£60 to remove PPM... is this right??!!

k9cmh

Hey folks, first time for ever asking a question here... could really use some help.

I have friends who have a young family and they moved into a new property in December. They were told there are debts on both PPM (gas/elec) and it will cost £60 each to have them removed?

Is this right... why should they be penalised for someone elses' debts? Is there anyway round it/ They were with EON but changing over to NPower, reading previous posts, this doesn't seem such a good idea?

Thoughts and suggestions please x

macman

They're not paying for the debt, they're paying for a change of meter.

timbo58

Change to another provider who won't charge.
I was perfectly happy to stay with SSE until I found they wanted £52 each to remove my PPMs in my new house (ex repo).
They will 'consider' waiving those charges if you have been a previous customer paying by DD and in good standing (unfortunately it was my ex's name on the bills).
So I am changing to EDF, you keep the current providers meters in for a month topping up where necessary a few times, then change to an EDF card/key doing the same for a month or so, then they come and remove them for FREE and put you on DD.
Bit of a faff about but I guess they do this to ensure you are actually living there and so they can see how much fuel you will use to calculate the DD?

t0rt0ise

British Gas also don't charge so changing to them and getting them to remove the meters is another option. Check with anyone you are considering changing to first though, just to check that they haven't changed their process.

cing0

£60 is cheap. Yes, I know British gas have removed electric PPM free but for a customer of many years.
Keep switching supplier until they find one who won't charge. This will also prove there is an outstanding debt as switches are blocked by the old supplier in these cases.

t0rt0ise

cing0 wrote: »

£60 is cheap. Yes, I know British gas have removed electric PPM free but for a customer of many years.

That's not true. They took mine out when I moved in and I hadn't been with them before. They did a credit check and then agreed to change the meters. If I had failed the check they said they would ask for a deposit instead.

Keep switching supplier until they find one who won't charge. This will also prove there is an outstanding debt as switches are blocked by the old supplier in these cases.

No point in just keep switching. Just call them and ask.

Also the outstanding debt is not theirs and would not stop a move.

k9cmh

macman wrote: »

They're not paying for the debt, they're paying for a change of meter.

Yeh, see what your're saying but the reason given to the family was that the charge would be due to the debt owned by the previous tenents.

I will feedback all this to my friends... thank you all for your help, much appreciated! :T

macman

Sorry but that is simply not true. if the new occupier has registered for the account upon arrival, and taken a meter reading at that point, then they cannot be liable for any pre-existing debt

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

k9cmh wrote: »

Hey folks, first time for ever asking a question here... could really use some help.

I have friends who have a young family and they moved into a new property in December. They were told there are debts on both PPM (gas/elec) and it will cost £60 each to have them removed?

Is this right... why should they be penalised for someone elses' debts? Is there anyway round it/ They were with EON but changing over to NPower, reading previous posts, this doesn't seem such a good idea?

Thoughts and suggestions please x

Hi k9cmh

If the debts on the meters belonged to the previous tenant then, as macman says, your friends are not responsible for these.

Did they contact us and advise they were taking over responsibility for the property? If they did, they will have been issued with new payment devices.

Are they using a new device or still using the old one to top up the meters?

New devices will not take money for a previous tenant's debt.

However, if they are still using old devices, the existing debt will still be being applied and payments will be showing on the incorrect account.

I understand your friends are changing to Npower but they need to talk to us about the energy being supplied up to the switch over date.

Tell your friends not to worry as this can be sorted so payments hit the right account and any debt collected will be repaid.

Hope this helps k9cmh. Give me a shout if you need any more info as will be happy to help.

Malc

t0rt0ise

The meter was changed to a PPM because of the previous tenant's debt and the current tenant are paying for it to be removed. So in effect they are paying because of the previous person's debt. It doesn't make sense but that's the way it works.

spiro

This is one of the things people should consider when moving because it is now becoming the norm to charge around £50-60 to swap each meter because the supplier is charged by the meter worker company.

There are plans, primarily for elec, for the new smart meters (when they start installing them) to be capable of which switched from credit to PAYG without the need to change the meter or visit the house.

In terms of moving its also true about the method of central heating, people move and then query/complain about having storage heaters.

I know not everyone can choose where they live but do check these things in advance.