Impossible to get off Prepaid meter

Rossco1874

This is going to be long so please stick with me:

Background: GF now Wife moved into this property in 2014 I was in dead end job earning 17k a year & gf was working part time in bar when we moved into property prepaid meter suited us as gf was paid weekly so we always had money to top up out of her wage. in 2017 I took on 2nd job to help with money as we were looking to tackle outrstanding debts, Later in 2017 i was made redundant from dead end job & found new employment relatively quickly still kept the 2nd job on, 2018 GF was made redundant, we were not eligible for UC as I earned too much despiite my outgoings leaving us with barely enough to pay everything, 6 months of struggling & have family help GF got good paying job & our debt was decreasing due to good salary we both brought in. In late 2018 I eqnuired with Scottish Gas about changing to bill system they done  a credit check on me & I failed, they wouldn't do one on my gf as she was not named on the account, I took the huff & swtiched to EDF after researching it seemed that EDf change meters free of charge, Happy days so was with them 6 months & enquired about swtiching gave my credit file some time to heal &  passed credit however they told me they have no engineers available in my area for the forseeable future, This could be anything from 6 months to 1 year. 

Again took the huff & joined British Gas after comparisson sites recommended as the cheapest although with tariffs you are talking pence instead of pounds in the savings. After had been with them for 6 months I contacted them & failed their credit check, as my my gf was now my wife I asked if they could do one on her they said no as she was not named on the account, Added her to the account & they done a credit check on her, after the credit check they advised that they also had no engineers to install smart meters & they are not installing standard meters.  Again there is an infinity waiting list with no timescales.

Pre-covid I contacted Bulb who advised that they may be able to switch over however there are a number of factors & I may run into similar issues with regards to no engineers in my area.

So it seems it is becoming a bit of an impossible task to get away from prepaid meter & onto a credit meter, the companies that are willing to change & free of charge are saying are no engineers in my area. I stay 40 mins from Glasgow not some remote island.

Has anyone had similar issues getting off prepaid meter & how was it resolved.

 

Ectophile

Nobody is doing meter changes at the moment unless they absolutely have to.  So unless your meter is on fire, nothing is likely to happen for teh next few months, whatever supplier you are with.

Once things do get back to normal, they will start pressuring everybody to switch to smart meters again, and that will be your opportunity.

stewie_griffin

I know for a fact that E.ON are carrying out routine appointments to fit smart meters as they've messaged me twice recently to tell me this. I fail to believe they're the only supplier doing this.