unwanted prepayment meter

[Deleted User]

Thanks frugalmacdugal, thats makes 2 doing online top ups. They are all still in the dark ages as theres still a good pecentage of people not online anyway and never will be. Can anyone explain to me why the suppliers can t be dragged into the 21 st century and organise something as simple as top up by text, etc like we can add credit to a mobile, or is that a step too far for todays technology. Proberbly the new smart meters are needed for this.
Brit Gas have been replacing credit meters with smart meters for over three years now and havent got round to prepays at all yet, so its still a traipse down the shops to buy your lecky

SwanJon

I've said elsewhere about this - the existing prepaymeters are not part of a network so remote top-ups can't be done - the card/key always needs to take the message to the meter.

There are a very small number of Smart prepays out there - undertandably you want to make absolutely sure it works before you roll it out to millions.

macman

PM's cost the same as the supplier's standard tariff. So 4-6% more than the cheapest online discount tariff.

lozzie123_2

sacsquacco wrote: »

Yes Howee, there is that side of prepays i suppose, stopping people getting into debt, but I spend the best part of my week seeing the poorest members of society paying the dearest electric in the country even though they pay their money upfront in advance. they are also lumbered with problems in actually topping the things up being as they are 10 years out of date in upgrading them to modern methods of topup.They also have to enter a shop where they make impulse buys of things they dont really want or need. At least BGas have got an online top-up going,but havent publicised it much, the others havent even bothered
I am always surpriytsed when I see decent people, and aged and disabled etc who ve inherited these things and are not even aware that they dont have to keep them, . The suppliers do nothing at all in making people aware. I certainly do though when ever I get chance[/QUOTE.


The points you made are so true

chanz4

By the way a l/lord can not with hold a deposit if a meter is changed. The meter does not belong to him or the property

Wywth

chanz4 wrote: »

By the way a l/lord can not with hold a deposit if a meter is changed. The meter does not belong to him or the property

But a landlord can use the deposit to put the property back into a condition it was originally let (fair wear and tear excepted), so if the LL is charged to change the meter back, expect it to be deducted from the deposit.

Much better to discuss the situation with the LL up front and gain their permission to change the meter.

Wywth

lozzie123 wrote: »

I have a prepayment meter for electricity, That was put in by the previous tenant. The meter was installed 12 years ago.I was wondering can i go back to. quaterly cash bills as the prepayment meter is becoming very expensive?

Have you consulted a comparsion site to quantify what, if any, savings you could possibly achieve?

morocha

I had a pre payment meter and i found it expensive too... I was putting £20 every 5 days and my heating was on only 2 hs a day.
I never had a pre payment meter before and i really prefer the credit meter and paying by direct debit... knowing that i can keep the family warm in the winter and then spread the cost in the next months when our electricity usage is quite low, it is great for us.
I've got BG to put a credit meter for free, they do a credit check and you do not need to give any deposit. Scottish power wanted to do it after 6 months and with a £200 deposit before removing the pre payment meter.

sheffield_lad

MOROCHA: thats the best thing to do build up some credit in the summer for the winter. The problem is a lot of customers with pp meters don't build any credit up and then find the costs go through the roof during the winter. The reason I urged caution in replacing a meter to a credit one is if that is the only reason for changing the meter they are going to amount a lot of debt up or complain about the bill when they receive it.

PP meters for some people are the best method as they can keep on top of their payments but they don't suite everyone and neither do credit meters both are needed for different needs. It also does not follow that they are expensive yes they are dearer than online tarrifs but many folk don't want DD MOP and prefer paying for their meter just like they dont mind using a paymnet card at the PO.

Glad to hear you got your sorted out though!

HappyMJ

I'm having a debate about this with a mate at the moment. 60% of the annual gas costs are incurred over the coldest 4 months of winter. If annual usage is an average 16,500kWh per year then about 600kWh are used each week. At current Ebico rates of 5p/kWh this would cost £30 a week.

But....summer 40% of the annual usage is used over 8 months. So the average for the remainder of the year is about 200kWh per week.....or about £10 per week.

The average over the year would then be £833 or about £15 per week....and that's an expensive rate. Compared to standard rates it isn't that much different at an average of about £65 per month. BG in my area would be £840 a year for standard gas which is the worst rate...Npower/EDF and Scottish Power would be £796.