prepayment meter

jackson0191

Hi,
I moved into a new house three weeks ago, and I assumed that it had a credit meter, so on the first day at my new house, I went onto uswitch and choose to switch from British Gas to OVO energy. Who then said I would be switched over by the 30th May. All things seemed good, but then by the end of day two at the new house, the gas and electricity went off, after taking a while to figure out that it was due to a prepayment meter running out of credit, I was a somewhat surprised as I thought it was a credit meter. Anyway, I thought that it would be fine because we were switching in a few weeks so, I could live with using the prepayment meter until then. I thought that OVO would get all this information from British gas, and then change the meter over to a credit meter by the switch date, and before our first direct debit came out.
Anyway, the switch date came and no one came for the meter in the meantime. I had emailed ovo a week before the switch date and had no reply, I phoned them on the switch date and after being put on hold for what seemed a lifetime, I was told that they did not know it was a prepayment meter, and if i wanted the meters taken out and a credit one put in it would cost £150 !! At which point I told them that I actually signed up to a credit meter tariff on their website not a prepayment meter tariff. The reply was that since I dont have a credit meter they will put me on a prepayment meter tariff, or I can leave them but have to pay £60 leaving fee or I can pay the £150 to change meters.
I really want to leave them as i think it is very expensive to change meters, especially when some companies do it for free. Therefore, does anyone know if I have to pay this leaving fee when i did not even sign up for the tariff they are putting me on ? Can they put me onto a contract that I did not sign up too ?

spiro

The most important word in your post is "assumed", unfortunately you should have checked first because the new supplier won't get the meter details until around or after the switch date.

dogshome

What is not clear from your post, is wether or not you registered your occupancy with BG on the day you moved in, which is mandatary - Only when you have done this and had acknowledgement from BG as you being the new householder, are you free to move to another supplier

However, Ovo's hands are not squeaky clean on this one
When you initiated the Switch with them, they should have immediately checked the status & type of meters you have with National Registries of Gas & Elec meters, which would have told them they were PAYGO meters - but from the timeline on your post, this they failed to do.
So far as Ovo's insistance on you paying an Early Exit fee is concerned, WRITE a letter headed Complaint.

I'm afraid that it will cost you money to have the meters changed to Credit types, and Ovo will do credit checks before agreeing

HappyMJ

jackson0191 wrote: »

Hi,
I moved into a new house three weeks ago, and I assumed that it had a credit meter, so on the first day at my new house, I went onto uswitch and choose to switch from British Gas to OVO energy. Who then said I would be switched over by the 30th May. All things seemed good, but then by the end of day two at the new house, the gas and electricity went off, after taking a while to figure out that it was due to a prepayment meter running out of credit, I was a somewhat surprised as I thought it was a credit meter. Anyway, I thought that it would be fine because we were switching in a few weeks so, I could live with using the prepayment meter until then. I thought that OVO would get all this information from British gas, and then change the meter over to a credit meter by the switch date, and before our first direct debit came out.
Anyway, the switch date came and no one came for the meter in the meantime. I had emailed ovo a week before the switch date and had no reply, I phoned them on the switch date and after being put on hold for what seemed a lifetime, I was told that they did not know it was a prepayment meter, and if i wanted the meters taken out and a credit one put in it would cost £150 !! At which point I told them that I actually signed up to a credit meter tariff on their website not a prepayment meter tariff. The reply was that since I dont have a credit meter they will put me on a prepayment meter tariff, or I can leave them but have to pay £60 leaving fee or I can pay the £150 to change meters.
I really want to leave them as i think it is very expensive to change meters, especially when some companies do it for free. Therefore, does anyone know if I have to pay this leaving fee when i did not even sign up for the tariff they are putting me on ? Can they put me onto a contract that I did not sign up too ?

As the previous poster states you have used the word "assumed". You didn't check and you have signed up to this tariff. I'll assume as well that this is a cheap tariff and not worth the leaving fee of £60 to switch suppliers. You now have 3 options...Pay the £60, the £150 or stay with the prepayment meters. If you top up the same amount that your direct debit was set for each month then it shouldn't be that hard to stop by the shops on your way back from work to add the money to the meter once a month. If you start putting in the full monthly amount now then you should build up enough credit before winter and you won't get a shock when it costs significantly more than what summer costs.

[Deleted User]

The suppliers will do a credit history check before removing prepays.

spiro

dogshome wrote: »

However, Ovo's hands are not squeaky clean on this one
When you initiated the Switch with them, they should have immediately checked the status & type of meters you have with National Registries of Gas & Elec meters

There is no obligation on a supplier to do this.

Snakey

Heh, I got caught in just the same way! It had not even occurred to me that there would be prepayment meters as I haven't seen one since my early twenties in slumland rented places. It was not until I turned on a light and nothing happened... urgh.

Anyway. You don't want to hear my ongoing tale of woe re other people's debts, credit check debacles, switching issues, keys lost in post etc. Here's what I found out during the process though:

1. Switching to credit meters involves, by default, a) a fee and b) a credit check. The credit check may be relevant because you may not be on the electoral roll at the new place yet if you have only just moved in and this could mean you fail the check even if your credit is good.
2. The only workaround for this that I came up with was to go back to my previous suppliers, which circumvented both issues.

If you can get your meters switched for free with your old supplier then it's cheaper to pay the £60 exit fee than it is to stay and pay £150.

This is not to say that you shouldn't challenge that fee, but you may as well get the switching wheels in motion in the meantime so that you can be shot of them as quickly as possible - whether you win or lose on the exit fee, you are better off leaving than staying. It takes about six weeks for the switch to come through, and then about 2-3 weeks to get an appointment for the meters to be changed. So it's worth getting things moving asap.

That is IF your old supplier will play ball. I would check that before you do anything else.

Of course if you literally don't have the £60 then you cannot jump ship because of the risk that you will end up having to pay it despite your complaint. If that is the case, you'll need to go slower - sit on the pre-payment tariff until you know for sure what the position is.

jackson0191

Thanks everyone for your replies, I am going to wait for a month or so to see how much it costs, and compare to our last address, if its way more expensive then I'll pay the exit fee and go back to British Gas, who I believe switch meters for free.

suzeesu2000

We currently have credit meters for gas and electric with SE. Soon moving to emergency accommodation which has pay as you go card meters.

Took two emails and five phone calls to find it will take 5 - 6 weeks to change supplier from BG at new house to SE who I like.

As it's emergency housing, we may not even be there for that long! SE have said they will close my accounts with no charge for leaving them before the end of my contract (was in a two year plan).

When we get our forever house I will go back to SE. Don't like BG

[Deleted User]

jackson0191 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your replies, I am going to wait for a month or so to see how much it costs, and compare to our last address, if its way more expensive then I'll pay the exit fee and go back to British Gas, who I believe switch meters for free.

You will be on the suppliers highest tariff more or less. Usually the same as the standard variable tariff for credits. . The pence/kwhr tariff is on one of the screens as is the weekly standing charge. My advice to all I meet is to get away from the high cost and inconvenience of all prepays and get them exchanged and then on to a cheaper yearly fix for savings of up to 20%