Changing Meters?

rubyredhead

I'm currently on prepayment meter and would like to change to a regular one. Npower want £60 per meter. I'd not be able to afford that upfront. Does anyone know if I can pay it off over a set time/it added on to my bill?
Or ofcourse if there's any way to getting this free?

macman

Pick the supplier of your choice and ask for a meter change FOC in return for your business. However, if you are unable to finance £60 upfront, do you really want to be on a tariff that requires a fixed monthly DD, as that's the only tariff that will be any cheaper? A PPM costs the same as Standard Variable tariff.
No you can't pay it off over an extended period.

AubreyMac

The flat I've just purchased has pre payment meters with Spark. They want £165 to change the gas and electric meters.

I made enquiries with EDF who said if I go with them on pre pay, after 30 days as their customer they can change my meters for free. So I have switched to them (which will take about 3 weeks). After that I can change supplier to whoever I want.

macman

Typical for Spark to charge £45 over the going rate.
Good luck with extracting yourself from Spark-if you can do that in 21 days you will have done very well indeed. They're not known as the Hotel California of energy suppliers for nothing...

AubreyMac

macman wrote: »

Typical for Spark to charge £45 over the going rate.
Good luck with extracting yourself from Spark-if you can do that in 21 days you will have done very well indeed. They're not known as the Hotel California of energy suppliers for nothing...

I've only owned the place for a couple of weeks and I've had awful service already.

However, it's what the previous owner has (he rented the place out). I was told I had to go with whats there and when I get an account I can then change which I've done ASAP.

[Deleted User]

If you do switch meters I'd advise you to keep good records, as I got embroiled in a long dispute when my meter was changed just before I switched supplier.

When the new supplier asked for my meter reading it wasn't a simple case of giving just one reading. What they needed was the final reading on the old meter, the starting reading on the new meter, and the current reading on the new meter. I gave them all these readings, and an explanation, and highlighted the whole lot in bright yellow highlighter pen.

I then got an estimated final bill from the old supplier which was more than twice the correct sum. It turns out that the new supplier had thrown away the relevant information, and just passed on the current reading. Not surprisingly, the old supplier must have assumed that I was trying to pull a fast one, and estimated the bill.

The old supplier told me that they couldn't do anything about it without the relevant info from the new supplier, but the new supplier just said "we wouldn't keep that information, we don't need it".

There was a palava that dragged on for about a year before I got a letter from a debt collector one day. At that point I rang Ofgem, who got the whole sum written off, and a £30 compensation cheque.

They assured me that I hadn't been credit blacklisted as a result, but when I tried to sign up with the same company in 2013, they demanded an up front deposit before they would allow the switch. When I asked them which credit agency was blacklisting me they backed down and waived the deposit.

Make sure you keep a note of the new and old meter serial numbers, final reading on the old meter, and starting reading on the new one.

sheffield_lad

I would advise anyone to think long and hard about having a credit meter and removing PP's If you do decide to go for credit set an amount which will cover the winter months as well as the summer.

The average 3 bed semi for both gas/lecci is £100-£110 per month. You may be below (or above this), but that should act as a guide.

SwanJon

MSE article on changing meters & costs:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity