when can I refuse a prepayment meter

spiro

sacsquacco wrote: »

Hi spiro, they ve already arrived,I ve been reading them for the last 2 years in my job. Theres no facility at all as far as i can tell in also using them as prepays.at least theres no slots for a card or a key in the ones i see for Brit Gas.Maybe they have another way of making them operate as smarts tho. we were hoping our jobs may last a bit longer with prepays being the last to go smart

These are trial meters as the formal specification for Smart meters has yet to be defined. Smart meters will not have a slot for a card or key to operate in PPM mode as the credit you buy will be sent remotely via the comms.

meercatsunited

utility csa
the way round not falling for the utility debt is for the landlord to contact the relevant companies when the tenant is to take possession giving them the meter readings, the tenants name and instructing them of which address to send correspondence for the attention of the landlord.

undaunted

Contrary to apparent opinion here, and what suppliers may lead you to believe, even if they have obtained a warrant (it will say they can enter the property for the purposes of fitting a ppm or disconnection) you can still refuse to have a PPM fitted if you wish - providing you accept that they may then disconnect the supply.

Whether imposing that on a tennant may present difficulties as a landlord is something you'd have to look into.

mattcanary

If the customer is on benefits they are also entitled to apply for Fuel Direct payments (ie: the money towards the arrears and an amount towards the usage is taken out of their benefits by the DSS before they receive them). A custoimer is perfectly entitled to ask for this to happen arteher than have a prepayment meter fitted if they wish

chanz4

mattcanary wrote: »

If the customer is on benefits they are also entitled to apply for Fuel Direct payments (ie: the money towards the arrears and an amount towards the usage is taken out of their benefits by the DSS before they receive them). A custoimer is perfectly entitled to ask for this to happen arteher than have a prepayment meter fitted if they wish

This is only if other options are exhausted or disability which prevent the other options. Say to the dss that a pre-pay is available they will decline the fd

chanz4

utility_csa wrote: »

I was under the impression the ironbridge meters had to have the pp unit removed, never knew that! weird to here someone call them ironbridge meters, hardly anyone does!.

Also to the OP, be careful. my landlord rents another property where the tenants put the bills into his name, racked a few thousand up then just left. he unluckily had to pay as it was in his name...

I believe if you had a payment plan and the tenants aren't missing their payments the supplier cannot force the customer to have a prepayment meter.

They are seen often, cant post why but you already know

utility_csa

Indeed, can you pm me the software that changes it from ppm to credit? would be interesting to check that out...

C_Mababejive

Its quite simple. If the end user is not keeping up with their bills and accrues a debt which is unacceptable to the supplier then they will fit a PP meter or cut the supply off. They will obtain a court warrant if necessary.Simples

alex21

VfM4meplse wrote: »

If you have a busy working life, who has time to go out to your nearest retailer and top it up? I keep the bare minimum of cash on me, and can think of nothing worse of than running out in the middle of the night with no means of turning on the heating, a light, a kettle, not being able to operate the power shower etc. I'm not wasteful of energy, but would not want to monitor it all the time. Meters are Victorian inconvenience IMO.

You can top up online and not leave the house if you are so disorganised! Do you run out of food as well, how would that be any different?

Ich_2

The biggest problem is if the meter is in debt collecting mode, this means that it WILL be set to take, say, £5 per week (amount varies) in this case even if no power is being used for any reason it will still be collecting this amount.
all seems fine until the tenant that was in debt, leaves without telling the supplier, the new tenant then inherits the debt when they move in.
We see this a lot in housing association stock, it also seems that landlords are unaware of this issue.