E'on prepaymentmeter options ?

csashton

weve used PPM's for a good number of years now , i dont have any actual consumption figures to hand but i know we spent £25pw on electric and £15 gas (20e & 10g during mild weather)

my wife says she is happy to continue paying this but recently ive been talking about changing to a credit meter,she phoned Eon and they agree'd to this aslong as we pay £50 to change meter and £200 security deposit
im fine with this but reading a few threads on here has got me wondering whether changing to DD is actually a good idea !

alot of people have posted about how their initial monthly DD payments have been increased by crazy ammounts and its got me worried ! we are not in fuel debt at this moment in time but could changing to DD suddenly change that ?

I guess we have the other option of staying on PPM and simply changing supplers,are there comparison sites for PPM users ? and is it easy to swap over ?

any advice would be most welcome


thank you

rocket09

You will save money paying by direct debit, visit uSwitch.com and compare on there. Before you see your results it asks you how you wish to pay for your energy, simply select pre payment on there and compare to your current supplier. If you dont want to pay by direct debit, then go back and select DD and see what the difference is between the two. I switched from EON to EDF paying by prepayment and saved £200 a year, plus £15 cashback. Its worth checking :money:

csashton

thanks for that , im just worried that something along the way will go wrong like many have complained about on here and i end up paying extortionate monthly DD payments and possibly getting into debt over it =/

macman

What your monthly DD is is not the same as what your annual bill is. The reason DD's go up is a) unit prices increases (which apply to PPM's as well) and b) when your monthly DD does not keep pace with your actual consumption and you build up arrears, you then get hit with a big catch-up bill, which means that your DD must go up until the debt is cleared. The vast majority of people on here who suddenly get hit with huge bills have not checked their previous (estimated) bills or submitted regular meter readings.
As long as your DD is sensibly set at the outset (which means getting to grips with your annual kWh consumption) then it should represent 1/12 of your annual bill. Then if you read and submit readings at least every quarter, your DD should stay in line with your actual consumption.
Having a credit meter means that you can access the cheaper online discount tariffs, and you won't be subjected to seasonal expenditure fluctuations, despite heavier winter usage.

csashton

If we change from PPM to credit meters with Eon are we then tied to any contract for 12 months ? or can we pay Eon to swap the meters then switch to another supplier immediately ?


*thinking out loud* if we change suppliers its probably easier to ask the new supplier to change the meter

macman

Not if you choose a tariff without an ETC presumably.

Norman_Castle

i dont have any actual consumption figures to hand but i know we spent £25pw on electric and £15 gas (20e & 10g during mild weather)

Your bills should show annual consumption. Use this on the comparison sites to see what you can save by any payment method, then decide how you would like to pay and search again. Choose the deal that suits you based on price and payment method. DD increases can be challenged.

csashton

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Your bills should show annual consumption. Use this on the comparison sites to see what you can save by any payment method, then decide how you would like to pay and search again. Choose the deal that suits you based on price and payment method. DD increases can be challenged.

Hi ,yeah we have the figures now from last years annual consumption

6656kw

comparison sites do suggest we will save money but im still apprehensive about switching,especially as the cheapest quote is from a company ive never heard of "OVO Energy" ? lol

macman

OVO Energy is one of the smaller suppliers and generally well thought of.
Any supplier other than the big 6 will give you better service, with the (alleged) exception of First Utility.

csashton

cheers macman, my wifes still dragging her feet over the change tho , she reckons the meter is fine as it is =/

Norman_Castle

Have you searched for the best price for prepayment?