Is there a way of getting off prepayment meters if you have debt on them?

inkyqueen

thanks for your help.

molerat

Do you have any joint accounts with your husband because if you do when they credit check him they will find the link ?
Even with a credit meter you will still have a standing charge to pay and a debt to pay off.
Just because your parents are paying £114 a month a) does not mean that is what their energy use is costing, they could be running up debt and b) they are paying that amount 12 months a year, your weekly amount will go down in summer.
Taking up their offer of raising the debt repayment would get the debt paid off quicker. Monthly payments on a credit meter is not a magic fix to high energy use and debt and could put you back to square one.

SwanJon

You can phone up and make extra payments, npower will then remove this from the balance on the meter.
Once the weather gets warmer you could ask them to increase the £3 (then back down again in winter).
You could see if their energy fund can help (http://www.charisgrants.com/).

You/your husband are likely to get credit checked by any supplier when you try to get the meters swapped.

As above, the price between prepayment and quarterly is pretty much nil, and DD is around 4-6% cheaper (so a quarterly bill of £665 vs £700).

You could look into energy efficiency as this could make a bigger difference than changing to DD (although both is better!)

dogshome

The differential in cost between PAYG meters and Credit Meters is appx. 6%, and to achieve that you have to pay by Direct debit with Online billing

At the moment some of the money you are feeding into the meters is being taken towards the debt, ( your Meter/Supplier should tell you how much this is), but bear in mind that in effect you are paying off an INTEREST FREE loan on the £980 gas debt - compare that to the cost of the personal loan you are also paying off.

Your best bet is to stay as you are till the debt is paid off, and then make the move to Credit Meters - Some suppliers charge for meter changes, others do it for free, but all will want a clean credit record before installing credit meters so that would be the time for your husband to take on the Utility accounts

zzzLazyDaisy

Have I understood this correctly - you are paying £3 a week off a £980 debt?

Do you seriously think that your energy supplier is going to allow your OH to take out a new (debt free) contract for the gas, and just trust that you will somehow find £980 to pay your debt? Of course they are going to insist on keeping the pre-payment meter in place, it is the only way they can be certain of getting their money back.

There is only one way to resolve this problem - get a grip of your energy consumption and focus on paying off the debt.

chanz4

p.s now you have called your supplier, dont be suprised if the ask for proof of the move out / in. As others have said your internal rating will be poor and credit tariff decline

Fire_Fox

The only solution is to use much less energy and pay more off the debt because it will take you many years at this rate. Loads of ways to use less:
- check your home is well insulated (ask landlord or apply for grants/ freebies)
- turn the heating down a couple of degrees (18C is considered safe)
- wear an extra layer
- electric underblanket on adult bed, electric overblanket on sofa (cost pennies to run)
- strip wash or turn shower off when soaping up
- air dry laundry outdoors instead of tumble drying
- wash laundry at lower temperatures
- boil a kettle to wash yourself or wash up if you run a out of hot water.

Most lighting and most gadgets are not big energy users, it is heating and hot water. Also sounds silly but be sure to ventilate your home properly, opening windows daily (even in winter!) or using an electric dehumidifier. Damp air feels colder than dry air, so you will often end up using more heating to get the same benefits.

macman

If you can only pay your current debt off at £3 per month, then it's it going to take you over 6 years to clear that! So I don't understand how you can say that your finances are 'much better now'? If you switched to a credit meter then your consumption would inevitably rise and you would cease to be able to pay back the debt.
There's no way they would allow you to come off a PPM in that situation, unless you maybe start paying off the debt in lump sums of say £100 at a time, so that they can see a real reduction.