Do all pre-pay meters have a standing charge?

caz1965

My brother has will be moving into his new flat next week, and the meter says, £1.39 weekly ! he ahs put a pound on to start the meter off, and gave all the readings.
He wants to know, if this is a weekly charge that all meters have, or is it a debt left from the previous tenant?
He doesn't have a landline, so keeps popping it to use my phone, so is not dorectly in front of the meter, when he speaks to the electric company.
Plus he is having trouble understanding them, as it is an Indian call centre.
Thanks for any help.

lee8040

mine isnt like that so id guess it is a debt from the last tennants

LadFromWales85

My electricity provider (Scottish Power) charges a 23.11p (inc.VAT) Standing Charge per day, which would be £1.6177 per week. I've been wondering if all prepayment providers have a standing charge also, but I'm considering switching to another provider who may be cheaper, and getting them to switch the meter to a standard one so I can pay by direct debit!

espresso

No standing charge.

kitchen_buff

There is a standing charge built into the cost of buying the electric cards, also electricity is more expensive than a normal metre. I had mine taken out about a year ago and my bill has gone down. One plus point is that you can see how much things cost to run. Here is a tip, go to wickes or B&Q and buy a load of energy saving bulbs. They really do work. Although the light can be a little dimmer. You can even get them for lamps these days.

LadFromWales85

Hmmm,

Heres a comparison:-
Scottish Power
Day Units @ 10.511p
Night Units @ 3.992p
Standing Charge @ 23.11p/day

EBICo
Day Units @ 12.85p
Night Units @ 3.95p
No Standing Charge

I live in a flat with my gf, using an economy 7 tariff with four storage heaters. I run at least two computers 24/7, and I can imagine the TV will be on most evenings (when we get one!). Seeing as though we only moved in on Tuesday, we've not really got an idea of how much electricty we're going to use.

But, from the looks of it, switching to them would reduce night units by 0.042p and day units would increase by 2.339p, but there'd be no service charge.

Am I likely to see a reduction or an increase in costs over time by switching to them? According to energyhelpline.com their support isn't all up to scratch and it's apparently harder to switch to them than other providers...

Swalec still appear to be cheaper than Scottish Power when I enter a higher usage into the checker, so they are another candidate, even though they charge a standing charge. The site doesn't offer normal tariffs if you've got a prepayment meter, so I guess I'd have to ring my potential supplier and ask them if they'd change the machine as part of the switch?

Terrylw1

Hi,

Standing charges are nothing to do with the meter and never have been. They are a charge that the Supplier decides on and is a traditional way to recover costs from low users. This came from prior to privatisation so continued for years until Suppliers starte chaging deals to entice customers over.

On a pre-payment meter there is something set called Fixed Charge Collection or FCC which the Supplier sets to collect the standard charge from the money you put in. The FCC can sometimes be incorrect so you could check it, but you can probably find that out from the Suppliers website as the tariff should be listed.

Standing charges are not for the cards because you can buy as many cards as you want.

The general rule has always been that on average a Supplier expects to obtain £20 profit per year from a standard residential customr. Obviously, standard has charged a bit with all the things we have thesedays.

This is also why Suppliers try not to give out more than £20 for a gesture of goodwill as they know they are potentially making a loss at that point.

Get yourself on credit, it's cheaper for you and you just need the meter changing after the credit check. Only takes 20mins on site to change it.

I wouldn't sugest changing Supplier first as it opens up further problems plus it's not just Ebico taht you may think are harder to change to. Suppliers don't want PP customers as much as credit as it is more hassle for them to deal with.

Some Suppliers have ran energy saving campaigns where they give you 2 free light bulbs so if you look around, you may come across a deal. Seriously though, get yourself on credit, it's cheaper.

Also, be aware that your Supplier can alter the FCC to collect debt from you quite easily unlike on credit where you are in control of the direct debit.

Also, in relation to lee8040's comment, Suppliers have to send someone out to correct the FCC if the previous tenant was having extra debt collected that way. So, if it wasn't done, you will be overpaying!!!

Good luck...

poppyolivia

I have a pre payment key thing that was here when we bought the house and we have a standing charge....it depends on your supplier if you have one or not.

SwanJon

I'll wait to be corrected, but this is what I know.
gas - PP meter can be programmed with or without a standing charge - they can do a two tier pricing (1st costs more, rest costs less)
electricity - Different kinds of meters, and the oldest ones can't cope with a two tier pricing, so they have to be set with a standing charge, aimed to match the two tiers as closely as possible. As ebico doesn't have two tiers or standing charges they can probably get the meters to match their billing system. As such, all meters are set with a charge even if the company doesn't charge one on their biulling system.

I'm sure the new meters can cope, but don't think we'll see them change until they are the majority.

kkpolobear

it depands what area and who you are with to how much the weekly fee is my mum is £1.25 per week but my aunt down the road from her is £1.95 per week yet a mate of mine is £0.50 per week i think it just depands who you are with at the end of the day

Terrylw1

The standing charge is sapping your credit so if the tariff in the Suppliers biling system is zero, they can't apply it to the meter otherwise you are paying the Supplier for a standard charge that they are not billing per the tariff. Remember that anything you pay in the shop for reaches the Supplier and they have to add it to your account. So, if the FCC was not linked to the tariff, you would immediately go into credit and they would never be able to balance up your payments to your readings.

Suppliers tend to reset the meters when you change Supplier, to make sure the FCC lines up with their tariff.

Regards