Changing from Prepay to Monthly and providor

Katie22313

Hi There,

Im looking for some advice.

I am currently with Ovo Energy on prepay and I am less than impressed. I seem to be paying a fortune for a 1 bed flat.

I am looking to move providor and to a credit meter.

Im looking for some advice on how to do this, and who is best to move to

many thanks

Michaelw

You will most likely have to pass a credit check.If you have the finances to support direct debits then it will be a better deal however these have conditions attached.

I did this with my smart meter transferred from prepayment to credit by mode change however the bill rose 25-30p a day because of the prepayment cap loss.Be wary credit bills quickly mount over daily period and prepayment is more widely excepted today as credit.

CashStrapped

Not all suppliers do credit checks.

EDF is one such company.

If credit checks may be an issue, your best option is to switch to a tariff with them. Once with them, ask for the meter to be changed to a credit meter. This should take 3-6 weeks. Electric switches are usually faster.

Now, when you siwtch to them, if they have a competitive tariff, you may want to stay with them after the meter swap has taken place.

But, there is nothing stopping you from leaving. Just because they did the swap does not mean you have to stay with them

You just have to ensure that the initial tariff you switch to (if it is uncompetitive) has no exit fees.

So, once the meter swap is done, you can switch to another provider.

Everything is detailed here:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity

On another note, they may offer to install a smart meter. I would avoid this for the moment and just install a standard meter. The current smart meters are already outdated and are being replaced. But, they are still installing the outdated version.

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The next thing you may want to do is get a handle on your actual energy use.

Specifically an idea of your annual energy use in KWH for gas and electric.

The problem a lot of people who have used prepayment meters have when they switch to a credit meter and direct debit is that they struggle to manage the account.

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This requires regular meter readings, (at least once a month). This ensures your direct debit will be set at the correct amount.

Remember, a direct debit is not the amount of your actual bill. The actual bill could be much higher or lower than the actual direct debit.

The direct debit is just a way to spread the amount over the year.

For example, based on your annual use in KWH, your provider will set your direct debit at a specific amount.

In summer, the direct debit will overpay (summer use is a lot lower). This will build up a credit surplus in the account. But this should not be touched.

When autumn/winter arrives, your bills will be much higher, and the direct debit will not be enough to cover your actual bills.

But! The surplus credit you built up in summer will be enough to cover the shortfall.

This way your direct debit can stay a regular amount year round.

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People fall into trouble when they request their credit surplus back just before winter. As a result either the direct debit has to be set a lot higher to cover winter use or the customer gets into debt as they already spent the money from the credit surplus.

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good luck!

House_Martin

Katie22313 wrote: »

Hi There,

Im looking for some advice.

I am currently with Ovo Energy on prepay and I am less than impressed. I seem to be paying a fortune for a 1 bed flat.

I am looking to move providor and to a credit meter.

Im looking for some advice on how to do this, and who is best to move to

many thanks

if your current meter is one of Ovo s Secure Liberty smart meters then Ovo can just change it remotely to credit meter mode once they have done a credit check.They do not have to exchange the meter.
If its a normal key or card meter then Ovo should be happy to change it free of charge.
You can then go onto their one year fixed tariff deals which will be cheaper then standard (capped ) prepay rates.
Ovo are not the cheapest supplier but if you consult a comparison website such as Uswitch to see how they stack up.

SpotlandRules

House_Martin wrote: »

if your current meter is one of Ovo s Secure Liberty smart meters then Ovo can just change it remotely to credit meter mode once they have done a credit check.They do not have to exchange the meter.
If its a normal key or card meter then Ovo should be happy to change it free of charge.
You can then go onto their one year fixed tariff deals which will be cheaper then standard (capped ) prepay rates.
Ovo are not the cheapest supplier but if you consult a comparison website such as Uswitch to see how they stack up.

That may be so, however, OVO meters are listed as prepay on the National Database. This can cause problems, if you want to try and move to a pay monthly account else where.

Utilita, on the otherhand, with exactly the same meters, are listed as credit meters on the National Database. I only found that out, as EDF's site gives whether you have a credit or prepay meter, when you get a quote from them.

All is not lost with OVO's meters, though. When I moved from OVO (Prepay) to Scottish Power (pay monthly) they overrode the database and accepted me.