british gas prepayment meters

vicki_b

hi does anyone else have a prepayment meter with BG?
we have both electricity and gas meters with them and whilst the electricity one is fine, the gas meter has a life of its own..

We had a debt of £195 with them as the lowest they could go to on the debt repayment was £6, and whilst that sounds a small amount, its quite unmanageable for us...for example for the past week we've not been able to use the gas or hot water as last weekend we used the emergency credit, so to tide us over until we got paid i put £5.50 in the meter, but the debt got in there first and took 51p off, and because we hadn't paid the emergency off in full we can't use it...this has happened a further 2 times.
I've spoke to BG and explained that while we have the prepayment meters installed they aren't going to let me pay any other way so i'm going to HAVE to pay the debt, so why can't they drop the weekly amount...but it was the usual about not been entitled to anything cos we aren't in receipt of benefits...its so frustrating

spiro

Of course your "going to HAVE to pay the debt". With a ppm the debt recovery rate has to be set at an 'agreed' level. This is done by you providing a list of incomings and outgoings to see whats left. You need to bear in mind that things like Cable TV/Sky, mobile phones and other non essentials dont count towards your outgoings. Did you do this before they set the DRR to £6 for gas? Saying that the lowest most suppliers now go is about £4 which given you owe nearly £200 means a 12 month interest free 'loan'.

vicki_b

i wasn't debating wether I'm going to pay the debt or not, i know i have to, but why can't they let me pay it off at £3 a week for example, it would be a lot more manageable, of course it would take me twice as long but we wouldn't be suffering in the process, if you take into consideration the initial debt was quite small....my friend is paying off a debt of 1k at the rate of £2 a week...she's on benefits and we get WTC and CTC, but that only looks good on paper as we have to pay full rent,council tax etc.

VanillaDelia

For the matter of wanting to reduce by just £3 a week, isnt there anything else you can cut by £3 a week, e.g. Food, Clothes or even Electricity? Or do you have any old things you can Ebay or Car boot to try and repay the debt in full?

Joyful

Why not ask if it can be lowered for the next month or 2 then increased again to a higher amount as you will then be in the warmer weather so not using as much gas.

eurmalian

vicki_b wrote: »

i wasn't debating wether I'm going to pay the debt or not, i know i have to, but why can't they let me pay it off at £3 a week for example, it would be a lot more manageable, of course it would take me twice as long but we wouldn't be suffering in the process, if you take into consideration the initial debt was quite small....my friend is paying off a debt of 1k at the rate of £2 a week...she's on benefits and we get WTC and CTC, but that only looks good on paper as we have to pay full rent,council tax etc.

WTC and CTC are still benefits. They count and you may be able to get a couple of pounds knocked off of it.

As for your friend, they either started paying that a long time ago or they're not with British Gas, as the minimum debt rate on meters these days, even for people with benefits, is somewhat in excess of £3.

sjane23

they want £20 a week off of my mum whos single and on benefits she gets £140 a fortnight and out of that is expected to pay £40 BG arrears £20 gas top up £30 electricity top up, water rates, tv licensing and food she simply cannot afford it so has lived without gas for almost 3 years, its that bad. try filing a complaint against british gas (they wont do a bloody thing but you have to make an official complaint) if you guys cant come to an agreement (highly likely) then contact the ombudsman they will look into your claim, thats what ive done and im hoping they'll accept £5-£10 a week at most.
good luck hun x