Buying a house with a pre-payment meter for Gas & Elec - help needed

Mezza1979

Hi there

I am buying a house that has a prepayment meter installed for both Gas & Electric.

The house has been let out by the owners for many years and not all tennants have been timely with thier payments which is why it was installed.

Does anyone know if it costs anything to have this changed to normal monthly direct debit? Can all providers do this?

Its currently supplied by Southern Electric but having done a comparison in Uswitch it would appear that Southern Electric are the most expensive supplier for that Postcode so we would like to change.

Owners have told us as soon as we exchange contracts we can instruct the choosen supplier to carry out the change.

Anyone come across this before or have any advice?

Also, the gas box cover outside is old and broken (no door/side of it cracked). Does anyone know if i can get the gas board to replace the box and is it free?

Thanks

HappyMJ

I've read this somewhere before...in the gas/electricity forum...

Mezza1979

Yes, I posted in both cause it concerns both and was'nt sure where i would get a response.

BigAunty

MSE does provide a guide on how to switch from these meters for free but I didn't uncover it during a cursory search.

Yes, you can switch to non-metered services. You may find that some companies charge or that some others will do it for free upon a credit check. You really need to hop around and find the best energy provider/tariff for you.

For example, after debt ridden tenants in my partner's flat who had meters installed moved out, the current supplier wanted to charge £50 per meter to remove them and I easily found another provider who was happy just to perform a credit check to remove them and switch to direct debit.

julieb1987

We're in the same position. We have an overlap between our rental and our house we've bought. I am with Eon at the old place and I'm going to take them with me (pre-pay is on British Gas) and they don't charge to install a meter. Then I'll switch to a cheaper deal once it's in!

ognum

I have just purchased a house for rental that had a prepayment electric meter, I wanted this out.

Southern Electric charged £56 to get the meter out. They wouldn't schedule an appointment until the day of completion which was a Friday but I phoned that day and they came out the following Wednesday.

THey were a bit difficult on the phone and wanted me to keep the letter but I refused and they insisted on credit checking me which was fine.

Hope this helps!

room512

We moved into a rented property in August that had a prepayment electricity meter. We had to switch to the provider we wanted, have a metered supply for a month and then they swapped it free of charge. (This was EDF). They couldn't swap the meter until we had switched over to them.

greggymagic

Hiya

We bought a house that had prepayment meters for both GAS and Electric.

We just transferred our existing suppliers to the new property and then go them to change the meters.

Didn't have any probs at all so I'd say don't worry.

AlexMac

I bought a BTL flat last year with prepayment meters and British Gas said they'd change meters for free when I switched to them. I didn't bother in the end, as the agent said tenant should sort it out (and some might prefer prepay). So no prob

Dippypud

Mezza1979 wrote: »

Hi there

I am buying a house that has a prepayment meter installed for both Gas & Electric.

Owners have told us as soon as we exchange contracts we can instruct the choosen supplier to carry out the change.

Anyone come across this before or have any advice?

Also, the gas box cover outside is old and broken (no door/side of it cracked). Does anyone know if i can get the gas board to replace the box and is it free?

Thanks

Some suppliers replace these ... some don't - rarely for free

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96t78eYfen0

AlexMac

Further to " Also, the gas box cover outside is old and broken (no door/side of it cracked). Does anyone know if i can get the gas board to replace the box and is it free? ".
British gas wouldn't replace a damaged meter box in our shared freehold flats once. So I went to a builder's merchant, bought one for 40-50 quid and fitted it meself; You don't even have to take the meter off the wall if you buy one as close a fit to the old one as you can.