Prepayment electricity meters

minorman

My sister is on an older style prepayment economy 7 meter and I want to help her to try to get ahead of the planned uplift in pricing in April as the market is going totally out of control at the moment.  Here is the plan.  She does not use the E7 night rate for heating as it literally gobbled up all her credit so I advise her to dump E7. The real question is, If I put say £100 on her payment card or key and she loads that into her meter does that buy her a fixed quantity of electricity at the rate applying now ?  Can you actually put this much money on a key ? I have searched for information on this subject but all I seem to come across is suppliers trying to convince her to go on prepayment smart metering and how wonderful it is.  Presumably, if she did have a prepayment smart meter then the £100 credit could have its rate changed any time they liked to remotely.

PennineAcute

On key meters, the meter's UP and SC is only updated when

a)  The key is used to purchase credit

and then

b) When the key is inserted into the meter.

So if you top up the key when the unit price is x pence and the standing charge is y pence, then however much you top up will be for that rate.  If after you top up, there is a price change, you will still be charged at x pence and y pence until you top up again.

Be careful, though.  If the price change is a significant increase, a hidden debt will occur.

I beleive you can top up to £150 on a key meter.

Looking at bulb's website, they allow £255

https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360016128312-How-much-can-I-top-up-my-prepayment-meter-

theoretica

"She does not use the E7 night rate for heating as it literally gobbled up all her credit"  - what does she use for heating then, that costs less than E7?

QrizB

theoretica said:

"She does not use the E7 night rate for heating as it literally gobbled up all her credit"  - what does she use for heating then, that costs less than E7?

Yes, this was going to be my question.

minorman said:

I advise her to dump E7

What did you advise her to use instead, exactly?

minorman

theoretica said:

"She does not use the E7 night rate for heating as it literally gobbled up all her credit"  - what does she use for heating then, that costs less than E7?

She has a solid fuel central heating system and she uses logs.  She tried the E7 for a while but as I said ........

minorman

How do you accrue a "hidden debt" if you have paid up front and in advance for the electricity ?  These companies seem to want it both ways !

QrizB

minorman said:

theoretica said:

"She does not use the E7 night rate for heating as it literally gobbled up all her credit"  - what does she use for heating then, that costs less than E7?

She has a solid fuel central heating system and she uses logs.  She tried the E7 for a while but as I said ........

I'm assuming she gets the logs for free? If she's buying them, she could be paying more than E7 would cost.

PennineAcute

minorman said:

How do you accrue a "hidden debt" if you have paid up front and in advance for the electricity ?  These companies seem to want it both ways !

Energy suppliers are supposed to send prepay customers an annual statement.  This lists the total charges for the year and all payments made.  If this leaves you with a credit, they refund you and you can ask for this to be refunded.  If it leaves you with a debit, they can ask for this to be repaid. For smart meter customers, this should be spot on, as the supplier can update automatically update the meter when any price changes are made.

Now let's look at key meters.  Let's assume your annual usage is 2500 kWh.  Today you top up with £200 and add that to your meter.  Tomorrow your UP increases by a penny.  So, over a year, that is a £25 price rise.  But your meter will still have the old unit rates and although correctly charging you, is acutally undercharging you.  WHen your £200 top up runs out and you top up again and load this onto your meter, the key will update the meter with the new prices and start charging you correctly.  In this time period, you have underpaid and will show on your annual statement.

The higher the price increase and the time period before topping up again, could lead to building a debit of double figures.