Prepayment meter

redjay_2

I just rang Scottish power, I am on a prepayment meter and enquired about switching to a credit meter to save money. I was told that prepayment is the cheapest option she gave the following tariff information....
On direct debit I would pay 15.56 per unit with a service charge of 41.43 per day

On prepyment I am paying 12.27 per unit and a service charge of 31.36 per day.

Am I right in thinking that there are different tariffs and she may be misleading me into thinking I am getting the best deal when there are other options available?

I am wondering if I should ring some other suppliers and consider switching but I am haunted by memories of last time I tried to swap from British gas and was lied to and really messed around by BG - it took about 18 months for the swap to go through and caused me loads of stress.

Thanks in advance, off to work for a couple of hours, will check replies when I get back.

Neil_Jones

There are many tariffs on a credit meter, some of which have standing charges and others don't.
If you come onto a credit meter you have a wider choice of tariffs to go onto, plus you'll get additional discounts for paying by direct debit.
You should also get a credit for what's left on the prepayment meters when you move to a credit one. Either that, or payments you made on it.

With regards to switching nightmares, it's simple: If you don't owe Scottish Power a significant amount of debt and you're out of contract with them (not that that is particularly important, fixed price deals have early termination fees but that doesn't appear to apply in your case), they cannot stop you switching to another provider.

redjay_2

Thank you Neil.

chanz4

I would get them to change the meter, but switch to an online scottish power tariff.

Scottish_Power

Hi redjay,

Pre-payment meters are a cheaper option than paying by any other payment method other than Direct Debit. However, what you would also have to take in to consideration when making a comparison is the cost of changing the meters. If you have both gas and electricity you will be charged roughly £110.00 for the two seperate engineers to call and carry out the meter exchanges. In addition to this you may also be asked for a security deposit of £150.00 per meter which would be refundable after 12 months, presuming no payments had been missed.

If you want more information you can contact me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

undaunted

I find it hard to believe you would pay more paying by DDI than with a pre payment meter personally (& the Scottish power rep appears to confirm DDI is cheaper). Are you sure the above figures you quoted aren't transposed?

Either way, if you have a debt you may need to pay it off or get any new supplier to agree to take it on before you can switch - particularly if looking to switch to a credit meter - but there are companies who will switch the meter for free. You need not necessarily therefore be deterred from doing what you wish to do by the "threat" of £110 charges.

There is also alternatively a company called Ebico who charge the same flat rate & with no standing charges regardless of how you pay (though the actual rate is likely to be between 13 & 15p p/kw not the 12 you mention). Depending upon where you are in the country & what your consumption is they may be worth a look however - see https://www.ebico.org.uk/products-and-prices/equipower-prices

A "play around" on a comparison site or two with different payment methods should give you an idea what rates are available to you with Scottish Power and elsewhere along with reviews on things like customer service (whilst to be fair none of the big 6 seem great on service British Gas & Npower are notoriously bad on customer service so don't necessarily be dettered dfrom switching by one bad experience with BG). You can then decide what you want to do from there