Generic Prepayment Card / Key ?

daimonde

Hi there,

Does anyone know if the energy companies use a generic Gas/Electric prepayment card ? and by any chance if these can be bought legally in bulk ?

Im asking from a Local Authority point of view looking at options for making emergency payments.

cheers.

SwanJon

Theoretically, yes but practically, no.

You can get 'blank' gascards (refers to data on the chip, not branding), but these need to be paired with the meter before topping up.
Electricity keys need to be programmed before being used. this ties them to one meter.

Each supplier has different policies about replacing these cards/keys, but they can be collected from PayPoints.

What type of 'emergency payments'?

daimonde

thanks, much appreciated, very helpful.

the payments would be part of the replacements for Crisis Loans. some local authorities nearby are looking at issuing Prepaid Visa/Mastercards but i know from experience some places that have Paypoint dont accept cards so im looking at alternatives.

SwanJon

The other issue with this is that there is a limiited number of cards/keys that can be paired with a meter, (1 or 2 I think). If you managed to use a card/key it might push out the one the customer is using.

Any supplier should be able to send a message to the meter for any credit payments made over the phone (for example). So if you made a payment to the supplier they could send the payment to the meter. The customer will pick this up with a normal vend (No need to even leave the office!)

chris1973

Personally I think its about time the utility companies rolled out the ability to top up keys online, it is 2012 after all.

I know British Gas use a USB facility which tops keys up over the internet using a debit or credit card, its a shame all of the others have been slow to follow.

This would also allow the Authorities you speak off, to have these USB docking units perhaps connected to a central system similar to paypoint which allows them to top up any presented key with a crisis payment.