How soon can i leave british gas after meter change?

Mod501

Hi first post on here so hopefully it's in the right place!
When we moved into this house the gas was on direct debit but the electricity was on a pre pay meter both with British gas, after a year I decided to get it changed so both were on direct debit. But as far as I could find out it needed to be British gas that changed the meter. Any cheaper tariffs I contacted said I couldn't join them whilst on a pre pay meter. So I was wondering how long I have to wait after they have changed my meter before I can leave british gas? Is there a certain period you need to stay with them to avoid fees for the work? Tried googling but had no luck, and there direct debit tariff is no cheaper than I was paying before so would like to switch ASAP. Thanks for any help 

Raxiel

Have BG actually changed (or agreed to change) the meter yet? They are notorious for refusing credit meters to customers without a long history with an energy supplier on their credit report (however clean the rest of the file may be).

By all means ask them first, but You may find its better to switch to a prepay deal with another supplier (EDF were supposedly quite permissive in the past) and get them to exchange your meters.

Regarding your original question, when your meters are changed, you start a new contract (which may or may not have a minimum term, and may or may not have a penalty for leaving). Unless they charge you up front for the swap, you'd only be liable for extra charges if they were laid out in your contract (which they almost certainly won't be). I'd suggest leaving it at least a month for the various databases to update though.

Mod501

OK thanks alot, yea they are installed they did it this week. But said I couldnt sort out a tariff until it was done so as of today I'm just in a standard tariff for both gas and electric that has no exit fee 

Biscuit_Tin

You can apply to switch as soon as you like. Switches can take up to 3 weeks to go live.

However, BG may not have updated the database yet and that could lead to confusion when switching.
Best to check with BG first that the database has been updated.

PennineAcute

Another way of finding out when the database update has been done, is to log onto edfenergy and do a quote.  Their system shows what electricity meter you have.  Prepay, smart prepay, smart credit, credit etc.