Should i Switch (Advice Needed)

chrisb1357

Hi all,

We are on pre-payment card and key meters with British Gas at the minute and have been for the last year and a half. These pre-payment meters where allready installed by the last person who rented the flat and i now want to look into changing these to normal meters.

British Gas have sent me the following 2 Annual Statements which are

Elec - 2,985.79 kWh (25 Dec 09 to 25 Dec 10)
Gas - 9,276.22 kWh (15 Dec 09 to 14 Dec 10)

We are on the Standard British Gas PrePayment Package

If anyone can adivce on what i should be looking for to change to

Chris

t0rt0ise

You need to ask British Gas to change the meters to normal ones first. And then you can put the figures you have into one of the comparison sites.. I use uSwitch but there are others, to see what is your best option.

chrisb1357

I have put my figures into USwitch and selected what meters and tarrif i am on now and asked it to comapre it to having Direct Debit payments and it shows as Web Saver 10 on British gas is £170 a year cheaper based on what my usage was.

Chris

Pincher

Get the meter changed, preferably free by British Gas.
Ask for their standard tariff to stay free of exit penalties.

It will take them a while to change the meter,
so by the time it's all settled down it's probably April already.
The best deals tend to be in Spring, when the demand for gas slows down. You are now free to switch to any tariff your heart desires.

chrisb1357

Hi,

I dont think there is any Exit charge moving from pre payment meters as i down owe them anything and not in debt with anything.

Chris

Premier_2

chrisb1357 wrote: »

Hi,

I dont think there is any Exit charge moving from pre payment meters as i down owe them anything and not in debt with anything.

Chris

That's correct. What Pincher was saying was if you elect to have the PPMs removed, then go on the standard tariff (or at least one with one early exit fees) as you may then wish to change supplier

Either way, even if you want to keep the PPM, you really should consult a comparison site to see what is best for you.

chrisb1357

Well BritishGas are due next Wed to remove my PrePayment Gas and Elec meters and to install Standard ones. They did not ask for any deposit up front and said once they are installed it will be on the standard tarrif for 2 weeks until the British Gas system updates and then i can change which package i am on.

What meters do they use instead of PrePayment ones. Are they the same size etc

Chris