Switching from prepayment to metered electricity

Qwibble

Hey guys,

I've spent the evening reading up on making the switch from prepayment electricity to metered electricity, and want to clarify a few things.

First off, I am a student and have just moved in to a new flat with 5 other students. On Monday we received a letter from Scottish Power saying they'd need to come around and give us new keys for the prepayment meter, and yesterday we received a letter saying someone had tried to come around, but we hadn't answered and that we now owe them £30 or so for the guy that came around. For a start, I think this is crazy since the original letter told us to phone up and arrange a time for this guy to come out.

Anyway, we know that meter electricity tends to be cheaper than the prepayment and want to move across with minimal cost. Being our first student flat, none of us have any experience in sorting this sort of thing out.

I read that british gas offer free meter changes with a credit check which I think should be fine for all of us. However, that sort of ties us down to british gas being our provider right? What is the best way to get our meter changed free of charge and choose a competitive provider that will keep our utility costs down as low as possible?

Anyone willing to give me some advice? Thanks

mattcanary

You can get BGas to change the meter to a prepayment one.

Once it has been changed, you can then compare prices and move to the cheapest supplier (or stay with BGas if that proves the cheapest/cheap)

businka

I would not recommend to change the pre-payment meters to the credit one in a student flat at all.
1) who will be an account holder? I doubt it is possibe to put 5 persons..then, who will take responsibility for bill to be paid? what if your housemates don't have money? whta if someone just moves out?
2) You don't know how long you'll be there yourself.
For the sake of 5 pounds a month you could be in big troublle.

I know what I am talking about, I have lived in many shared houses. Some housemates remained my best friends, some- the worst enemies.

DirtyDick

I agree, in a student house if you all go away for a month a Xmas, again at Easter and 3 months in the summer, what if the last person to leave accidentally leaves the heating on full blast? With ppms the worst that can happen is the heating cuts out and the fridge-freezer switches off when the money runs out (and to be honest, what students use those for anymore than beer? pasta and supernoodles don't go in the fridge!)

All put £10-15 in the pot at the start of the month, top-up the keys and that's all done. Otherwise you could end up chasing people who've moved out for their share of arrears.

Just find a supplier who doesn't apply a standing charge if you're only likely to be in residence for 8-9 months of the year; eon, atlantic, SSE etc. all have a no standing charge for ppm.

t0rt0ise

I can't imagine any company changing the meter for 5 names. One would have to put themselves forward for being account holder and who would want to do that? I wouldn't do it with 4 other students.

And as for the £30 they want to charge for you not being home, raise a complaint. Send it signed for mail. Find the address on the supplier's website.

hecate20

Prepayment meters are only marginally more expensive than credit meters these days, and with a couple of suppliers are actually cheaper than the standard tariffs. British Gas will put you into a contract for 12-18 months if they agree to change your meters free of charge. I agree that you should stick with the meters you have...

HappyMJ

Another vote for keeping the prepayment meter. Much easier to get the money before the electricity is used rather than trying to chase people after they have used it and moved on. It will not cost more than £5 a month more than a credit meter. As soon as you miss a payment on a credit meter and get charged late fees and lose direct debit discounts the prepayment tariff would have been cheaper. Switch to a good prepayment meter tariff.

The first lesson in life "Trust no one"

eurmalian

hecate20 wrote: »

Prepayment meters are only marginally more expensive than credit meters these days, and with a couple of suppliers are actually cheaper than the standard tariffs. British Gas will put you into a contract for 12-18 months if they agree to change your meters free of charge. I agree that you should stick with the meters you have...

Ummm... No. There is no fixed term after having your meters changed by BG. You can change your supplier the next day if you want and nothing bad will happen.

Also, which suppliers charge less for PP meters than for the standard tariff? I've never heard of anyone doing this.

That said though, I agree with most of the other posters. Unless you really trust your flatmates to pay their share of the bills on time you're almost definitely better with Prepayment meters. Even if you manage to get all five of your manes on the account, if one person doesn't pay then the supplier will chase all of you for the arrears, not just that person.