help, prepayment meter confusion!

jacshill

i've recently had a phone call from brittish gas offerring to supply our electric as well as our gas. no standing charges and a comparable price on a per/kWh rate, about 8p per unit of electric. apparently powergen who we are with at the moment are chargeing these standing charges. i didn't even know there were standing charges on pre payment meters? has anyone got these meters? my boyfriend and i have only been in this flat 6 months, but we're spending £50 every six weeks for the electric and about the same for gas. it's a two bed flat, is this about right? i'm totally confused as to what to do, we'll get a dual fuel discount if we go with brittish gas, but i don't know if the overall costs are more or less. any help or advice really appreciated.

tripled

To my knowlege Powergen do charge a standing charge, which basically means you pay a daily 'rental' on the meter and a flat price for your power.

BG don't charge you the standing charge but instead use a 'two rate' system, which means you pay more for the first bit of energy you use then a lower tariff after that. This basically means you would only really see the benefit if you are a very low user, or when the property is vacant.

British Gas electricity will probably work out cheaper than Powergen, especially if you are in one of their 'home regions', but proably about the same for gas.

You should consider using Ebico - they don't charge a standing charge or two-tier rate system, and they also charge the same regardless of how you pay (direct debit, bill, prepayment meter, etc), so for people with prepayment meters they usually work out as one of the cheapest.

So, to sum up, you could probably save a few pounds a year by switching to BG but you would save more by switching to an even cheaper company. According to energyhelpline.co.uk, in my region (Swalec) for average consumption you would be £26 per year better off with BG than Powergen, but £111 per year better off with Ebico than Powergen. Do a comparison on a switching site to find out what is best for your consumption and region

jacshill

thanks tripled, will have a look at ebico. b. gas said they don't have a minimum contract period, so can change from them with relative ease. b gas also said if the landlord said ok, we could get a credit meter which would workout cheaper. hoping ll will say ok. fingers crossed!

jacshill

thanks tripled, no minimum contract on b gas so can change from them with relative ease. confirmed that they only give dual fuel discount to people who pay by direct debit, so doesn't apply to pre payment meters. (didn't mention that on the phone, when they first called!!) they also mntioned that a credit meter would get us a better rate on the electric. will have a look at ebico as the flat rate appeals. thanks for the advice, jacshill