Gas PrePayment Meter Help!!!

kimbokoo

Hi
I have just moved into a house that has prepayment meters.
The Electricity costs are fine, but the gas is killing me!
I am going through about £30 a week and im not even in the house!
But have put the central heating on for the first time a couple of days ago. Then when we switched it off, two of the upstairs radiators stayed on.
My question is, are we still being charged for this even though the heating has been switched off? Or do I need to turn the radiators off unless we have the heating on?

SwanJon

Hi,

There's probably a standing charge on the meter, in which case you are being charge even with the heating off.
If the house was empty for a while before you moved in the meter may be looking to recover these from you too.
The previous tenant may have been using the meter to pay off a bill. If so the meter may still be looking to recover this.

When you called the supplier to say you moved in they should have done some checks with you:
Take a meter reading - this will either be in it's own window, or you can see it by pressing the red A button 3 times (you are looking for Meter Index).
You can see if there is any standing charge outstanding by pressing the red button twice (Owed).
To see if there is a bill on the meter you neeed to press and hold the red a button (without the card in) until the screen changes. (You can now let go)
It should now have a number in the corner (00 or 27).
If 00 - everytime you press the red button the number will go up in sequence. When you get to 24 it will ask you to put the card in - do so and carry on.
If 27 - the screens aren't in order, but the numbers mean the same thing.

What they mean.
27 - GD Remaining - How much of a bill is on the meter
25/26 - Min/Max WRR - weekly payment to the bill (this may have a value, but if the bill is 0.00 then none will be taken)
00 - How much you last topped up
01 - How much of the last top up was used towards a bill
02 - How much of the last top up was used to pay back Emergency Credit
03 - How much of the last top up you got to use for gas
09/10 - p/kWh - the cost of gas
(I'm not 100% where the standing charge is, I think it is 17)

With this information you can see if the meter is charging you correctly and if not get your supplier to fix it and pay you back anything you overpaid.

Good luck.

macman

Did you register and obtain your own key/card when you moved in? If not then as above you may be paying off the previous tenant's debt.
A PPM costs the same as the supplier's Standard tariff. £120pm is not impossible in this cold weather.
With the CH off, all the rads should be cold, unless they're plumbed to the hot water circuit. Is it a combi boiler or conventional (with a hot water tank)?

kimbokoo

Thanks for the replies

In response, there is no debt on the meter and I do have my own card for the meter.
As to whether its a combi or conventional.............theres a good question lol!!!
I know the systm where i turn the hot water/heating on and off is about 20 years old. Its about the same size as a standard fridge. And I think there is a boiler up in the bathroom cupboard.
I know I expect to pay alot more gas at this time of year, but we only put the heating on 2 days this week - and thats the first time since we have moved in on 1st November which seems quite a lot to me.??
I have enquired about changing over to a standard meter and am awaiting a phone call but dont think this will be able to be done until after christmas.

I will have a look through the numbers as suggested by Swan tonight and see if that can shed any light.

macman

It's not a boiler in the bathroom-it's a hot water tank. So you have a conventional boiler (with stored hot water), not a combi.
Is the tank lagged? if not a jacket costs just a few pounds.
A credit meter will save you no more than 6% vs a PPM on an online discount tariff.I t doesn't explain your high consumption.