Pre - Payment Meters - I want Rid, but how?

Dranny

Hello everyone,

Myself and my Girlfriend bought a house last Friday, and are now in the process of moving in.

The Gas and Electric are now on, after a bit of messing around..

They are both on Pre-Payment meters though, as the last owner rented out the property.

I want to get shut of these ASAP really, but who do you contact?

The Gas is with NPower, and Electricity with British Gas :rolleyes:

Do I contact these companies and say "I want shut of the meters, put me on a normal tariff" ? Then I can switch to someone who may save me money .

Or can I just call my potential new supplier, e.g. Ebico, Scottish Hydro, or whatever - and say "I want dual fuel, please take me off the meter and let me be on Direct Debit on your rates" ?

I'm a bit confused on who to contact first really.

The girlfriend has just had the culture shock of being dressed down in the Post Office, for trying to pay for Gas/Leccy on her switch card, as these are apparrently not accepted on top up cards - cash only! News to us, as we've never had to use them!

Any help appreciated...

Dranny

roger56

Try Ebico, they are a fair trade not for profit supplier and one of the cheapest
with just one rate for all customers regardless of payment method which even includes pre-payment meters so you can get the same rate as if you paid by DD
http://www.ebico.co.uk/en/open/pages/indexen.php

Read here for their payment options
https://www.ebico.co.uk/en/open/pages/faqen.php#paymentoptions

Apply online here (you will need previous gas and elec bills which contain meter numbers etc):
https://www.ebico.co.uk/cgi-bin/ebicoapp2.cgi

OR phone or write or email them for an info pack:
https://www.ebico.co.uk/en/open/pages/contacten.php

tripled

You can keep your prepayment meters for the time beig, change supplier then get rid of the prepayment meters if you like. Will be about 2 months before you get the meters changed as it takes 4-8 weeks to switch.

Or you can ask the current providers to change the meters for you, should be done within a week or two, then think about switching afterwards.

Bear in mind though some companies do a credit check before they will change the meters (I know BG does), so if your score is a bit low you might want make sure you switch to a provider that won't credit check you.

montrose5

I have been told by an engineer from Hydro elctric that if your pre-pay meter is the digital type (where you buy cards for it)it can be converted to a normal meter and there's no need for a new one

Dranny

Cheers for the replies.

I've just moved from my property and used Ebico there.

The credit check holds no fears for us. Like I said, we've moved into a house the landlord used to rent out, so the meters are nothing to do with us. I prefer direct debit to pay, as going to the shop all the time to top up isn't our cup of tea. Our credit is good, so there's no problem.

Especially in this plastic age when I hardly ever carry cash around with me. Scrambling around for a tenner to top up the electric because they don't accept switch is a totally foreign concept to us!

I'm going to do some guess based comparisons (using what we used in our last property) and then call a new supplier to switch us over. We can live with meters for a month or two I'm sure.

Thanks, Dranny

Wickedkitten

We just started ended up starting an account with the current suppliers when we moved in since we had already been with npower years ago and got them switched the very next day.

Right after that we switched back to scottishpower.

crinklehead

New to chat forums and may be in the wrong place;
following recent media coverage about the cheapest place to buy power saving light bulbs; no supermarket chain prices can touch Netto:
Philips standard fitting- 11 watt (60 watt ordinary bulb) 49p
18 watt (100 watt ordinary bulb) 47p
Unlike earlier types these bulbs come on immediately http://www.netto.co.uk/internet/nettog/menu/main.nsf for nearest shop.

Dranny

How many MSE forumites does it take to change one though?