Switching fuel/prepayment meter

naturalbliss

Hi
I am currently with Scottish Power for both gas and electric on a pre payment meter. I am worried about the upcoming price hikes and want to switch and fix. What I am wondering is am I able to fix a price on a prepayment meter? Or switch to direct debit with another company and fix the price?
Also, I asked Scottish Power to switch back to direct debit a few months back, I was informed that to do this I would have to pay, I think it was £50 to have the meter changed plus a deposit of £150 for switching. When told this I obviously opted to stay as I was. I don't ever remember being told any of this when I opted for the prepayment meter and wondered if this was usual amongst suppliers when people want to move from pre payment to direct debit. THis has made me feel trapped into prepayment even though now it is not the best option for my circumstances. Just want any comments or advice regarding this please. Thank you and kind regards :rotfl:

Premier_2

naturalbliss wrote: »

Hi
I am currently with Scottish Power for both gas and electric on a pre payment meter. I am worried about the upcoming price hikes and want to switch and fix. What I am wondering is am I able to fix a price on a prepayment meter? Or switch to direct debit with another company and fix the price?
Also, I asked Scottish Power to switch back to direct debit a few months back, I was informed that to do this I would have to pay, I think it was £50 to have the meter changed plus a deposit of £150 for switching. When told this I obviously opted to stay as I was. I don't ever remember being told any of this when I opted for the prepayment meter and wondered if this was usual amongst suppliers when people want to move from pre payment to direct debit. THis has made me feel trapped into prepayment even though now it is not the best option for my circumstances. Just want any comments or advice regarding this please. Thank you and kind regards :rotfl:

Have you checked the comparison sites? They will indictate if there are any fixed tariffs for PPM customers (I don't know of any)

It costs money to change meters and SP does make a standard charge for such meter changes (I thought it was £45 they charged?) This would have applied if you asked SP to install the PPMs initially; perhaps they added it as a debt to the meter?
To get credit, suppliers have their own credit assessment terms and this often means a 12 month sizeable deposit as you have found. Pay on time & in full, and you will get the deposit back with interest

Scottish_Power

Hi Naturalbliss,

When we install a pre-payment meter this is normally done to allow a customer to help pay back a debt or budget. If this is the case we will not charge for the meter change as we are getting the security of knowing that you will be paying what you are using. Ofr your information we do not offer and capped or fixed deals on PP meters however our pre-payment prices are only slightly more exspensive than our standard DD prices and cheaper than paying quarterly.

We will charge you to have your meter changed back to a normal meter the fee is around £50.00 slightly more for gas than electricity and we also charge a security deposit which is refundable after 12-months with interest if you have made all your payments on time.

If you want any more information on changing meters please e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind regards

Graeme @ Scottishpower