electric key meter - is it ripping me off

jordigirl

hi,
i have an electric key meter which i am happy with as it does help budget, i do shop around for best deals on key meters aswell,
my problem is my electric key meter seems to turn off sometimes with credit still on usually about 90p, so i put emergency on till i get to shop.

then when i apply the credit it usually rips me off for another £1 so i seem to be losing money every few time's a top up
anyone else have this problem and how can i go about getting it refunded.
i rang e.on up and they say it can't happen - i also don't have any balance outstanding, so all money i put on should be credit

thanks

spiro

The money that goes from your credit could be covering emergency credit used or part of daily standing charge if you tariff has one.

Have to checked to confirm the meter has no debt on it?

bedpotato_2

I don't know what company you're with, but, like the poster above me has said, there might be a daily (or weekly) charge. I mean a charge just for using the service, in addiction to the charge for any electricity you've used.

Edit: also, do check about the debt, as recently I was moved into homeless housing and the gas meter kept ripping me off in the way you describe. I got sick of it deducting my money and called the gas company up to complain. They said there was a debt from the previous tenant and it was deducting money for that. They refunded it back to the account.

Have you had the account for a long time or have you recently taken it over from somebody else? If so, there might be a debt on it (though I do not understand how it is possible for there to be any debt on key meters, as I understand them to be PAYG, but apparently there can be debt somehow).

spiro

bedpotato wrote: »

If so, there might be a debt on it (though I do not understand how it is possible for there to be any debt on key meters, as I understand them to be PAYG, but apparently there can be debt somehow).

Originally PPMs were used primarily for debt recovery it is only over the recent years that has seen a rapid growth in them being used as PAYG.

Two things you must remember about this sort of meter; always inform a supplier when you move in and only use your own key dont use one left behind. This helps ensure you are not paying someone elses debt.

jordigirl

has no debt on meter, and no standing charge,

has been doing this a while not sure if its a faulty meter or what, have rang e.on they say it cant happen ??

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi jordigirl

There's definitely a daily standing charge on our prepayment electricity meters. You can see this if you press the blue button on the front of the meter.

A different display is shown each time you press the button. To see the standing charge, please go to display F.

Also, when you use the emergency credit, the standing charge and any debt on the meter (if applicable) is suspended.

The next time you top up, the uncollected standing charge, amount of emergency credit used and any uncollected debt (if applicable) is automatically taken back.

I suspect this is what's happening when you top up after using the emergency credit.

Hope this helps jordigirl. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

Malc

jordigirl

as i said in my thread, i don't have an outstanding debt, on my electric account,

sometimes the electric goes out with 91p on it sometimes never seems to let me put the emergency on before 50p left, usually it goes out before it gets to 50p i top up asap usually within the hour of it going out - or if on a sunday 1st thing monday morning, never takes the right amount back - usually £1 short on all top ups ??

Terrylw1

spiro wrote: »

Originally PPMs were used primarily for debt recovery it is only over the recent years that has seen a rapid growth in them being used as PAYG.

Two things you must remember about this sort of meter; always inform a supplier when you move in and only use your own key dont use one left behind. This helps ensure you are not paying someone elses debt.

They also came into replace coin metering. These customers were PAYG so token, key or smartcard were fit as a default to get rid of the old 50p coin liabilities.