Gas & Electricity Card Meter removal

Hillybilly43

We have bought a new house which has card meters for gas and electricity. I have contacted Scottish Power to have these removed (just over 2 hours on phone to them) and were advised that there is a charge of £160 to remove them. Is this normal and do all energy companies charge to have card meters? Have you had any expoerience with card meters - Scottish Power were extremely unhelpful and frustrating to deal with. Thank you.

stator

Switch energy companies and some will do it for free, see here for a list of costs:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity#freecreditmeter

bxboards

Switch over to EDF as they remove them for free.

theartfullodger

Have the meter changed, agree to the charge, pay it (you have to pay upfront or they won't change it).

Then send a calm, polite letter/email
http://www dot ceoemail dot com/index4.php
to the big heid CEO numpty explaining that you will be taking him & his chums to court over unfair contract terms as they charge for meter changes only going one way. Eh?

If a tenant or occupant gets into trouble and runs up a huge bill the utility companies change the meter to a payg "key-meter" one: But don;t charge them (obviously).

A new owner or landlord wanting to change back to a normal credit, send-me-a-bill-every-3-months jobbie gets charged a fortune.

This is obviously unfair & you would win in court: They will reply within a day or so having refunded your charge.

See
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-contract-terms-guidance--2

pinkteapot

Easier to switch suppliers than do all the above!

I had a flat with card meters and switched to a 'normal' meter. Think the supplier was Eon and there was no charge.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

pinkteapot wrote: »

Easier to switch suppliers than do all the above!

I had a flat with card meters and switched to a 'normal' meter. Think the supplier was Eon and there was no charge.

That's right pinkteapot, we don't charge to change a meter from prepayment to credit. Customers asking for this do, though, need to pass an external credit check and to have had an active account for at least 28 days.

Malc

Hillybilly43

Thanks for your replies - I am still struggling with SP. Is it correc that they can keep us on prepay meters for 45 days before we can apply for a credit meter? We are not new energy customers - we have just moved house?? Thanks.