Changing to smart meter help.

roy_harper

I'm on British Gas dual fuel prepayment meters at moment, but I'm thinking of making an appointment for a Smart meter fitting to save money.
Two things I'm unclear about:
1. When they fit the meter, is it initially still pay-as-you-go, or is it straight away direct debit?
2. If it is direct debit, will I be able to afford it? How do they base the estimates.
I'd like to save money, but I'm worried if I jump to Direct Debit that I'll lose control of my budget.

Robin9

Smart meters will not by themselves save you money - its discipline of use that matters.

Prepay is a more expensive way of paying for gas and elec but have the advantage of keeping you in control if you have difficulty in budgeting.

House_Martin

You will save a lot money switching to a BG direct debit one year fix with any credit meter, smart or dumb but first of all you will have to pass BG s stringent credit history checks
.Smart meters won t be saving you money, they may educate you a little in the cost of using certain appliances but that is all.
BG will be able to accurately assess your usage if they have a full years history. Then its just a matter of dividing the years use into 12 equal payments. Electric use does nt vary too much but with gas you will be building up a healthy credit to cover the winter months of high usage.
If BG deny the switch then move over to EDF who are one of the weakest supplier, or stupid if you like, in that they don`t do much of a credit history check and take in any Tom !!!! and Harry some of which are out to defraud suppliers.