Pre paid meters

Horace147

My partner owed 800 on each of gas and electric she had meters for both fitted about 3 years ago every time she puts credit on her meters money is taken by the company. Yesterday she called the companies to see what is still owed and to her surprise the balance has not decreased she has been told that they are putting interest on the balance can u tell me if the companies are allowed to charge interest on outstanding balance as the way it is going it will never be paid off thx

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

What company/companies?

How much has she been told they are taking each week?

SwanJon

I'm not aware of any companies that charge an interest on an ongoing debt, so I'd be interested to hear who has started that. (Once the account closes it may be different).

You can see if any bill has been sent to the meter - E.on have a good page about what each screen means.
https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/your-account/prepayment


For electricity put the key in and press the blue button until you see screen S - this is the bill on the meter. One more press takes you to T which will be how much is being paid towards the bill each week.

For gas, with the card out, press and hold the red button until the screen changes (then let go). You may seen screen 27 first - which has the bill on it. Press the red button again to see how much is being paid towards that bill.

Horace147

Npower and British gas they take 50p a day off electric and if tenner put on gas they take on average £1.64 every time. The account is not closed she went to meters bcos she was struggling after divorce from ex so she had 800 outstanding on each of the accounts but after 3 yrs neither account as decreased

footyguy

Horace147 wrote: »

Npower and British gas they take 50p a day off electric and if tenner put on gas they take on average £1.64 every time. The account is not closed she went to meters bcos she was struggling after divorce from ex so she had 800 outstanding on each of the accounts but after 3 yrs neither account as decreased

Neither nPower nor British Gas charge interest on amounts owed and being repaid via a PPM.

Are you sure the 50p per day is not a daily standing charge that is applied?

Contact each supplier, and request an up to date statement of your account

Horace147

Just done all that was recommended after 3 years there's still £650 on each account and it says just under £5 a week being took as payment for debt so how can only 150 been paid off each after nearly 3 years my partner needs some help with this any ideas would be greatly appreciated thx

Horace147

No I have just been on meters and looked st outstanding debt and what's been took weekly for debt as I said it's now 650 owed on both with approx 5 being took a week for debt

footyguy

Horace147 wrote: »

Npower and British gas they take 50p a day off electric and if tenner put on gas they take on average £1.64 every time. The account is not closed she went to meters bcos she was struggling after divorce from ex so she had 800 outstanding on each of the accounts but after 3 yrs neither account as decreased

Horace147 wrote: »

Just done all that was recommended after 3 years there's still £650 on each account and it says just under £5 a week being took as payment for debt so how can only 150 been paid off each after nearly 3 years my partner needs some help with this any ideas would be greatly appreciated thx

Unless you are loading the gas meter with £10 every other day, even in mid summer when it's possibly 30 degrees during the day, then what you have been told and what you admit is happening cannot be correct, can it.?

How many days in a week? What is that multipled by 50p? Again, it doesn't add up does it?

Horace147

My partner has 5 kids she uses the electric for washing machine which is on all day for 3 days a week plus lighting TVs etc the gas is used for cookin heating the meter said it will take £4 a week min and up to 4.85 a week max she can go thru 30 a week on gas and easily 50 a week on electric so I've done the maths and no it still doesn't work out cos even in the summer she's doin washing 3 days a week all day and as for gas she hardly ever puts heating on cos of way it gobbles the credit up that's y I'm trying to get this sorted cos surely after 3 years it should b nearly paid 52 x 4.80 = 249.60 a year so tell me y only 150 gone off each debt after nearly 3 years

SwanJon

Sorry I didn't think of this before, but there are charities, funded by some suppliers that are there to help clear a balance in certain circumstances.
They are managed entirely independently of the suppliers - in this case by Charis Grants:
http://www.charisgrants.com/application-forms/

You'd need to fill in a form for each supply as you are with different suppliers.

This will only remove the debt - high usage will still mean you need to keep paying almost the same amount. Once the debt is clear you may be able to change suppliers, but I think the biggest difference will come from reducing how much is used. (e.g. if paying £50/wk for ele, but only £5 is for the balance, then it will still be £45 without the debt payment.)

It's diffucult with gas at this time of year, but check the thermostat, and/or radiator TRVs to see if they can be turned down a bit.
Do you have any electric heating? That's usually a big culprit, but anything that heats up will use lots (e.g. 90C washes).

Either supplier should be able to help give advice if you call, but here's what their websites say:
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/smarter-living/save-energy/energy-saving-tips.html
www.npower.com/home/energy-efficiency/saving-energy/

System

BG standing charges are quite high at £1.82 week. The same price for both prepayment and credit meter customers.Its taken not as a daily charge on the prepayment meter but in one lump.
As Swanjohn has pointed out you can see what debts/repay rate are on the meters, no need to be phoning suppliers up.If you do not credit the meter weekly then standing charges build up. The tariff on the prepay is exactly what BGs Standard/Variable are...high, so the best way forward for you , eventually, once the debt is cleared, is to rid yourself of prepay meters altogether and get the supplier to exchange the meters, free, to credit meters where you can avail yourself of much cheaper yearly fixed tariff deals . If BG will not echange the meters because of poor credit history, switch to EDF who are much laxer and do not strictly credit check