nPower wants to charge me £60 to…

cornishninja

They want me to pay £60 for coming off the prepayment meters because I want to pay by Direct Debit.

I moved recently and the new property had prepayment meters fitted for both gas and electricity.

Is this normal for a supplier to charge that amount to switch payment method, or will I be better off switching suppliers?

I remember when I moved into the old address in 2001, there was a prepayment meter fitted for electricity (gas was paid by direct debit) and British Gas never charged me for switching from prepayment to direct debit. Have things changed since?

HappyMJ

cornishninja wrote: »

They want me to pay £60 for coming off the prepayment meters because I want to pay by Direct Debit.

I moved recently and the new property had prepayment meters fitted for both gas and electricity.

Is this normal for a supplier to charge that amount to switch payment method, or will I be better off switching suppliers?

I remember when I moved into the old address in 2001, there was a prepayment meter fitted for electricity (gas was paid by direct debit) and British Gas never charged me for switching from prepayment to direct debit. Have things changed since?

Yes quite normal. You could try switching to British Gas first and then ask British Gas to remove the meters which they may do for free. Once they are removed you can the switch again to the most comptetitive tariff with another supplier.

Wywth

cornishninja wrote: »

They want me to pay £60 for coming off the prepayment meters because I want to pay by Direct Debit.

I moved recently and the new property had prepayment meters fitted for both gas and electricity.

Is this normal for a supplier to charge that amount to switch payment method, or will I be better off switching suppliers?

I remember when I moved into the old address in 2001, there was a prepayment meter fitted for electricity (gas was paid by direct debit) and British Gas never charged me for switching from prepayment to direct debit. Have things changed since?

A good article here about how all the major energy suppliers treat PPM to credit meter requests

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/c/news/how-to-switch-from-a-prepayment-energy-meter/0014939/

It indicates that if you had a credit meter at your previous address, then they should waive the charge. (subject to that account not having been in arrears and you passing a credit check)

NXV839

Most companies charge for changing a meter as it covers the cost of labour coming to your house etc. It varies from company to company so it’s worth ringing a few and seeing what they can do. Make sure the company doesn’t then require you to be tied into a contract or anything like that, as sometimes they offer to change the meters for free but lock you into a high rate tariff which means you’re worse off in the long run.

advantix

EON do not charge to change from a prepayment meter to a credit meter. It is just subject to you passing a credit check.

poppyfreckles

NPower removed the charge after we asked them nicely, BUT we asked them to switch to a credit meter back in September and we still haven't gotten a date for an engineer to come around and install one - they've given us one false date already. Beware of going with them, winter will be over by the time we get ours installed!

fed_up_and_stressed

The change of date maybe nothing to do with your supplier. Its the Meter Operator for your area that changes the meter not the supplier. The supplier requests the Meter Operator to change the Meter.

However you do need to go back to your supplier (Npower) to chase up for another appointment. Athough all Suppliers have Standards of Service about failed appointments so you ***may *** be eligible for a set level of compensation in line with these industry levels (£20)

Word of warning though, if the Meter Operator contests this stating they did attend and were not able to get access (or no one in over age of 18) you may not be eligible because it is the Meter Operators word against yours.

cornishninja

Thanks for the replies.

At the old property I was with npower after switching from British Gas and paid by Direct Debit (fixed monthly) and stayed that way until I moved into this property.

After I moved, when I asked npower to change me from prepayment meters (as explained in my original post), they told me it will cost me £60.

I'll try calling them again to see if they'll waive it since my account has been in good standing since before I moved.