Does it cost to change from a meter?

crispsandwich

I'm living in a house with 3 other students. Our gas and electric is paid onto pay-as-you-go meters. We're currently spending roughly £40 each a month on bills, and that's when we're trying to be careful. The house isn't double glazed and so a lot of heat is lost through windows etc.

A friend of mine and my Dad both say we're paying through the roof for our gas and electricity, and this is because we're using meters. They pay a bill every quarter and say they pay around half, if just over that, compared to what we pay.

I have sent a text message to the LL asking if we could change to having a bill because it's costing us a fortune, but haven't had a reply yet.

How much extra do you pay when using meters? Does it cost anything to change back to paying bills?

Terrylw1

Hi,

I beleive that all Supplier except Ebico are more expensive for PP.

Do you have the gas & elc bills in your name? Or does your LL receive the bills and you buy tokens or put money in to gain power?

If your LL gets the bill and you put tokens/money in, you have submetering.

If this is the case, your LL is liable to the Suppliers and has split the bill via these submeters. Now, these meters are owned by him, not the utilities so only he can change them. He can also charge his own rates so be careful that you are not overpaying.

If you receive the bills in your name, the situation is different. You can ask for the meter to be changed to a credit meter and then pay your bill quarterly or by monthly DD. Whether you pay quarterly of monthly DD, the bill will come quarterly to show your consumption and payments. You can also get furthe discounts for duel fuel & DD with Suppliers so it will be cheaper for you.

It's best to get the LL's consent although a Supplier will change the meter regardless of the LL's opinion if you are held as the legal bill payer. However, if any drilling is required for any reason, the LL's consent will be required. Drilling is usually where they have to recite metering though.

There is also a chance that you have a token collector/acceptor set up. This means that there is a main meter, then the PP's run off it. This is all owned by the Supplier though. This is usually the case where a LL has a meter locked where a tenant cannot gain access to it. So, the token side is kept in your flat for access.

Can't say for sure unless you confirm the metering thats in there. Can you clarify which of the above is your set up?

Suppliers can charge for meter changes if they want, but most don't.

crispsandwich

Cheers for the reply.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but British Gas own both the meters. The gas card we have is in our names apparently. I assume the electricity key is the same. We have to pay at a PayPoint shop to top them up.

SwanJon

If your landlord's not put it in your lease that you have to keep the PP meter in, just callBG and ask them to change the meters over.
They'll probably ask to credit check one of you or for a security deposit.
If it comes out OK they can swap it over on a week's notice.
Then, get on the cheapest tariff you can find.

Terrylw1

Thats Supplier metering then if you pay in a shop rather than buy tokens from a LL.

So, as SwanJon says you need to just check the tenancy agreement to make sure there is no clause in there about requiring permission. Beyond that, it's up to you what type of meter you have in there and just need to ask BGas to credit check you and change it.

Meter changes generally take know more than 20mins when they come out to you so it's a pretty quick process once they have agreed to do it.

Do you have a meter each or do you share meters? If you share, be very careful with credit meters. Make sure all of the names using the meter are on the account & bill which makes everyone using the meter liable for payment. Otherwise, you can get stung later by students that don't want to pay and your Supplier holds who is on the tenancy agreement as liable for payments.