pay as you to monthly help

bubu86

Hi wondering if anyone could help. I'm currently on pay as you go meter for gas and electric I tried to join sse but turned out they wanted £50+ per meter (so over £100) I really need to get a pay monthly meter in and don't know where to start I'm paying at the moment £100 a month for gas and electric surely I shouldn't be? It's only 1 bedroom flat new boiler and radiators (was £15 a week in gas) I'm at home 90% of the time due to illness but I don't have everything on all the time. Any advice would be greatful

lstar337

It would be best to find out what you are using first. Swapping to a credit meter is not suddenly going to make your bills go down.

What are your readings for gas and electricity consumption over a day, week, etc.

Who is your current supplier and what is your tariff?

SwanJon

MSE Article:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity

Your supplier should sent you an annual statement that shows how much you used in the past 12 months.
As above, you should budget the same when you start to pay by DD that you were paying on prepayment. On prepayment it is easier to notice how much you are using, and so often consumption goes up after an exchange.

If you remain vigilant, then there are definate savings to be made.

Nada666

If you pay by direct debit you will get back the price of new meters easily after two winters (one, even.) (That is, if you use an average amount of gas.)

Of course, that requires you to maintain your bank account and not occur any charges. Plus you may have to ride alterations to the direct debit amount - if you are using £100 even before the onset of really cold weather you have to take care a realistic debit is set up.

You may still prefer a credit meter without paying by direct debit - price of energy will be the same but you will not be cutting yourself off - but at the same time you must have the discipline to check your meters and know how much you are using and not start overusing.

Nada666

(Did you put any cash aside over summer to pay for the heating this winter? You must have way more than £100 set aside. If not this may not yet be the time for you to switch to a credit meter.)

Don't forget to check the comparison sites for cheaper prepayment tariffs. Make sure you are on the cheapest.

HappyMJ

Prepayment meter users see the weekly top ups go up a lot in winter but never mention the savings they make in the summer. Topping up £100 a month in winter for a small flat sounds quite normal to me.

£15 a week for gas on Ebico would get you 277kWh of gas per week....40kWh per day divide that by let's say 8 hours and you've got a boiler on less than a third of the time (20 minutes) each hour. That's not much.

Bark01

A few suppliers offer free meter exchanges, but you would have to swap to them as PPM customer first.

I know EDF offer free meter swaps but don't know for certain who the others are.