Are pre-payment meters that bad?

Wywth

Soleil_lune wrote: »

My friend has one for the gas and one for the electric, and she has been using roughly £1.20 a day for the electric and about 80 pence a day for the gas, since she moved to her 2 bed house about 3 months ago. The pre-payment meters were already there, and she just hasn't got round to getting them changed yet, I am guessing this rather low amount is going to get bigger in the winter, but this is very low! Yet I thought they were supposed to be a rip off! The amounts are around £32-£33 a month for electric and about £25 a month for gas.

She said that in the last house she was in, that was roughly the same size but with one more bedroom; she was paying direct debits of £75 a month for electric and £95 a month for gas! And she had been paying a lot for the past 2 years. Early 2011, she was paying around £50 for electric and £70 for gas, but by June 2013 when she left, she was paying £75 for electric and £90 for gas. She said it went up every few months!

Yet now her electric is only about £30 to £33 a month! In addition, she put £30 credit in her gas meter 5 weeks ago, and still has five pounds left! So she is using about five pounds a week in gas! Yet the direct debit was £95 a month. I know it's been summer for the last 3 months, but I don't see that she will be using a massive amount more in the winter: not much more electric anyway.

So is it really such a bad idea to have prepayment meters? Sounds like she was paying a lot more before! And also, there is the nice side to it: you don't get bills!

But I hear so many negative things about them. (My gas and electric DDs are about £130 in total by the way, and I am getting very tempted to change to pre-payment. I think paying in advance like you do for petrol and food etc, is a much better idea.)

Any thoughts?

You hear so many negative things? You heard they were a rip off?

PPMs today are usually charged at about the same rate as a customer paying their bills quarterly on receipt of bill who are on the suppliers standard tariff.

So it's not the cheapest option, (and it's quite expensive in compariison for the supplier to provide) but its no rip off either.

I don't know why you are thinking of moving from paying with a credit meter monthly by DD to a PPM though. Have you compared the costs based on your anticipated annual consumption in kWh?
Are you even on the cheapest tariff with your credit meter?

Soleil_lune

lollipopsarah wrote: »

I'm dreading the heating going on!
I was dreading the PPM when we moved here 2 years ago but after a few weeks trial and error we got the hang of it and always put £10 on each every week and top up as needed - so far we are still using about £10 a week for the electric but the gas last year was nearer £20 ish when it was really cold (and more even though we tried to keep the thermostat at 16 ish).
That worked out about the same as our old house but then we paid by DD and TBH I probably used the heating more than I needed to but then it's easy to turn it up without thinking, unlike when you are worried about the gas going out and the faffing around it takes to get it going again.
xx

Thanks Snookey Wywith and Gwylim, and Thanks Lollipop Sarah. I have heard many different responses now: all interesting, but many coming to the same conclusion: the PP meters are OK if your heating system is a decent one, as you do have more control over your spending, and can see what you're spending. But if you use a lot (like if you have a huge house or a poor heating system,) a PP meter may be difficult during the winter months, when you will use a lot.

Some people I know have actually been put off a property by the fact it has PP meters and a few others I know swear by them. I can see that it's beneficial in some ways, as you can control your spending on them, and I have also heard from some people that you don't pay any more than you do with normal meters. I have heard they are a rip off from many sources, but maybe that was in the past, as I am now starting to hear that they don't charge any more than regular meters. (Not these days anyway.)

It seems that you will pay more in larger homes (of course,) and also if you have a poor heating system/old boiler. So it's largely swings and roundabouts.

There doesn't seem to be much to choose between PP meters and regular ones, and it seems you will pay the same, but with the monthly DD ones, you don't have to worry about topping up during the winter months. Seems also, that if you have a rubbish heating system, your gas bill will be high, whether you have a PP meter or a monthly DD. So it's largely six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Not sure what to do yet. I think I will wait to see how my friend's bills are by March/April.

Thanks again for your help folks.

[Deleted User]

The prepays I see now are set at BG s standard tariff at 13.2 p a kwhr plus £1 .10 a week standing charge. I notice from my smart meter tariff that that is the price i am on now my fixed tariff has ended, so I am now on standard tariff. Preypays lose out on finding a cheaper on line deal or standing charges and of course the 6% discount for direct debits. I only get 1 % for the banks having my savings so getting 6% is the best rate by a long way for BG having my money in their bank if I build a credit up. BG do have an online payment system set up to avoid the top up hassle
This being a money saving forum I think 6% and cheaper tafiffs are worth striving for, so dump the prepays

Nada666

Soleil_lune wrote: »

Thanks Snookey Wywith and Gwylim, and Thanks Lollipop Sarah. I have heard many different responses now: all interesting, but many coming to the same conclusion: the PP meters are OK if your heating system is a decent one, as you do have more control over your spending, and can see what you're spending. But if you use a lot (like if you have a huge house or a poor heating system,) a PP meter may be difficult during the winter months, when you will use a lot.

<bangs forehead on table> (theirs as well as mine)

Soleil_lune

sacsquacco wrote: »

The prepays I see now are set at BG s standard tariff at 13.2 p a kwhr plus £1 .10 a week standing charge. I notice from my smart meter tariff that that is the price i am on now my fixed tariff has ended, so I am now on standard tariff. Preypays lose out on finding a cheaper on line deal or standing charges and of course the 6% discount for direct debits. I only get 1 % for the banks having my savings so getting 6% is the best rate by a long way for BG having my money in their bank if I build a credit up. BG do have an online payment system set up to avoid the top up hassle
This being a money saving forum I think 6% and cheaper tafiffs are worth striving for, so dump the prepays

Thanks Sacsquacco. I guess PP meters do lose that opportunity for different tariffs, but for some people, PP meters are better - as a few on this thread have said. Each to their own.

Nice to get a range of opinions. Some for, and some against PP meters. I guess it's up to the individual, and depends on your heating system, and the size of your property, and how well insulated your property is. If you have a huge, badly insulated property and a bad heating system, you may struggle to keep topping up in the winter.

As I said earlier, I will wait for the end of winter, and see what my friend says about hers. Right now, she says she prefers PP meters, but she may have a different view at the end of the winter. We'll see.

One of my neighbours who lives in a small newish house with a 3 year old heating system, swears by the PP meters, saying they make it easier to control her energy bills, and that she was paying more by DD. Maybe because - as someone said earlier - you aren't as careful and frugal with DD, because you're not having to watch what you use (and aren't able to as much.) Her bills are around £40 a month for electric and £50 a month for gas. They were 20% more before she had PP meters. In the same house.

Joyful

Often people think their credit meters were faulty after exchanging to a prepayment meter. This is usually because consumption has gone down because they are more aware of it.

I can say the same of my smart meter. My consumption has gone down as I can see daily what I am using. this month I have used £8 gas and £22 electric. In the winter I can easily use £80 to £100 over cold months.

I would stick with the credit meter and make sure you are on the best tariff. Also get a company that you can enter your reads monthly so you get no nasty shocks. It will also let you monitor that your DD is set up correctly as you have the control.

Blackpool_Saver

I fancy it with the electric but having a gas one worries me as if the gas goes off don't you have to relight the boiler ?

Joyful

Yes you do have to relight the boiler plus often gas PP meters fail in the cold or if water gets into them.

DragonQ

If you are already energy-aware and sensible with your budget, I can't see any advantages to getting a prepayment meter. Plenty of disadvantages though, such as no opportunity to fix prices or get discounted tariffs; having to either top it up regularly or lock away funds well in advance instead of paying in arrears or up to a month up front; risk everything turning off because you've forgotten to top-up; etc.

bob_bank_spanker

DragonQ wrote: »

If you are already energy-aware and sensible with your budget, I can't see any advantages to getting a prepayment meter. Plenty of disadvantages though, such as no opportunity to fix prices or get discounted tariffs; having to either top it up regularly or lock away funds well in advance instead of paying in arrears or up to a month up front; risk everything turning off because you've forgotten to top-up; etc.

This.

Surely the only benefit of PPM's is for those incapable of managing their own finances.

If you want to pay the least, you have to pay by DD.