pay as you go electricty

mkgirl1981

hello everyone, hope someone can help me with this
just wondering has anyone here switched to a pay as you go electricty meter recently?
its something im considering as a way to save some money and just wondered what people experiences were - did you save money or did it cost you more?
i know everyones electricicty compsumption is different but i just wanted an overall opinion
thanks for reading

crazyguy

The cost of pay & go meters is slightly more but the benefit is that you have no monthly/quaterly bill so in effect never get behind with it, you can now switch your provider on the meters to source a cheaper supplier the average saving on this is approx 5-10% in the first year and the reduced in the 2nd year, if they then hike it back up look to switch again.

undaunted

These days it should cost you neither more nor less than standard rates to use a pre payment meter - you either use the electric or you don't regardless of meter type / payment method (excluding discounts for pyaing by DD etc).

If you are happy to pay by DD however it will probably be cheaper than pre payment.

Also, with a pre payment meter if you should find that have no money to top it up at any stage you may find yourself without electricity.


Why not therefore just get a usage monitor if monitoring & control of your consumption is what's concerning you?

chris1973

Also, with a pre payment meter if you should find that have no money to top it up at any stage you may find yourself without electricity.

Unlikely unless you are extremely careless. Most, if not all pre-payment meters have an emergency credit facility built in which will allow you to top up the meter, usually with around £10 of credit for emergency purposes, which is then replaced from the credit when you next top up the 'key' and insert it into the meter. £10 is usually enough to easily get most households through 48 - 72 hours of careful use, besides most paypoint outlets (often used to top up the key) are based in off licenses and convenience outlets and service stations which are open late - 24/7 even on Bank Holidays.

if you get into the habit of topping up your meter, and then immediately top up the key at the next available opportunity (i.e when you arent short of money) and leave it by the meter then you'll never get caught out, and will hopefully never even need the emergency credit as there will also be the next lot of credit pre-loaded to the key

British Gas, I believe, also have a online top up facility available so you can top up online with a credit / debit card from your own front room.

On most tariff's you often end up paying a daily standing charge, which reflects the cost of operating the paypoint terminals. I pay about £1.05 a week in standing charge with Npower which is deducted from the available credit on the meter.

From experience, the unit (KW/H) rates are never the cheapest around either, so its unlikely you will ever have a 'bargain' in the form of your Electricity Rates compared to the deals around on credit meters using DD.

mkgirl1981

thanks guys ive had some great replies here but i just wanted to know in a nutsell, if you went from an estimated monthly bill to payg was did it end uo cheaper, more expensive or not really any different ?

anniecave

mkgirl1981 wrote: »

thanks guys ive had some great replies here but i just wanted to know in a nutsell, if you went from an estimated monthly bill to payg was did it end uo cheaper, more expensive or not really any different ?

The only benefit to pre-payment is that because you have to keep topping the meter up, you are always paid up to date.

However pre-payment meters have higher standing charges and with prepayment you wouldn't get any direct debit discounts.

I would stay with the direct debit on your current meter. But check that you are on the cheapest possible supplier/tariff by checking on a comparision site.

I would keep an eye on the meter readings and how much you're using though. That's why some people are happiest with pre-payment, as pre-payment does that for you. With a normal meter you need to keep an eye on your readings and your bills yourself.

If you spot a cheap electricity monitor (for example ebay) you may find it useful to buy one. You can program in the price you pay per unit and then see how much in cost terms you have actually used.

Good luck..