Crafty NIE (Keypad)

yorkie98

10 day cooling off is a pain, I wanna switch today!!..

hazelc56

yorkie98 wrote: »

10 day cooling off is a pain, I wanna switch today!!..

To be honest the 10 days flew in:AI was quite surprised when the girl rang me today.
I suppose after they ring me again tomorrow with the new card number etc.the next step is then to receive a visit from one of their people.I think i have a form to sign.
I am hoping that all this doesnt go belly-up at some stage as i have put my faith in this company.
I have noticed on the "Price Comparison" leaflet that they sent out in the welcome pack,(also on the website)that to top up £5 the unit price is 13.147p and any larger amount over the £5, the unit price is 12.774p. A little secretive charge perhaps when only topping up a fiver.Nit picking i know but worth pointing out i think.

wacko911

Just thinking out loud as im pretty new to the whole keypad malarky. Anyhow say my next topup gives me the 40 digit rate changing code and I dont use it.... then buy another topup and get the usual 19 digit or whatever code, hmmm will I still be on the old rate?

Correct me if im wrong but there is no talkback from the meter to anyone, its a one way system ie they send you code and you enter them, nothing goes back to some cental network as there is no means for communication appart from the meter reader dude? Pretty sure the system couldn't be comprimsed in this way, how to they prevent it?

Just thought about it, I bet the meter will not accept any of the new codes given out after the 40 digit one until the meter gets the 40 digit code as they will be signed with a different key. Anyone with £30 to spare (2x £15 topups) willing to check?

steveymp

Well my meter needed topping up soon so I put £50 on online last night, got the usual 20 digit code, so I suppose in a few weeks time when my credit runs out I will top up £10 and see

gibbyni

Im looking into budget energy now and prices look good, one thing I cant find is, on a keypad what happens to the credit I currently have on it with NIE. Do I lose this?

yorkie98

wacko911 wrote: »

Just thinking out loud as im pretty new to the whole keypad malarky. Anyhow say my next topup gives me the 40 digit rate changing code and I dont use it.... then buy another topup and get the usual 19 digit or whatever code, hmmm will I still be on the old rate?

Correct me if im wrong but there is no talkback from the meter to anyone, its a one way system ie they send you code and you enter them, nothing goes back to some cental network as there is no means for communication appart from the meter reader dude? Pretty sure the system couldn't be comprimsed in this way, how to they prevent it?

Just thought about it, I bet the meter will not accept any of the new codes given out after the 40 digit one until the meter gets the 40 digit code as they will be signed with a different key. Anyone with £30 to spare (2x £15 topups) willing to check?

The meters DO have 2 way comms, have you not ever noticed that when you enter a powercode it says "SENDING"? It means exactly what it says, the powercode is then checked on the system, to check it's genuine, and being used on the right meter, then a message is sent back to the meter telling it the code is OK and the meter then follows the instructions embedded within the code.

Having never tried this, I don't know if topups must be entered in the order they are purchased in but regardless of this, as I have mentioned before, it's pointless, an underpayment will be rectified by the meter at some point, it might even issue another 40 digit powercode if the first one isnt entered within a certain timeframe but that's just silly because the 40 digit powercode still has an electricity value too so you are hardly going to throw it in the bin are you?..

Either way, the company who designed the keypad meters/top-up system will have already condsidered every trick in the book and put countermeasures in place.

I wouldn't be surprised if people at NIE/PowerNI are reading this thread (and no doubt other similar ones) laughing at us all thinking we can get one over on them.. No chance..

It might also be worth mentioning that as NIE have sent out letters to all homes giving full instrucions on what happens and why it happens and also that you are bound by terms and condidtions as an NIE customer, any attempt to circumvent the price change is FRAUD!!

northernireland10

I just don't understand how this could be 'Fraud' if you top up before any price rise and new codes, surely you are buying your electric before price increase therefore all electric purchased with the top up should be at the current rate.

Btw, i have just applied online to join Budget Energy, nothing so far but have only signed up on Sunday evening.

£10 in meter hopefully will keep me going until change over!

NI10
:money:

mrsmac1

The last time NIE put their prices up & I had £200+ credit on my keypad meter I don't remember them taking any money off me when i eventually input the 40 digit code

That aside.. if what the posters above say is true and NIE do take the money off the next top up - then what would happen if I use up my £200+ credit at the pre-increase rate then switch to Budget energy?? surely NIE couldn't bill me??? this makes no sense

yorkie98

mrsmac1 wrote: »

The last time NIE put their prices up & I had £200+ credit on my keypad meter I don't remember them taking any money off me when i eventually input the 40 digit code

That aside.. if what the posters above say is true and NIE do take the money off the next top up - then what would happen if I use up my £200+ credit at the pre-increase rate then switch to Budget energy?? surely NIE couldn't bill me??? this makes no sense

When you switch to Budget, the meter will be reprogrammed again, by Budget either via a powercode or manually and this will reprogram it to Budget's rate from the moment of switchover. As for remanining credit, not sure what happens, it might be that once switched, you then start paying from remaining credit at budget's rate or the credit in the meter goes to NIE and they issue a refund. Either way, nobody will be out of pocket, only better off for the lower rate.

hazelc56

gibbyni wrote: »

Im looking into budget energy now and prices look good, one thing I cant find is, on a keypad what happens to the credit I currently have on it with NIE. Do I lose this?

gibby- you dont lose it.They told me it would transfer over.You wont know any difference.In fact you need to have at least £5 in your meter when you are switching over to Budget energy.It will all work itself out in the end.