Need gas and electric,advice please.

gooligan

Good Evening all,we have just bought a property and got the keys from the agents and the house has prepay gas and electric meters installed which both are in arrears,£20 and £50 respectivley.
We have no idea who the previous owners had as their suppliers
(no mail or names on the meters)
Can anyone please advise where we go from here,do we keep the meters?How soon can everything be organised?
Need connecting asap,power tools are useless

chris1973

Put a small top up on the key / card at a paypoint outlet. It will usually tell you on the receipt. You will then need to contact the provider, inform them that you are the new owner and tell them the situation.
You will also probably need to give them the meter serial number, which may also be printed on the top of the receipt, or falling that, it will be stamped somewhere on the meter(s)

You are not liable for the debts of the previous owner, but the meter will need updating and the debt cleared from its memory, either by the paypoint update, or by a visit from an engineer / meter reader or they may just send you a new card / key

Once you are updated as the new owner of the property, you will be free to change supplier. Normally there is a charge (£50 or so) to change the meter to a credit one, but some may waive this. If you have any history with paying using a credit meter in a previous property, then it might be an idea to contact the energy providers you used whilst there and ask them if they will change the meter for free, on the basis of retaining / continuing your business at this new address.