Prepayment meters that bill you later !

nicholadunne

I have prepayment meters for both gas and electricity. This is to help manage the payments, which suits me.
However, I have recently received a bill as well for electricity, saying I have used more than the pre-paid amount.
My understanding of pre-payment meters was that I could only use what I pay for in advance. I have phoned them and they say that this is not the case, and if the meter is not credited with sufficient funds, then there will also be a bill.
Can anyone advise?
Also, does anyone know of any electricity and gas providers who do a REAL pre-payment, where there are no bills, just paying what you use in advance.
At the moment we are with Eon.
We do not want to change to another system, such as quarterly bills as it is a shred house with four of us. That means that pre-pay is much easier to manage.
many thanks to anyone who has any info.

Nicky

eurmalian

Does the letter say anything about fraudulent top ups? As there has been a big issue recently with people going round door to door and offering to top up electric meters at a huge discount. As the credit that they put on is not official or purchased from the supplier then you will also find that you get bill for it a little while later.

If that isn't the case, have you ever let the meter run out of credit? And if so, did it cut off or keep going? As if your electric stopped when there was no credit then it definitely sounds like a standard prepayment meter and the bill is very strange...

Joyful

As above companies are chasing Customers that have been part of fraudulent top ups. Never buy top ups from anywhere apart from the usual paypoint shops. The other problem may be if your meter is not set at the correct rates. Check on the suppliers web for the price then check usually screen I for a 1 rate meter to see what you are being charged an see if they match.

Another reason for discrepancy can be is you have changed suppliers and the start reading is wrong.

You need to call and ask them where the debt came from.