Pre-payment meter help

grumpy_turnip

Hi All,

My partner was left facing a gas usage bill for £800 due to a damaged heating controller, it's since been repaired but at the time left the heating on constantly for 2-3 months solid! She didn't have the money so agreed to have a pre-payment meter installed by British Gas (BG).

After nearly a year the debt on the meter doesn't seem to have reduced. She's sure she received a guide explaining how the system operated and how to understand the meter but can't find it. So she called BG and asked what her tariff was and how the debt was recalculated. However after 2 phonecalls we're left in complete confusion as to what her actual tariff is. We were told 2 completely different things by 2 'helpful' indian call centre reps.

The first person told us that all the units (Kw/h) are charged at 3.140p but anything used between 2-6am is charged at 7.406p. This didn't seem right to me so she called again and was then told by a 2nd person that initial units are charged at 7.402p then subsequent units are charged at 3.416. This seemed more likely as I know my gas is charged at a higher rate up to a certain amount of Kw/h then drops to a lower rate once you go over this figure. So I asked my partner to ask how many units does she have to use and over what time scale before it drops to the lower unit value, the confusing (to me) reply that came back was that it's the higher charge using below 7.34kw/h and the lower charge beyond this amount. The phonecalls took ages as the reps were taking rather a long time to find each bit of information and that final bit that came back the rep didn't seem too sure of the answer she had given.

What we'd love to know from you helpful folk is how on earth you read this meter, it's a Landis + Gyr unit with a digital readout but I can't find a model number on it.

Also does anyone know if a debt of this nature incurs an interest charge? We've been told no but it appears you're just told anything as long as it aids ending the call sooner!

Hope you can help and thanks in advance.

SwanJon

Sounds like they got there in the end.
The price is on screens 9 & 10, and you have to use the 7.34kWh/day at the higher rate (screen 9) before you get to the lower rate (screen 10).
You don't get charged interest on the bill, and you are charged the same as a quarterly billed customer.
You can see how much of the bill is left on screen 27, and how much youare paying each week on screen 26.

(I work for BG)

grumpy_turnip

I've just taken a look at the meter (in the lashing wind and rain) and you've made the figures an awful lot clearer. Thank you very much for this.