Are pre-payment meters that bad?

datlex

All I know is that my bills are lower on credit meters than I was paying on prepaid. I also don't owe money on either account due to online meter readings and direct debits.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Andy_WSM, I got a quote for a 1 year fix only 11..1 p kwhr . A 4 year fix was 15.5 p per kwhr in my area. Now I am not so sure if thats a good deal, Martin seemed to think it was. Will stick with the 1 year fix. Still better than my 13.2 standard tariff

markharding557

Nada666 wrote: »

But if you have the good sense to do this you have the discipline to use (and not use with abandon) a credit meter. Why pay the premium?

I dislike the lack of control the consumer has when using direct debit.
The saving to be made in having a credit meter is not much when not using direct debit.

Nada666

The (informed) consumer has more control when paying by direct debit, in most cases.

Wolf3

The choice really does come down to personal preference, Credit meters generally have the cheapest and fixed rates, and the number of tariffs are greater.
PP meters do tend to keep your energy bills down as people tend to be more economical with their usage so you can potentially end up paying less than what you would on a credit meter. People tend to fall down with regard to their gas PP meters as these have standing charges, if you dont top up during the summer you will eat into your emergency credit and find the money you top up with at this time of year is all eaten up very quickly.
The outlets where you top up the meters will only take a maximum payment of £49 on each transaction, however a savvy shopkeeper will split the money you want into different transactions. ie if someone wanted to top up their gas meter with £100, 3 separate transactions of £40+£40+£20