Paying for Gas with pre-paid top up card

Shah79

Hey,

Is anyone paying for their gas with a per-paid top up card that they fill up at a pay point machine?

I've just started rentig at a place and it is a little weird. Plus it seems to go down very quickly.

Do you also have a problem topping up the card? I had to go to three different newsagents before I found one who wanted to use their pay point machine.

HappyMJ

Shah79 wrote: »

Hey,

Is anyone paying for their gas with a per-paid top up card that they fill up at a pay point machine?

I've just started rentig at a place and it is a little weird. Plus it seems to go down very quickly.

Do you also have a problem topping up the card? I had to go to three different newsagents before I found one who wanted to use their pay point machine.

Define very quickly...

Is this your card and not the previous tenants card. You shouldn't be using the existing card. Ring the supplier to get a new card so that you aren't paying for the any previous debt the tenant may have run up.

macman

The price you pay on a PPM per kWh is the same as the supplier's standard tariff. You just notice it more on a PPM!

pickoftheday

British Gas and Scottish Power both allow you to top up from the comfort of your own home using your laptop.

You may want to investigate. It's a lot more convenient.

sniggings

pickoftheday wrote: »

British Gas and Scottish Power both allow you to top up from the comfort of your own home using your laptop.

You may want to investigate. It's a lot more convenient.

I do this, they send you a card reader, it's quite easy, just be aware that if you don't use the machine for at least one topup within the first month I think it was, they charge you for the machine, so make sure you use it at least once, not sure why you wouldn't use it tho as it's much better than going to a crappy corner shop

also if using firefox for some reason the British Gas top up site will not work with it, but there is a good addon for firefox that fixes it, it's this one https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ie-tab-2-ff-36/?src=search

timmmers

Who are you with ?
You have probably got a standing charge every day from your top up.
nPower charge about 40p a day...so that's going to make a mess out of a small top up when added to usage.
Find the user manual and check for debt and how the thing works in general. If you have an old debt on it that's not yours that could be 70% of whatever you top up gone to add to the standing charge...leaving you with very little.
KEEP YOUR TOPUP RECIEPTS. You might need to prove what you paid to get it back if they made a mistake...which is common.

212

We're on one of these hellish meters. Even if there isn't a standing charge, they can be set at a pretty awful rate in comparison to normal meters

We've found Spark Energy (http://www.sparkenergy.co.uk/) are the cheapest for our area

Use the MSE guide (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity) to see if you can save money by switching and to find the cheapest for your area (Spark isn't cheapest back at my actual home, but is in my uni town).

Then check a site again like https://www.energyhelpline.com and pick that you're using a standard meter, to get costs for standard & compare with your prepay check. Will almost certainly be cheaper for standard, but it will then allow you to see which suppliers to contact. E.g. if E.ON are cheapest standard but not prepay, you can tell them if they don't give you a credit meter won't be using them as X are cheaper for pre-pay, it may make them change their mind!

Installing a credit meter shouldn't be an issue if you have a decent credit rating. It's a lot of hassle working out which is cheapest, but to encourage you, we haven't been here long enough to get a full idea, but I'd say we're looking at saving at least a grand a year because I'm switching us.

Of course switching to a credit meter may require landlord's permission, and they may require you to put it back to pre-pay when you move out (as our EA's are insisting, but we're arguing with them about that, as it costs). If it's a long term let, you could just get it changed regardless of what they/your contract says, afterall you are the one paying the bills.... Be careful with that route though incase they go for breach of contract or get picky about anything else and try to charge/get you out