Electricity pre pay meter shows £30 debit

Exemplar

Long story short my Sister who lives in NZ owns a rents out a house round the corner from me.

The tenants have been evicted for non-payment of rent. Bailiffs sent in etc.

We got the new keys yesterday from the estate agent and discovered that the electricity/ gas meters have been changed to pre pay.

The electricity one states £30.00 debit.

I need to do a load of decorating so need electricity for this. Do I just need to get a 'key' for it and pay that £30.00 as well as extra for the electricity needed or will the provider write that off?

TIA.

SwanJon

Phone the (a) supplier.
You need to close down the account at their end for the tenants.
The supplier will arrange a key and remove the debt from the meter.

The debt belongs to the tenants and is between them and the supplier - no need to get involved.

dogshome

The 'Debt' belongs to the evicted tenants - You need to provide proof positive of the day they vacated to the supplier.
From that day forward the Landlord, (Your sister?), will responsible for the bills.
If you are going to manage the house on her behalf, it would be as well to declare yourself as responsible for future billing to the supplier - As such they will issue you with a NEW card for the meter and zero the debt.
DO NOT USE THE OLD CARD IF IT'S BEEN LEFT ON THE PREMISES

[Deleted User]

The "debt " you see on the prepayment meter may not be the tenants debt. If you are looking at the first screen , it will be standing charge debt. True debt is on screens "S " and " T " , (only seen with key inserted ) .Approx £2 a week is paid as standing charges which nearly everyone has to pay except Ebico customers.
Another strong possibility with evicted tennants is that the meter has been bypassed and they have not been crediting the meter for approx 15 weeks( thats £30 divided by 2 ). A build up of debt on screen A on the electric meter can indicate someone non crediting the meter because it has been wired up under the lower cover. Alternatively it could just mean that the house has been vacant for that period.
Importantly the standing charge debt in between tennants is the responsibility of the landlord but of couse they will try and pass that onto the next tennant to pay off. The minute they were evicted he should be feeding the meter.That rarely happens of .
course . A new card, or the old card re-registed with the new occupier, should wipe all debts from the meter.Screens S and T could well have a huge amount on it to repay weekly , as much as £16.50 a week and that too could be adding up on the first screen "A " as money "owed ".