MSE News: Prepay for your energy? You could keep today's cheaper rates for a little longer

tinabillings

Hi 
I'm a Scottish Power customer. 
Regarding the price increases and the information that Scottish Power won't honour the loophole. I have decided to load my meters as much as I'm able anyway.
My reason for this is 
1. SP may decide to toe the line before April 1st in which case I'm OK.
2. If they don't I'm still no worse off the money I would have topped up can repay my savings.
3. If they attempt to recoup the extra their name will be muddier than it is now and I'm 63 and stubborn I will fight them.
4. My strategy will involve a simple pricing analogy. I buy a bag of potatoes on Saturday costing £2.00 . On Monday the potatoes rise in price to   £2.50.
On Tuesday I make a cottage pie (I make a damn good one). On Tuesday evening a knock at the door. It's morrisons asking for the extra 50p for the potatoes as I used them after they had gone up in price.
See where I'm going here ? 
I won't add in polite company the language I would use bur suffice to say you can bet my fat backside morrisons won't be getting their 50p.
🤬

Jerry_Cornelius

tinabillings said:

Hi 
I'm a Scottish Power customer. 
Regarding the price increases and the information that Scottish Power won't honour the loophole. I have decided to load my meters as much as I'm able anyway.
My reason for this is 
1. SP may decide to toe the line before April 1st in which case I'm OK.
2. If they don't I'm still no worse off the money I would have topped up can repay my savings.
3. If they attempt to recoup the extra their name will be muddier than it is now and I'm 63 and stubborn I will fight them.
4. My strategy will involve a simple pricing analogy. I buy a bag of potatoes on Saturday costing £2.00 . On Monday the potatoes rise in price to   £2.50.
On Tuesday I make a cottage pie (I make a damn good one). On Tuesday evening a knock at the door. It's morrisons asking for the extra 50p for the potatoes as I used them after they had gone up in price.
See where I'm going here ? 
I won't add in polite company the language I would use bur suffice to say you can bet my fat backside morrisons won't be getting their 50p.
🤬

Will be interesting to see what response Martin Lewis gets from Ofgen about the Scottish Power question (as he said he had asked) - if the response is "Yeah, its OK for Scottish Power to do this" then I wonder if the other companies would change their stance...

GingerTim

tinabillings said:

Hi 
I'm a Scottish Power customer. 
Regarding the price increases and the information that Scottish Power won't honour the loophole. I have decided to load my meters as much as I'm able anyway.
My reason for this is 
1. SP may decide to toe the line before April 1st in which case I'm OK.
2. If they don't I'm still no worse off the money I would have topped up can repay my savings.
3. If they attempt to recoup the extra their name will be muddier than it is now and I'm 63 and stubborn I will fight them.
4. My strategy will involve a simple pricing analogy. I buy a bag of potatoes on Saturday costing £2.00 . On Monday the potatoes rise in price to   £2.50.
On Tuesday I make a cottage pie (I make a damn good one). On Tuesday evening a knock at the door. It's morrisons asking for the extra 50p for the potatoes as I used them after they had gone up in price.
See where I'm going here ? 
I won't add in polite company the language I would use bur suffice to say you can bet my fat backside morrisons won't be getting their 50p.
🤬

But that potato analogy doesn't work. Say you load up your meter to the max today - you aren't buying the energy on 8 March, you are creating a credit pool which you will use to pay for the electricity when you use it, at the price on the day you use it.

A proper analogy would be you giving Morrisons £50, and then getting a bag of potatoes from them when you run out and go to the shop for more - the price might be £2 one week, £2.20 the next - until your £50 runs out.

RachelMarie123

henros84 said:

Hi Lum,
below is a copy of transcript of a conversation I had with an agent from Bulb energy on mon 28th feb. Hope it helps:

Message from Visitor.

prepayment meter

Message from Visitor.

if o top up key day before price rises, what happens?

Chat started

Message from Agent.

Hi there

Message from Agent.

If you top up the key with a large amount before the 1st of April then you'll still be charged on the old tariff  

Message from Agent.

So I would recommend that if possible

Message from Visitor.

what is the maximum allowed to top up

Message from Agent.

Your meter can hold up to £249 I believe

Message from Visitor.

and is it possible to empty that into the meter then add another 249 to the key so that i can then add that to the meter when the first 249 is used up?

Message from Agent.

I'm not sure you can top up £249 on the key itself

Message from Agent.

One moment I'll try find out

Message from Visitor.

thanks

Message from Agent.

Ok got some clarification

Message from Agent.

So the meter can hold up to £249

Message from Agent.

But you can only top up the key £49 at a time

Message from Agent.

So if you top up say £49 a day until you get to the limit then that should work

Message from Visitor.

ah ok, and is that true for both gas and electricity?

Message from Agent.

No gas has no limit so you should be able to top up more

Message from Agent.

But I would still do it in batches just in case there are any issues

Message from Visitor.

brillaint, thats a great help , thanks again

Message from Agent.

No problem

Message from Agent.

Have a good day  

Message from Visitor.

you too

Sorry are you still there

Message from Agent.

Your electricity meter can hold up to a total of £255, as can your electricity key. This means at any one time you can have a maximum of £510 on your meter and key.

Message from Agent.

Sorry just got more info

Message from Visitor.

yes, thanks , just got ti

Message from Agent.

Perfect

Message from Agent.

Ok have a good day

Re the above - would it be possible to obtain more than one key to store credit on does anyone know? I am with British Gas who have confirmed same as above, credit can be stored on key and does not expire. Thanks

Jerry_Cornelius

I now have a question about my Electricity Prepayment Meter - i'm trying to work out if its actually a Smart one or not. It was installed 2008 and is a Talexus Actaris ACE9000 KBD key type meter, with a LCD display. Some searches on the web refer to this as being a smart meter, but others don't. There seems to be nothing on my statement to suggest it is, and in fact, there is the following line on my statement in the "Our Current Prices" section, below the standing charge / day / night rates:

"These are our current prices including VAT ... If there has been a price change, they will automatically be updated on your meter when you top up ..."

That sounds like its not a Smart meter, as that line suggests topping up on the key after April 1st is what updates the meter? 

Marvel1

Jerry_Cornelius said:

I now have a question about my Electricity Prepayment Meter - i'm trying to work out if its actually a Smart one or not. It was installed 2008 and is a Talexus Actaris ACE9000 KBD key type meter, with a LCD display. Some searches on the web refer to this as being a smart meter, but others don't. There seems to be nothing on my statement to suggest it is, and in fact, there is the following line on my statement in the "Our Current Prices" section, below the standing charge / day / night rates:

"These are our current prices including VAT ... If there has been a price change, they will automatically be updated on your meter when you top up ..."

That sounds like its not a Smart meter, as that line suggests topping up on the key after April 1st is what updates the meter? 

Are you able to top up online? If yes then it's a smart meter.

If no, may want with supplier as i don't want to get it wrong.

Jerry_Cornelius

Marvel1 said:

Jerry_Cornelius said:

I now have a question about my Electricity Prepayment Meter - i'm trying to work out if its actually a Smart one or not. It was installed 2008 and is a Talexus Actaris ACE9000 KBD key type meter, with a LCD display. Some searches on the web refer to this as being a smart meter, but others don't. There seems to be nothing on my statement to suggest it is, and in fact, there is the following line on my statement in the "Our Current Prices" section, below the standing charge / day / night rates:

"These are our current prices including VAT ... If there has been a price change, they will automatically be updated on your meter when you top up ..."

That sounds like its not a Smart meter, as that line suggests topping up on the key after April 1st is what updates the meter? 

Are you able to top up online? If yes then it's a smart meter.

If no, may want with supplier as i don't want to get it wrong.

I don't have the option to top up online.

I also rem a few years back being contacted by EON about installing a new meter (which never happened) and they refer to it as a Smart meter, and the letter leads with "We're fitting smart meters for our customers as part of a government led national upgrade" which also suggest my current one isn't smart, but i suppose contacting EON is the only way to be sure.

Gerry1

Jerry_Cornelius said:

I now have a question about my Electricity Prepayment Meter - i'm trying to work out if its actually a Smart one or not. It was installed 2008 and is a Talexus Actaris ACE9000 KBD key type meter, with a LCD display.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6340586/prepayment-talexus-ace9000-kbd-is-it-a-proper-smart-meter

Jerry_Cornelius

Gerry1 said:

Jerry_Cornelius said:

I now have a question about my Electricity Prepayment Meter - i'm trying to work out if its actually a Smart one or not. It was installed 2008 and is a Talexus Actaris ACE9000 KBD key type meter, with a LCD display.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6340586/prepayment-talexus-ace9000-kbd-is-it-a-proper-smart-meter

Wow, I did a google search for the meter and an MSE thread came up from 2009 which was closed, but the one you linked didn't show up - cheers!

Mobtr

RachelMarie123 said:

henros84 said:

Hi Lum,
below is a copy of transcript of a conversation I had with an agent from Bulb energy on mon 28th feb. Hope it helps:

Message from Visitor.

prepayment meter

Message from Visitor.

if o top up key day before price rises, what happens?

Chat started

Message from Agent.

Hi there

Message from Agent.

If you top up the key with a large amount before the 1st of April then you'll still be charged on the old tariff  

Message from Agent.

So I would recommend that if possible

Message from Visitor.

what is the maximum allowed to top up

Message from Agent.

Your meter can hold up to £249 I believe

Message from Visitor.

and is it possible to empty that into the meter then add another 249 to the key so that i can then add that to the meter when the first 249 is used up?

Message from Agent.

I'm not sure you can top up £249 on the key itself

Message from Agent.

One moment I'll try find out

Message from Visitor.

thanks

Message from Agent.

Ok got some clarification

Message from Agent.

So the meter can hold up to £249

Message from Agent.

But you can only top up the key £49 at a time

Message from Agent.

So if you top up say £49 a day until you get to the limit then that should work

Message from Visitor.

ah ok, and is that true for both gas and electricity?

Message from Agent.

No gas has no limit so you should be able to top up more

Message from Agent.

But I would still do it in batches just in case there are any issues

Message from Visitor.

brillaint, thats a great help , thanks again

Message from Agent.

No problem

Message from Agent.

Have a good day  

Message from Visitor.

you too

Sorry are you still there

Message from Agent.

Your electricity meter can hold up to a total of £255, as can your electricity key. This means at any one time you can have a maximum of £510 on your meter and key.

Message from Agent.

Sorry just got more info

Message from Visitor.

yes, thanks , just got ti

Message from Agent.

Perfect

Message from Agent.

Ok have a good day

Re the above - would it be possible to obtain more than one key to store credit on does anyone know? I am with British Gas who have confirmed same as above, credit can be stored on key and does not expire. Thanks

No it’s not, only one key works at a time. If you request a new key, your old one will no longer work in the meter