pre pay meter hell

apoorlykitten

Hi,
Im currently with scottish power for both my gas and elec.
on average i pay £20 a week elec and (summer) £15 (winter) up to £30.
I called them today as i wanted to switch from my pre pay to a monthly dd.
After looking on thier website about this they stated that they have a reasonable switch fee. So i called them and they said ' we charge £150 to switch which youll get back after a year and £60 for your gas meter and £40 odd for your electric plus a call out fee of around £60.
Not really reasonble in my eyes.
Ive done a price comparison which shows ill be better off moving suppliers but what i wanted to know was if i switch is it possible that my new supplier will start me off on a pay monthly dd option or will i still have to have this meter. Can i say im moving and get my partner to say hes moving in and request a dd option ?
Im trying to think of every option that will avoid me paying this huge amount to change? they annoying thing is that i never wanted the pre pay option but it was here when i moved in 10 years ago and at first i thought i might as well keep it.
Any way i hate it and i want it gone.

Any help or advice would be greatly accepted.

Wywth

apoorlykitten wrote: »

Hi,
Im currently with scottish power for both my gas and elec.
on average i pay £20 a week elec and (summer) £15 (winter) up to £30.
I called them today as i wanted to switch from my pre pay to a monthly dd.
After looking on thier website about this they stated that they have a reasonable switch fee. So i called them and they said ' we charge £150 to switch which youll get back after a year and £60 for your gas meter and £40 odd for your electric plus a call out fee of around £60.
Not really reasonble in my eyes.
Ive done a price comparison which shows ill be better off moving suppliers but what i wanted to know was if i switch is it possible that my new supplier will start me off on a pay monthly dd option or will i still have to have this meter. Can i say im moving and get my partner to say hes moving in and request a dd option ?
Im trying to think of every option that will avoid me paying this huge amount to change? they annoying thing is that i never wanted the pre pay option but it was here when i moved in 10 years ago and at first i thought i might as well keep it.
Any way i hate it and i want it gone.

Any help or advice would be greatly accepted.

I suggest you try contacting the Scottish Power rep on here as that doesn't sound right at all.

You may be asked for a security depoasit which I guess is the £150 they referred to. You will get this back with interest (assuming you keep up to date with your credit meter payments)

There is a charge to switch the meter. I thought it was about £45 per meter but the SP rep here will verify the latest charges for you.
There is no additional call out fee - the £45 or so per meter is all inclusive

chanz4

As they have to pay for it, they pass this on as its none essential meter work. As above its a security deposit, after all you are asking for credit. If you call up and say your partner is a new occupier, you would be commiting fraud and run the risk of a cifas flag.

Scottish_Power

Hi apoorleykitten, can you pease e-mail me at [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] and I can check the cost of the exchange in your area.

Thanks

[EMAIL="Marie@ScottishPower"]Marie@ScottishPower[/EMAIL]

Terrylw1

Check out this article on MSE about this.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity

If you say you will switch away, some will waive the charges. Some will waive them if you will switch to them.

In terms of charging for non essential work, suppliers don't charge for a large amount of their jobs...but they target the PPM customers.

spiro

Terrylw1 wrote: »

In terms of charging for non essential work, suppliers don't charge for a large amount of their jobs...but they target the PPM customers.

Thats because most non essential work is PPM to CR meter exchanges. Not only does the meter worker need paying the asset provider quite often has penalty clauses if the meter is removed/not in use before the end of its certification period.

undaunted

Look for a supplier who'll switch it for free - they are out there - though you may still have to pay a deposit. It's for each supplier to decide what they wioll offer you

Terrylw1

spiro wrote: »

Thats because most non essential work is PPM to CR meter exchanges. Not only does the meter worker need paying the asset provider quite often has penalty clauses if the meter is removed/not in use before the end of its certification period.

That may be the case for some, but not from my experience. Suppliers pay out far more in checking meter details, addresses, resolving disputes, decom/recom's, fitting isolators, changing CR to CR, investigating faulty meters, fitting tails, etc.

Each of those can cost the same for a supplier, they don't have to have a tiered contract...and these types of contact were not the norm from deregulation anyway.

I've seen those costs far outweigh this PPM to CR issue. Besides, it that was the real reason...why don't they charge changing CR to CR?

spiro

Terrylw1 wrote: »

why don't they charge changing CR to CR?

I guess because most of these will be because of recertification.

Terrylw1

spiro wrote: »

I guess because most of these will be because of recertification.

I meant changing tariff in the process e.g. standard to E7, 3 rate to other rates, vice versa, etc.

Wywth

Terrylw1 wrote: »

I meant changing tariff in the process e.g. standard to E7, 3 rate to other rates, vice versa, etc.

Scottish Power would charge for this type of non-essential meter change too.

Some suppliers may agree to charge a single rate tariff whilst the customer retains a multi-rate meter, and so avoiding the cost of a meter replacement.
(SP won't)