electric meter (change provider?)

silkyuk9

My son lives in a 2 bedroom house which is all electric. They do not use central heating as this is electric too and costs a bomb, this time of year they are using around £5 per day and that's using the electric conservatively. They are using 2 little convection heaters from Dunhelm Mill on the 1kw setting. 1 in the living room and one to heat the bedroom on their baby son. Money is tight at present as they get no help government wise. My son has just left the army and is working full time for a security company his gf is a student nurse and receives a small bursary. Apparently they cannot apply for family tax credit because it goes on last years (April to April) earnings. As they were not living together then it was fine but now £500 per month rent and other fees such as child care which again no help except finance from relatives. they are finding that every penny counts.

Its not ideal to be conservative with heating especially when a baby is involved.

Anyway they use a key to pay for electric and on the key it says EON so im guessing they are the provider. Basically they take the key to the shop such as CO-OP to top up.

Can you change provider for key meters? if so as a tenant can you do this. How can you find the cheapest key tariff if that's the case?

Thanks.

Ich_2

Have they actually registered the pre-payment meter in their name? If not it is possible that they could be paying debt amassed by the previous tenant!

silkyuk9

Ich wrote: »

Have they actually registered the pre-payment meter in their name? If not it is possible that they could be paying debt amassed by the previous tenant!

Really? so I guess just ring up EON

Ich_2

so I guess just ring up EON

No they have to contact them

silkyuk9

Ich wrote: »

No they have to contact them

I meant my son, plus the key is registered to them. doing a quick comparison they would only save 13 quid a year swapping

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi silkyuk9,

If the supply is with E.ON then your son needs to contact us asap so we can set them account up and send them a new key.

We can then check that there is no debt set to the meter from previous tenants and make sure they are paying the correct amount.

If they can also take meter readings, this would be excellent and if they have readings from the day they moved in this would be even better.

I would also suggest that when they are on the phone to have a word about the two prepayment tariffs that we offer and see which would be best for them.

They can also pop their usage in to a comparison site to make sure they're getting the best deal.

Hope this helps.

Helena

Wywth

silkyuk9 wrote: »

My son lives in a 2 bedroom house which is all electric. They do not use central heating as this is electric too and costs a bomb, this time of year they are using around £5 per day and that's using the electric conservatively. They are using 2 little convection heaters from Dunhelm Mill on the 1kw setting. 1 in the living room and one to heat the bedroom on their baby son. Money is tight at present as they get no help government wise. My son has just left the army and is working full time for a security company his gf is a student nurse and receives a small bursary. Apparently they cannot apply for family tax credit because it goes on last years (April to April) earnings. As they were not living together then it was fine but now £500 per month rent and other fees such as child care which again no help except finance from relatives. they are finding that every penny counts.

Its not ideal to be conservative with heating especially when a baby is involved.

Anyway they use a key to pay for electric and on the key it says EON so im guessing they are the provider. Basically they take the key to the shop such as CO-OP to top up.

Can you change provider for key meters? if so as a tenant can you do this. How can you find the cheapest key tariff if that's the case?

Thanks.

If your son has not yet set up an account with the existing supplier, any payments made will be credited to the account of the current account holder (e.g. the previous tenant, landlord, etc)

Once your son has a supplier, he can request a switch of supplier despite being on a PPM
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity

You ay the flat has electric central heating? Is it really an electric central heating system (very posh!) or electric night storage heaters (which are much more common in most flats, especially at the £500pm rental)

Using electric portable heaters in lieu of electric storage heaters is not a very good moneysaving decision.

Anthorn

To actually answer the question the OP asked, yes you can change supplier when you have a prepayment meter in exactly the same way as anyone with a quarterly meter does. You just specify the type of meter on the application and the new supplier sends you a new key.

You can even change supplier if you have a debt of up to £200 you are repaying through the meter if the new supplier agrees to take over the debt.

For PAYG prepayment customers probably Ebico is the way to go.

http://www.ebico.co.uk