Changing from British Gas prepayment meter to credit meter avoiding contract fees.

Jonny_Jon

Hi I have moved into my new house which has Landis and gyr prepayment smart meters for gas and electricity, currently the tariff is via British Gas. I would like to change to a cheaper supplier and use a standard credit meter. I phoned the cheaper supplier who said I need to get British Gas to change the meter but when I phoned British Gas they will only offer me a fixed rate contract with an early exit penalty ( when I change supplier), apparently they no longer offer a variable tariff with no exit fee. British gas also said that the their smart meter wouldn't need changing.
I am unsure how to proceed, I don't want to be tied into a contract and I don't want to loose the credit I have on my prepayment meters, does anyone have any suggestions please?

SwanJon

When you leave British Gas, the Smart meter should switch from Prepayment to credit.
It'll probably stop acting as a smart meter so you will need to take and supply regular readings.


The particular supplier you chose may not like this and so choose not to supply you under those terms.

[Deleted User]

Swanjohn is correct.All smart prepays are moved over to smart credit status when moving supplier. You then have to go through the suppliers terms and conditions about a credit history check before allowing free credit to possibly thousands of pounds of credit on gas and electric supply.
Personally I would just switch to Bulb retaining your L and G prepay meters. This enlightened supplier does not penalise customers on prepay and offers the same tariffs as for their credit meters.They are currently one of the UKs cheapest supplier and offer a customer referral fee discount of £50 to new customers. They only have a standard/variable tariff and do not offer a fixed tariff.

Jonny_Jon

Thanks for that, I shall have a look at Bulb energy tariffs.
I have phoned another supplier after doing a price comparison and they suggested it would be fairly easy to swap supplier, taking around three weeks or so, though I'd need to contact British Gas to get any credit on my prepayment meter refunded.

Jonny_Jon

I should add that my credit rating is good so I don't need to use a prepayment meter.

Benight

Ignore the spammers!

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity/