Rental property- Electricity on Key payment system

jamei305

You don't have to pay to have it replaced with a normal meter and you don't have to consult your landlord (except in the unlikely event that material alterations to the building are made).


The current supplier may try to charge you for changing the meter, but in that case you can change suppliers. Plenty will replace it for free in this case.

HampshireH

No they wont charge to change it. But they are more likely to if you then choose to change it back again

Pixie5740

If you move in and there are still prepayment meters you will need to get your own key (top-up card) to use with the meter. It's similar to have a pre-paid mobile phone, you might get a new handset but you use your own sim card. If you use the same key as the previous tenant then money will be deducted every time you top-up because the previous tenant clearly has arrears on the account.

It sounds as though the property originally had a "normal" meter so I don't see why the landlord would charge you at the end of the tenancy if you decided to have the prepayment meter changed. If you are concerned about it you could always get something in writing from the landlord giving you the ok. It's not as though the meters even belong to the landlord.

takman

pinklady21 wrote: »

No - it is not down to me at the moment, as I am not the tenant!
I will contact the landlord and see what they say.
Interestingly, SSE said that the payment rates for pre-payment meters are actually very similar now, if not slightly cheaper than the usual tariffs.

I had also assumed it would be more expensive to pre-pay.
Thanks all!

They may be similar to the standard tariffs, but the standard rates are usually alot more than the cheapest deals you can get!.

ripplyuk wrote: »

Only if you’re topping up by very tiny amounts! I add enough to last 3-4mths. It only takes a couple of minutes to top up online.

The pre-payment rates can be cheaper than bill pay. Mine is.

I've never seen a pre-payment tariff cheaper than the best deal on the market. If you go on the MSE cheap energy club i would bet money on you being able to find a cheaper tariff than what you pay now and probably quite a bit cheaper.

allypally26

Just checked the only way you can top up a prepayment meter online is with a smart meter. Only 8.6 million homes currently have them.

t0rt0ise

It can take months to get the meter changed so to expect the landlord to do it is unreasonable. When/if you move in you need to contact the supplier to open your account. They may send you a new key or not. The previous tenant may not have been in arrears, the meter may simply have had a minus amount when the £20 was put on. The meter will allow a small minus amount, usually £5 or so.

Twice I've moved into places with these meters. Both times it took months. The firs one for the gas meter they kept not turning up for the appointment. The second time for gas I had to change suppliers to get it done and it took far longer than the 6 weeks they promised.

If there's another place to move into I'd give this one a miss!

KingMob

I've a pre-payment meter in the apartment I'm currently renting. Could the 18 pound credit be explained by the previous tenant using the emergency credit option? Personally never used it but I believe it gives 2-3 quid credit which is subtracted the next time topped up.

Slithery

Last time I moved into a property with prepay electric I managed to get a new key immediately. I rang up the provider who then sent me to the local corner shop (which was next door) to pick up a new one with no debt associated with it.