Pre-Pay meter conversion advice

adenewton

Sorry, I posted this in the sticky originally, but probably should have started a new thread for better visibility, so sorry for the double post if you've already read this:

Hi,

I have a quick question since the email today about now being the time to compare energy tariffs again.

My Mum is in a council house, bless. Ever since she moved into her current house 3 years ago, she's been using these pre-pay top up key things, which was already there when she moved in,the person in the house before wasn't too hot on paying their bills as we know because she's received threat letters from bailiffs too but that's another story.

I kept telling her it's more expensive, but she claims it isn't when she compares how much she was spending compared to her friends.

She recently shifted the keys from Southern Scottish (whatever they are called now) to British Gas before Brit Gas did the price rise, and is now complaining, surprise surprise, that £10 gas which would last around 5 days before, is now only lasting 3 days since it kicked in with British Gas. Probably not helped by the fact my sister was recently made redundant and is home most of the day and burning more gas, with the current temperatures, but still, she can't afford to spend in excess of £20 a week on Gas throughout the whole of the winter if it's going to be even worse than last year.

My main question is from people with experience or in the know, is there any kind of minimum contract with these key meter things? I'd like to go through getting her setup on a direct debit tariff as soon as possible, because she'll just get too confused to try and sort it out herself and leave it and get herself into a mess.

However I also feel the charge to get the meter changed will probably put her off, as she'll say she simply can't afford it. So anyone who has any advice on the cheapest possible way to convert the meter whilst still getting a good deal would be appreciated.