Charges on pre payment meters

emzy1970

I’m with eon for duel energy my gas cooker is broke on low income and have hardly been using my gas it went into the £50 emergency now my warm home discount came through put £50 on gas but was still only saying £6.95 credit emergency used! With £32.08 owing debt! Rang eon up and it’s charges for none use of meter top ups any else had this on eon please!? Fuming 

stewie_griffin

I think when you go in to your emergency credit it is only for gas use and not standing charge. Therefore when you next top up your meter you have to repay the emergency credit and the standing charge. Do you know when you first went in to your emergency credit? If it was around 3 months ago then that would make sense.

macman

If you are using electricity in place of gas, then it's costing you probably 3-400% more per kWh.

emzy1970

stewie_griffin said:

I think when you go in to your emergency credit it is only for gas use and not standing charge. Therefore when you next top up your meter you have to repay the emergency credit and the standing charge. Do you know when you first went in to your emergency credit? If it was around 3 months ago then that would make sense.

It’s since I’ve had the £50 emergency on the meter which is about a months gas I don’t really use a lot of gas the prepayment meters are supposed to help people on low income ive had to use food money just too put my gas back on it’s a !!!!!! take thanks for your reply 

Gerry1

emzy1970 said:

stewie_griffin said:

I think when you go in to your emergency credit it is only for gas use and not standing charge. Therefore when you next top up your meter you have to repay the emergency credit and the standing charge. Do you know when you first went in to your emergency credit? If it was around 3 months ago then that would make sense.

 the prepayment meters are supposed to help people on low income

Unfortunately they don't really achieve this because the kWh rates and daily charges are likely to be significantly higher than with a credit tariff, something the dozy Ofgem should have fixed long ago.  Consider switching to a credit meter and paying by monthly direct debit.  Start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.

Obviously there's a risk of bill shock if your DDs aren't keeping up with your usage: the DD can be increased, once to reflect your higher usage, and a second time to claw back the arrears.  However, if you read the meters on the wall every week and do the sums it's quite easy to make sure you stay on track.  Electricity is easy, just multiply the kWh you've used by the cost per unit, add the daily charges and don't forget VAT if not already included.  Same for gas except that you first need to convert the volume used into kWh which you can do here.

emzy1970

Thanks for this information it was very helpful have a nice day Emma 

Ectophile

emzy1970 said:

stewie_griffin said:

I think when you go in to your emergency credit it is only for gas use and not standing charge. Therefore when you next top up your meter you have to repay the emergency credit and the standing charge. Do you know when you first went in to your emergency credit? If it was around 3 months ago then that would make sense.

It’s since I’ve had the £50 emergency on the meter which is about a months gas I don’t really use a lot of gas the prepayment meters are supposed to help people on low income ive had to use food money just too put my gas back on it’s a !!!!!! take thanks for your reply 

Prepayment meters aren't intended to help people on a low income.  They are there to help the gas and electricity suppliers.  They ensure that people on a low income keep paying for their gas and electricity, because their supply will automatically be cut off if they don't.

macman

The supply will not automatically be cut off. Disconnection is very much a last resort, PPM's come first. Disconnection of both services is very rare (gas is usually first, as this leaves open the option of cooking and heating by electricity still) and is most likely to take place in case where the meters have been bypassed or proven energy theft has occurred.
I believe that PPM's do not exist anywhere else in Europe? Elsewhere, credit meters are the only option, and non-payment of the bill will result in fairly rapid disconnection.