Edf electricity prepay meter unit rates much cheaper than fixed price tariff credit meter unit price

[Deleted User]

PennineAcute wrote: »

No, I am fixed until this time next year.

Look from prepay mobile phones came out. Charges were silly. Look at prepay mobile prices now, very cheap and comparable with monthly prices.

Yes, eventually prepay will come down, for all customers, but I fear it will be in the long term, rather than short term.

Agreed. Smart prepay meters are the future. Suppliers will slowly get to realise that the meters are reliable and cheaper to run than even monthly/quarterly direct debits. It will start when the first fixed yearly prepay rates become available for customers who keep their smart prepay meters well in credit .I can t see any reason why smart prepays can t be offered a yearly fixed tariff

PennineAcute

But I feel that prepay customers do need to be educated, especially those on low incomes.

Yes, I was on prepay, until I managed to come off, and it was smart meters that enabled me to come off.

But when I was on prepay, I worked out my annual usage and thus my weekly payments. This enabled me to keep warm over winter, when of course gas usage rockets.

This winter I am sorted and have low energy prices. Next September, not looking forward to renewal prices. My current supplier has gone up around £100, since I fixed.

CHRISXX_2

Hello Houbara,

Thanks for your very detailed messages.

I have spoken to a couple of people who have had Prepay Meters for some years and they told me that their KwHr / Unit rates have always been much lower than their Energy Suppliers Standard Variable Tariffs and the Fixed Price Tariffs.

You stated that it is still cheaper to go for a 1 Year Fixed Tariff on Direct Debit but you quoted a Unit price that is 3.351p higher than the Prepay unit price [14.469p] from the Big Energy Suppliers - even with the higher Standing Charge of 30.408 it is obvious that the Prepay Meter yearly costs are much cheaper - for example for 4,000 KwHrs it would be £687.75.

The Tariff / Unit price that You stated to be cheaper [17.82p] would cost £822.99 for 4,000 KwHrs usage assuming the same high Standing Charge of 30.408p per day - that is an additional £135.24 over the years cost with a Prepay Meter.

However thank you for pointing out that the Prepay unit costs are about to be reviewed within days / October 1st - is it really likely that there will be a BIG increase as that would severely affect people who are on low incomes / Benefits ?

When I am looking to find the cheapest Electricity I look at it from the point of view of someone who does not have access to the Internet and cannot pay by Direct Debit as exactly that tariff would suit me - I don`t want to pay by Direct Debit or manage my account online - but as I previously mentioned I have never looked at Prepay Meter charges before because I thought that the unit rates were VERY expensive having read so on websites such as MSE.


After reading your message I looked for Enstronga and their current Tariffs have obviously increased since You signed up - I hope that you do not have any problems with them as I have read some really bad reviews from a few of their Customers - however there were only 22 reviews so I am assuming that is from thousands of Customers [?] so that would be very few bad reviews as a ratio.

I would have obtained a Quote if I could have carried out the process online but as you probably know I would have had to supply my telephone number and wait for a call back - according to some of the reviews people can never get through to them when telephoning to try and find out why the Customer Services has not replied to messages left - I don`t want to either be pestered or ignored by Enstronga.

One of my Neighbours has just joined OVOEnergy and had both their Gas and Electricity Meters replaced [which I was surprised by] - on the day that the new Meters were installed there was an announcement from OVOEnergy that they were scrapping their online discount and increasing there Gas and Electricity unit prices - one article [might have been on the MSE website ?] stated that this would mean an average yearly increase of £135.00.

My only option with my existing supplier to pay quarterly is the EDF Blue+Price Protection October 2019 Tariff with a unit price increase from 16.24p [existing unit price] to 19p would add approximately £151.00 to my Yearly Electricity Bill.

Even going for the EDF Blue+Price Protection October 2019 Tariff and paying by Direct Debit / managing my account online the KwHr / Unit price is 17.49p which would add £68.75 to my Yearly Bill - however as I previously explained I do not want to pay by Direct Debit / manage my account online.

Thanks again for your messages and Thanks also to the other Members who have responded to my messages - I have not been able to find any Tariffs anywhere near what the other Members stated you are paying.

I will research further as I have until October 31st to decide what to do.


CHRISXX

[Deleted User]

I fully expect that at the October review the prepayment meter tariff cap will rise to around 1p /kwh less than SVT . They won t allow it to be at such a large gap as it is now with the big 6.
I ve only quoted the current price for two of the big 6 , EDF/Npower Standard tariffs to compare with the much lower current rates which exist now with their capped prepay rates. I would nt advise anyone to take them up with those rates, they re terrible.
Back in April at the last prepay cap review the two rates were similar with prepays slightly lower.
The big difference now is purely to do with the dropping of the pound sterling leading to higher standard variable tariffs. They will both draw back closer again Oct 1st I would bet.
My advice is for anyone to get onto the lowest priced fixed electric only tariff quickly now with a smaller supplier such as Enstroga or one of the other top 6 cheapest . , this is for credit meters only ..At only 12 p/kwh and a low standing charge I would nt be worried about bad reviews. Npower and Scot Power have nt a good record neither.
So long as you manage the account properly and don`t give them a chance to mess it up you should be OK.
I ve been flitting around the smaller suppliers with bad reputations for years and never had much of a problem. after all they only offer customer service and billings so they don t have that much to do if you keep on top of regular readings and make sure you get an accurate annual kwh usage in at the start to get the DD correct.
CHRISXX , when you visit a comparison site, such as Uswitch, make sure that they show you all available tariffs you can switch to and not just the ones they get commission for. They would miss out most of the cheapest suppliers if you did nt make sure of that.
And dont forget you can switch exit fee free 49 days before any fixed deal tariff ends

PennineAcute

Prices have rocketed since I fixed in April. I wish I had done it a earlier, but was still testing the water with Utility Point, and so was on their variable tariff.

Their electricity has now gone up to 17.2p Unit rate and 15p Standing Charge - so EDF are now not far off them.

CHRISXX_2

Hello again Houbara,

Do You know whether there was a large Prepay KwHr price increase in the review that you mentioned which was happening on October 1st ?

You guessed that the Prepayment Meter unit rate might be increased to just below the SVT unit price - did that happen ?

Please excuse me not researching this myself I am posting this message to you just before I have to go out and travel to an airport to fly to Edinburgh and I will not be able to get online again for a couple of days.

Thanks again for your previous very detailed messages.

Chris