Do all pre-pay meters have a standing charge?

caz1965

Well, he spoke to someone again, at British Gas.
He went to put some money on it, but the card wouldn't accept it!
He was told to get a new card, with a pound on.

He got someone very helpful on the phone (a Scottish Lady) who has arranged a refund on the money he had to spend up to now and she has sorted out a key meter for Friday.
she thinks the meter may be faulty, so he is going to get a new meter and a fresh start!

Terrylw1

Thats strange, how does she know the meter is faulty? PP meters can be programmed by the engineer to take a collection to recover debt.

The keys faulty if they shop can't get money on it in which cause he just gets a new one.

The engineer can come out and just remove or reset the meter if the collection needs removing.

The engineer won't do a like for like meter change if it's not faulty, he will leave it there. Bare in mind that if the Supplier has simply stated it's faulty and not asked for the collection to be remove, he will just leave it as it is if he an't find a fault.

Meter Operators reject site visit requests for like for like meter changes from Suppliers if they just ask for the meter to be changed. This is because like for like is called "recertification" and the Supplier has no ability to request it unless they contact the Meter Operator to agree it.

So, I hope they have booked it as a faulty meter issue or you may find that the engineer doesn't turn up or help you. I would suggest that someone is there to talk to the engineer just in case.

Good luck!

SwanJon

There could be any number of reasons for the agent to suspect that it is faulty, but as we are trying to get rid of the SmartCard meters* and replace them with keys, she may have just taken the oppurtunity to get it swapped.
There is an agreement with our meter operators to change to a key meter on the first visit, so even if they were called out to a faulty meter or to reset it, they would change it to a key if it wasn't already.

*Not as urgently as token meters, but we are doing it.

stimpo

generally yes PPMs have a standing charge. This is to cover all costs associated with PPMs such as keys, tokens, shops to charge devices all of which is passed onto the customer via a standing charge and slightly higher tariff costs.

And PPMs are ace for recovering debt :cool: