Prepayment Vs billed meter?

biggysmaller

Hi,

I was on the phone the other day to EDF regarding the charges on my Gas and Electric prepayment meters. I was shocked to top up £10 on my gas meter to end up with £1.00 into my emergency credit after all the standard daily charges had added up over the past few weeks,
In any case, I was considering moving to a billing meter but was told that there no difference in charges for both gas and electricity - is this true?
I kind of like not having bills on my doorstep but dislike the inconvenience of topping up on cards and key.
Any advice would be welcome.

stewie_griffin

This is no longer the case since the prepayment price cap came in to play. It obviously depends which supplier you're with but prepayment tariffs are now cheaper than the SVR tariffs.

stewie_griffin

Does your supplier offer smart PAYG meters. You can top these up from home so you'd no longer have the inconvenience of going to the shop to top up your card/key.

Michaelw

British Gas are saying

We’re increasing our electricity prices on our Standard tariff

On 15th September, the price of electricity on our Standard tariff will be increasing for customers with credit meters. If you have a pay as you go meter, these changes won’t impact you.

They also appear to removing the dual fuel discount.Not everyone can afford of have the guaranteed income to pay by direct debit,The problem with prepayment gas meters is they can and do fail partiularly if outside after around two years'.The batteries in some of the the current cardless Landis&Gyr smart meters may well also do the same and there has been mention of this.

biggysmaller

OK, interesting. No, EDF do not offer the luxury of online top-ups.
My gas meter seems to be consuming money at a rate of knots! I had £15 debt and zero credit on the meter the other day - I topped up £10 and ended up with £1.00 emergency credit left!
The today I had zero credit, £8.00 owed - I topped up with £25.00 and ended up with £16.00 credit.
Does this sound right?

House_Martin

biggysmaller wrote: »

OK, interesting. No, EDF do not offer the luxury of online top-ups.
My gas meter seems to be consuming money at a rate of knots! I had £15 debt and zero credit on the meter the other day - I topped up £10 and ended up with £1.00 emergency credit left!
The today I had zero credit, £8.00 owed - I topped up with £25.00 and ended up with £16.00 credit.
Does this sound right?

You can check the price you are paying in kwhs on both gas and electric prepayment meters and compare it with EDFs latest tariffs in kwh s..I had a look the other week and they were amongst the cheapest in the UK..You are paying approx 25% more for the inconvenience of constantly topping up.
The standing charges you are paying up front are usually exactly the same daily standing charges for EDF s best fixed tariff deals which last a year, it just looks bad on your prepay meter when you pay up front.
The best thing for you do do is to get EDF to change the meters to credit meters and get their best fixed tariff deal before the winter.Don t forget , just compare the pence per kwh s per unit on the prepay meter ( about 14p/kwh on electric I think ) to their current best deal, ( about 11p/kwh fixed tariff)..Same sort of reductions in the more important gas price for your central heating this coming winter.
Most suppliers do strict credit history checks but EDF are one of the more lax suppliers so stick with them to get the meters changed, then you can compare the full market to get that kwh rate and the daily standing charges down..or simply switch to EDFs best deal

Michaelw

I think there is an allocation rate for gas and recovery rate with a debt.In some cases its 90% recovery so a £10 top up will leave £1 for gas.Thats what British Gas charges but no doubt the recovery rate can be negotiated with the supplier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEBr_PKZGB0

biggysmaller

Thanks for some really helpful information.
I am on a 70% recovery tariff. Also, I am on the Blue energy tariff. My Rate charges for gas for gas on prepayment are Gas unit rate: 2.948p per kWh, Daily standing charge: 26.25p per day. It's the daily standing charge that is the issue.
Is there a lower rate with EDF on a billed meter?

macman

PPM's used to be charged at the same rates as SVT on a credit meter. The point is that having a credit meter enables you to access the cheaper fixed rate tariffs that usually require monthly DD payment.

datlex

You do get a discount for paying by direct debit. Also payments are spread out across the year and you then don't get a big gas/elec spend at Christmas.

biggysmaller

i just asked for a billing meter but it was more expensive than prepayment by a penny on gas....is this right?