Redonkulously expensive gas?

macman

boogiemaster wrote: »

I've always been with British gas for my electric and gas and I've never had a refund.

I was in debt and paid it off sixteen years ago and wanted a credit metre and they've done a credit check every year for sixteen years and I've always failed?

I only have a gas cooker and a brand new boiler and central heating that's never on unless it minus temps and my gas never last either.

And they also like to put on debts you don't owe and when you spot this they say oh sorry our mistake yes a £70 debt I don't owe?

I wonder how many times they have done it without me knowing?

They want you to fail the credit check as they know people don't have a lot of money to go onto credit metres so they keep robbing you blind.

£10 in three days just for cooking?

But PPM's cost the same as a credit meter on Standard rate. And PPM's cost more to operate, so they have no incentive to encourage people to use them unless they decide they are a bad credit risk.

Absinthe_2

macman wrote: »

But PPM's cost the same as a credit meter on Standard rate. And PPM's cost more to operate, so they have no incentive to encourage people to use them unless they decide they are a bad credit risk.

unless they decide they are a bad credit risk.

That is not the case if moving into rented property, where one is already installed. It would cost a lot of money for a new tenant to have it reverted back, even if agreed, regardless of good credit ratings.

Cardew

Absinthe wrote: »

unless they decide they are a bad credit risk.

That is not the case if moving into rented property, where one is already installed. It would cost a lot of money for a new tenant to have it reverted back, even if agreed, regardless of good credit ratings.

Agreed, new tenants can get a poor deal. Although some companies will change meters for nothing if you have a good history with them.

The point Macman was making above is there is absolutely no financial incentive for Utility Companies to keep people on pre-pay(PP) meters.

They used to charge more for PP tariffs to reflect the higher costs in administering such accounts, but under political pressure the prices were reduced( for most companies) to Standard rate.

macman

A meter change is typically charged at £50-which is far less than the actual cost in parts and labour.

Callie22

Cardew wrote: »

Agreed, new tenants can get a poor deal. Although some companies will change meters for nothing if you have a good history with them.

We got our meters changed for free when we moved into our latest rental - but we did have a good record of paying quarterly bills on time with our supplier, Southern Electric. I think it helped that we had also been customers for a few years.

Absinthe_2

Cardew wrote: »

Agreed, new tenants can get a poor deal. Although some companies will change meters for nothing if you have a good history with them.

The point Macman was making above is there is absolutely no financial incentive for Utility Companies to keep people on pre-pay(PP) meters.

They used to charge more for PP tariffs to reflect the higher costs in administering such accounts, but under political pressure the prices were reduced( for most companies) to Standard rate.

Callie22 wrote: »

We got our meters changed for free when we moved into our latest rental - but we did have a good record of paying quarterly bills on time with our supplier, Southern Electric. I think it helped that we had also been customers for a few years.

I think it does depend on who you're with. Despite having a good credit rating, and paying bills at previous property on time with the same company by DD, a friend was told that it would cost a lot of money with Scottish Power to change the meters back, although was told to ring back after a year.

MentalMinnie

Do the utilities companies credit check you before taking you on as a customer????

HappyMJ

MentalMinnie wrote: »

Do the utilities companies credit check you before taking you on as a customer????

Sometimes if you are switching to a new supplier but not if you move into a property and inherit the supply.