Moving into a house with a prepay meter

GeekieGirlie

I am moving into a house that has a different supplier than what I use currently. I am with BG and new one is Npower. The new house has a prepayment meter supplied by Npower in there and we are happy to stay with noower. I rang to see when I can sort it out to remove the meter and put a credit meter in And they said it needs to done on the day I move in where I have to call with meter readings etc which I expected. I asked them in that case though would I have a gas and electric supply to use on the day if there’s a meter in and I’ve no way of crediting it and they just said ring in the day and we’ll sort it, but not sure what that meant.
So I was wondering if anyone knew, when I move into the house will there be gas and electric on I can use? Never had a prepayment meter before so I’ve no clue but obv need a supply that is on to the house when move in.
Thanks in advance!

nPower

GeekieGirlie wrote: »

I am moving into a house that has a different supplier than what I use currently. I am with BG and new one is Npower. The new house has a prepayment meter supplied by Npower in there and we are happy to stay with noower. I rang to see when I can sort it out to remove the meter and put a credit meter in And they said it needs to done on the day I move in where I have to call with meter readings etc which I expected. I asked them in that case though would I have a gas and electric supply to use on the day if there’s a meter in and I’ve no way of crediting it and they just said ring in the day and we’ll sort it, but not sure what that meant.
So I was wondering if anyone knew, when I move into the house will there be gas and electric on I can use? Never had a prepayment meter before so I’ve no clue but obv need a supply that is on to the house when move in.
Thanks in advance!

Hi GeekieGirlie,

Thank you for your post and good luck with your move.
When you move into your new home, please call us straight away with the meter readings so we can get an account set up and give you codes in order to collect new top up devices from a local shop so that you can then top up money onto the meters and use the gas and electricity.
The reason we ask you do this straight away and not use any current card or keys for the meters in the property is that these are registered to the old tenant/account holder so payments will go to their account and not yours and there could be a debit on the meter which we need to remove so you do not end up repaying this.

I hope this helps. If you need any further assistance please feel free to drop us a message on an email to the address on the our profile page.

Thanks, Carmel

GeekieGirlie

nPower wrote: »

Hi GeekieGirlie,

Thank you for your post and good luck with your move.
When you move into your new home, please call us straight away with the meter readings so we can get an account set up and give you codes in order to collect new top up devices from a local shop so that you can then top up money onto the meters and use the gas and electricity.
The reason we ask you do this straight away and not use any current card or keys for the meters in the property is that these are registered to the old tenant/account holder so payments will go to their account and not yours and there could be a debit on the meter which we need to remove so you do not end up repaying this.

I hope this helps. If you need any further assistance please feel free to drop us a message on an email to the address on the our profile page.

Thanks, Carmel

Hi Carmel that’s great thanks for letting me know! Was just over worrying I’d have no supply to the house on the day. Can stop worrying now thanks for your help!

Owain_Moneysaver

If the outgoing occupant has not left any credit on the meter there might be no supply on the day until you do the changeover/top-up process.

You may find you have to collect the new key from a shop, take it home and insert it into the meter, then take it back to the shop again with some money to top it up with, then take it back to the meter.

It's only slightly inconvenient if the shop is local to you. Major nuisance if it's miles away.

GeekieGirlie

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If the outgoing occupant has not left any credit on the meter there might be no supply on the day until you do the changeover/top-up process.

You may find you have to collect the new key from a shop, take it home and insert it into the meter, then take it back to the shop again with some money to top it up with, then take it back to the meter.

It's only slightly inconvenient if the shop is local to you. Major nuisance if it's miles away.

Ah good to know! Thank you. Didn’t realise the shop can give the keys and cards too. Thought I’d have to wait for it posting. We have a local post office not far so hopefully they’ll be able to top up. All new to me! Thank you for the info!

twhitehousescat

if there are cards and keys in the meter , do not use , as , if the house has been empty for some time the standing charges for that period will be taken out of money you put on card/key

also the card/key will take money for any arrears that are owing

Talldave

twhitehousescat wrote: »

if there are cards and keys in the meter , do not use , as , if the house has been empty for some time the standing charges for that period will be taken out of money you put on card/key

also the card/key will take money for any arrears that are owing

This is very very good advice. My partner recently experienced this exact problem taking on a new build as a rental property. BG ripped out the credit meter and fitted PAYG because the builder hadn't paid the bill (that the letting agency casually omitted to pass on). Top-ups had debt repayments deducted. BG were hopeless in understanding a tenant not being responsible for the builder's debt, but eventually sent another card out.

I wasn't aware of paypoints being able to hand out cards (although was impressed you can top up at 1am!). Cards through the post have to be paired to the meter first before credit is added. Is this step bypassed for cards handed out by the paypoint operator?

Owain_Moneysaver

Talldave wrote: »

I wasn't aware of paypoints being able to hand out cards (although was impressed you can top up at 1am!). Cards through the post have to be paired to the meter first before credit is added. Is this step bypassed for cards handed out by the paypoint operator?

Procedure may vary with different suppliers, but:

• Supplier gives you a code number by phone.
• You go to shop. Shop takes new key from drawer (if they have any) and puts it in their machine and enters number.
• You take key back to meter. Key resets meter for new account and saves old account's final reading onto key.
• You take key back to shop. Shop puts key in their machine and old final reading is uploaded. You buy credit.
• You take key back to meter. Key adds credit to meter. Make tea.

Some suppliers will send you a USB thingy you can put the key into, and top up online.

GunJack

None of the above (including the Npower rep) have answered the original question though..... what happens if you want a normal credit account for g&e, and the property you move into has pre-payment meters installed??? Or, are they implying you have to start off by using a pre=pay until some unspecified time in the future when they can be !!!!!d taking the pre-pay meter out??

Talldave

Based on the issue I referred to in post #7, timelines for meter swaps were being quoted in terms of a large number of weeks. I guess the process helpfully described by Owain in post #8 is the most likely outcome.


The answers mentioned by GeekieGirlie don't seem to make sense anyway (giving meter readings isn't going to magically going to make the meters gain credit is it?). However, its npower, so I would expect nothing but incompetence based on my own experience.