* Final bill on a prepayment meter? *

CharleneUK

Hi there, I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience?

I've been with Scottish power almost two years on prepayment and have recently switched over the EDF energy.

Today I receive a final bill of £283! :eek::eek: So I call Scottish Power and we do a meter reading over the phone. The guy says all the readings have been estimated and when we went through it, he said the last ones were highly over estimated and I will receive a revised bill.

I can't quite understand why I'm getting any bill in the first place since it's prepayment?!! I know this may sound stupid to some, but I have never received a bill from anyone and I've switched quite a bit over the 7 years I've been at this property!

Cardew

The term 'pre-payment' is misleading. You still pay for the gas/electricity you use at the current tariff. If your pre-payment meter isn't set to exactly the correct tariff you will run up a debit balance(or in days of falling prices - a credit balance.)Usually that debit balance is recovered by re-setting the meter, sometimes it is written off, but if you change supplier they will get the money from you.

tripled

Some companies will write off the balance if your prepayment meter isn't set correctly. Scottish Power isn't one of those I'm afraid.

CharleneUK

I see! Oh my word. I'm going to read my EDF booklet from cover to cover to ensure this doesn't happen again

tripled

To my knowledge EDF don't backcharge for an incorrect tariff on a prepayment meter.

The companies that do backcharge are nPower, Scottish Power and Powergen. The one's that don't are EDF, Scottish and Southern and British Gas. I would also expect Ebico don't, although I'm not sure.