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Electricity: Help Lucy, a Foreign Tenant, to switch to Credit Meter from British Gas Smart Prepay?
patpending
Posts: 23 Forumite
in Energy
Brian, a landlord ,has a tenant, Lucy, a lone female foreign student, in his flat in the next town. Lucy is solvent and capable of handling her own money, but Lucy sees no way of upgrading from her electricity smart prepay meter to a credit meter as her electric supplier British Gas insists on a credit check and she is a foreign student. Can you help Lucy?
There are two or three short threads on similar subjects but which are actually quite different in content and with very little discussion, so rather than hijack one of those, I thought I should create a topic for the case in hand.The names have been altered which doesn't actually change anything!
There is a British Gas smart prepayment meter in the communal area of the flats, reachable only by using a stepladder and a torch. There is a functioning remote display in the flat (except when the meter shuts down and there is no electricity in the flat lol). In the two weeks since Lucy commenced her tenancy, there have been three total blackouts which have each necessitated Brian visiting with stepladder and torch to reset the meter (a far from intuitive process, especially on a stepladder in the dark) until it is working again.
British Gas customer service is a joke. Brian's phone calls took 20-30 minutes before anyone even answering them, and then he got cut off once
The blackouts appear to have been caused by - account running out of credit (2, including previous tenant once and Lucy forgetting once) - switch of person responsible for bill (1).
Given the severity of the effect on lone female Lucy, Brian understands and supports her wish to switch to a credit meter. There were never problems like this with the old style non-smart prepayment meter which was simply topped up with a key and was far lower down.
Lucy has no UK credit history and as a foreign national has never been registered to vote in the UK. Although the route to switch from a prepayment to a credit meter has apparently to involve doing this with British Gas, British Gas say they insist on a credit check which one presumes Lucy cannot pass. They will not take a deposit in lieu.
As things stand, there is a risk that if Lucy forgets to keep her meter in credit, she will lose all heat and power again and will have to find a way of accessing the meter cupboard where, if she is lucky, she will be able to restart supply. For a lone female this is unacceptable.
Does Lucy have any other options?
There are two or three short threads on similar subjects but which are actually quite different in content and with very little discussion, so rather than hijack one of those, I thought I should create a topic for the case in hand.The names have been altered which doesn't actually change anything!
There is a British Gas smart prepayment meter in the communal area of the flats, reachable only by using a stepladder and a torch. There is a functioning remote display in the flat (except when the meter shuts down and there is no electricity in the flat lol). In the two weeks since Lucy commenced her tenancy, there have been three total blackouts which have each necessitated Brian visiting with stepladder and torch to reset the meter (a far from intuitive process, especially on a stepladder in the dark) until it is working again.
British Gas customer service is a joke. Brian's phone calls took 20-30 minutes before anyone even answering them, and then he got cut off once
The blackouts appear to have been caused by - account running out of credit (2, including previous tenant once and Lucy forgetting once) - switch of person responsible for bill (1).
Given the severity of the effect on lone female Lucy, Brian understands and supports her wish to switch to a credit meter. There were never problems like this with the old style non-smart prepayment meter which was simply topped up with a key and was far lower down.
Lucy has no UK credit history and as a foreign national has never been registered to vote in the UK. Although the route to switch from a prepayment to a credit meter has apparently to involve doing this with British Gas, British Gas say they insist on a credit check which one presumes Lucy cannot pass. They will not take a deposit in lieu.
As things stand, there is a risk that if Lucy forgets to keep her meter in credit, she will lose all heat and power again and will have to find a way of accessing the meter cupboard where, if she is lucky, she will be able to restart supply. For a lone female this is unacceptable.
Does Lucy have any other options?
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Comments
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Switch to EDF who don't require a credit check.1
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How? Change the prepay account to EDF?Gerry1 said:Switch to EDF who don't require a credit check.
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She's leaving British Gas, so no need for a credit check. She joins EDF who, according to the article, will agree to switch her to a credit meter without a credit check.1
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So she can switch her prepayment meter to EDF? IF so, that was the step I had missed and I have not picked up anywhere. Wanting to end up with a credit meter from another supplier (any other supplier TBH!) I thought she had first to get a credit meter from British Gas.Gerry1 said:She's leaving British Gas, so no need for a credit check. She joins EDF who, according to the article, will agree to switch her to a credit meter without a credit check.
Outside the Big 6, do any other suppliers do prepayment meters who would convert them to credit meters without a credit check, e.g. Bulb, I wonder?0
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