British gas question please

Alex6471

Hi,
We are with british gas for electric and gas, both on pre pay meters.
The electric is on a standard tarif, as we recive some benefits and hav a disabled child would there be a low income tarif at all that we could change to instead of the standard one ?
Thank you

Nada666

No, the tariff for people on a low income is the cheapest tariff which is available to those using credit meters. Change the prepayment meters to credit meters and pay by direct debit - that can save you more than 20%.

If you want to stick with prepayment meters then you pay a premium - your choice. As you have a disabled child you may qualify for a warm homes discount and cold weather payments - if you qualify to receive these then you receive them for either type of meter.

SwanJon

British Gas withdrew its Essentials tariff a few years ago and replced it with the Warm Home Discount scheme:
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/SiteSearch/?q=Warm+Home+Discount+Scheme
Other suppliers are also part of this scheme.
Have a look at a comparison site to see if there is a better tariff for you.
You can also look into having the meters swapped to 'credit' meters where there is a wider range of tariffs:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity

MK55

Nada666 wrote: »

No, the tariff for people on a low income is the cheapest tariff which is available to those using credit meters. Change the prepayment meters to credit meters and pay by direct debit - that can save you more than 20%.

If you want to stick with prepayment meters then you pay a premium - your choice. As you have a disabled child you may qualify for a warm homes discount and cold weather payments - if you qualify to receive these then you receive them for either type of meter.

This is pretty much incorrect, you pay the same rate per unit on a pre pay meter as you do for a customer not paying by direct debit. So you aren't paying a premium.

However they are right, you could switch and get a direct debit discount this is mostly 6% or less at a lot of companies, you could also then chose a discounted tariff but again most of these are around 4-5% so you're definitely not paying a 20% premium for having pre-paid meters.

Ring your supplier and see if you qualify for the Warm Home Discount scheme.

Nada666

MK55 wrote: »

This is pretty much incorrect, you pay the same rate per unit on a pre pay meter as you do for a customer not paying by direct debit. So you aren't paying a premium.

However they are right, you could switch and get a direct debit discount this is mostly 6% or less at a lot of companies, you could also then chose a discounted tariff but again most of these are around 4-5% so you're definitely not paying a 20% premium for having pre-paid meters.

For average use (16,500 and 3,300) cost is £1495 for standard prepayment from legacy suppliers, cheapest prepayment tariff is £1325 but with a credit meter cheapest tariff is less than £1060. According to my arithmetic £265 is 20% of £1325.

Details in your region and for a different usage will vary.