house we have a pre payment electricity meter which was here from the previous owner. We want to change to a monthly direct debit but the supplier is saying we need to pay £50 just to get it changed? We have been with the supplier for over a year, should we have to pay this charge it seems unfair?

Also the electricity meter is about 7 foot off the floor and we have been told it breaks health and safety regulations or something?

Anyone have any knowledge on this?

Thanks,
Kayleigh

That's an odd rule. I just measured the height of my ceiling and it seems to be about 11 feet and the meter, which was a prepayment meter when we moved in, is up by the ceiling. British Gas changed it to a normal credit meter free of charge but didn't move it so it's still up there and impossible to get at without standing precariously on the top of a step ladder. They didn't seem to mind me having to do this when I had to use the key to transfer credit.

They will apparently only move the meter lower free of charge for someone with a disability who lives on their own or so they told me.