Eon Smart Meter Pay As You Go, whats the crack? Too good to be true?

AdventureRocks

Hello All,

From what i understand i pick a tariff and then send money to the meter to prepay for the electric/gas and save £70 on standing charge for gas + electric. I will not need to do meter readings any more as it is all sent to the E-on automatically.

Whats the catch? Anything i need to be aware of before switching? Are they problematic or more expensive for some reason i have overlooked?

Sound too good to be true!

Thanks

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

If reading meters is too difficult for some reason then I guess it's good....but I would be looking for the cheapest tariff from all providers, there's only a small % chance that e.on are the cheapest for you.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Morning AdventureRocks.

Our Smart Pay As You Go Meters are relatively new technology so thought it might help if I post a bit of information about them. Although they're being rolled out throughout the UK, they aren't available everywhere yet. At the moment, only existing E.ON customers who have either dual fuel or electricity with us and no debt can have them. Our Smart Pay As You Go team will be happy to let you know if you're eligible. Alternatively, you can register an interest online through our website and we'll be in touch.

There's no charge and, once installed, you'll be able to top up whenever you like by card through a smartphone using the E.ON app (only available on Android and Apple iOS7 or later devices), online or by using our automated Freephone service. You'll also be able to top up at shops or agents. Vouchers can be bought at Post Offices or retail outlets offering ePay. These can then be activated through the app, online or via the Freephone service. If you're running low on one fuel, money can be transferred between meters.

More tariffs are available with Smart Pay As You Go than with our conventional prepayment meters. All the ones on our website can be chosen. As you say, there are lower daily standing charges for customers with these meters saving about £35 per fuel per year. Additionally, there are discounts of £20 per year for taking both fuels and £5 per fuel per year for choosing paperless billing. It's also possible to sign up for Price Alerts and we'll let you know if a new version of the tariff is released. To see how these tariffs stack up, pop your usage in kWh on to the independent comparison sites.

These meters help keep track of the balance in pounds and pence, hour by hour, online or through the app. Alerts can also be set to let you know when the balance is nearing zero so you won't be caught out. As with all our Smart Meters, you don't have to take readings. The meters automatically send these to us via electronic messages.

Hope this puts a bit more flesh on the bones AdventureRocks. There's more information on our website but please let me know if you need any other details as happy to help.

Malc

AdventureRocks

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Morning AdventureRocks.

Our Smart Pay As You Go Meters are relatively new technology so thought it might help if I post a bit of information about them. Although they're being rolled out throughout the UK, they aren't available everywhere yet. At the moment, only existing E.ON customers who have either dual fuel or electricity with us and no debt can have them. Our Smart Pay As You Go team will be happy to let you know if you're eligible. Alternatively, you can register an interest online through our website and we'll be in touch.

There's no charge and, once installed, you'll be able to top up whenever you like by card through a smartphone using the E.ON app (only available on Android and Apple iOS7 or later devices), online or by using our automated Freephone service. You'll also be able to top up at shops or agents. Vouchers can be bought at Post Offices or retail outlets offering ePay. These can then be activated through the app, online or via the Freephone service. If you're running low on one fuel, money can be transferred between meters.

More tariffs are available with Smart Pay As You Go than with our conventional prepayment meters. All the ones on our website can be chosen. As you say, there are lower daily standing charges for customers with these meters saving about £35 per fuel per year. Additionally, there are discounts of £20 per year for taking both fuels and £5 per fuel per year for choosing paperless billing. It's also possible to sign up for Price Alerts and we'll let you know if a new version of the tariff is released. To see how these tariffs stack up, pop your usage in kWh on to the independent comparison sites.

These meters help keep track of the balance in pounds and pence, hour by hour, online or through the app. Alerts can also be set to let you know when the balance is nearing zero so you won't be caught out. As with all our Smart Meters, you don't have to take readings. The meters automatically send these to us via electronic messages.

Hope this puts a bit more flesh on the bones AdventureRocks. There's more information on our website but please let me know if you need any other details as happy to help.

Malc

Hi Malc,

Thank you for all the detailed information i appreciate it!

How can E-on afford to give such a discount on the standing charge compared to a none smart metre? Is it because there is less admin or something involved?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

You're welcome AdventureRocks. Glad to help.

The discounts and lower standing charges are similar to those offered to customers with credit meters. As well as prepayment customers, Smart Pay As You Go is available to those with credit meters who currently pay on receipt of a bill. It'll no longer be necessary to wait for a bill to drop though the letterbox. Customers will be able to see balances and make ongoing payments as above instead of facing a one off charge when the bill lands.

It's new technology and it gives us options for managing accounts in a different and more efficient way. Wherever possible, we're happy to pass these benefits on to our customers.

Hope this explains.

Malc

System

And are these smart meters SMETS2 compliant? If not, what happens when a customer decides to switch suppliers?

AdventureRocks

Hengus wrote: »

And are these smart meters SMETS2 compliant? If not, what happens when a customer decides to switch suppliers?

This is a great point!

Bark01

Hengus wrote: »

And are these smart meters SMETS2 compliant? If not, what happens when a customer decides to switch suppliers?

I think you already know the answer to that

SMETS1 – Its unlikely but not completely unheard of for other suppliers to accept SMETS1 meters and have retain SMART functionality. If not then the meter will become a ‘dumb’ meter and will need to be swapped for a SMETS2 meter at some point. There is the possibility that some meters will be able to be upgraded from SMETS1 to SMETS2 via a firmware upgrade.

SMETS2 – Switching to another supplier shouldn't be a problem.

I’d imagine anyone offering in home prepay would be doing so via a SMETS2.

In answer to the OPs question about cheaper standing charges its because the costs will change. The basic differences in costs between payment types are:

DD – Cost of bed debt reduced as regular payment received and customers bank details are known
CC – Large risk of bad debt
PPM – no debt risk, but cost of third party pay point infrastructure outweighs the debt risk saving

In the new SMART in home PPM world the third party PPM infrastructure cost will be removed so PPM ‘should’ be cheaper than CC and DD.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hengus wrote: »

And are these smart meters SMETS2 compliant? If not, what happens when a customer decides to switch suppliers?

AdventureRocks wrote: »

This is a great point!

Afternoon both.

At the moment, Smart Pay As You Go is similar to our overall Smart Meter programme. Customers switching to another supplier will lose some functionality both on their meters and Energy Displays. This is temporary until all suppliers use a centralised data communications company (DCC) who will pass the relevant details to the current supplier.

It's also worth mentioning, Smart Pay As You Go isn't available to customers who only take their gas from us. Those on the scheme with both fuels who switch their electricity away will no longer be able to have Smart Pay As You Go for the gas only. In these cases, we'll replace the meter with a conventional type without charge. This will mean losing the cheaper standing charges unless, for customers paying on receipt of bills, a Monthly Direct Debit is set up.

Smart Pay As You Go is a fairly new scheme and is being developed all the time. There's quite a lot more information on our website. This is also where we'll post updates as this relatively new technology unfolds.

Malc

System

So this means that under the UK Smart Meter programme, suppliers can roll out even more meters (the cost of which will eventually be recovered from consumers) that will quickly become out-of-date or will need replacing just because they cannot be supported. The Little Green Men on Mars looking for intelligent life forms on Earth are going to be extremely disappointed when they look at how Government and the energy suppliers are managing this not so smart Smart metering programme.

C_Mababejive

I would like to know more about the people who will fit these meters. How much training do they have and how long for?