Moved into new home with prepayment meter - want to change to a credit meter

newhome22

Hi, I’m new here, so hopefully I’ve done this correctly   
My husband, newborn baby and I have just moved into a new house. The electric meter is a prepayment meter and we want to change it to a credit meter. The meter is with Scottish Power, so we called them to ask. Initially they advised we had to set up an account in our names with them and then call back in 2 weeks to request the change. We have done that, but when we called back we were told that would would have to first change to a smart prepayment meter, wait for 6 weeks for them to gather data on how much electricity we use (so they can set up a suitable direct debit) and then request a change to a credit meter. They tried looking for appointments to do this in our area and couldn’t find any, so we have to wait for an appointment slot, before we can get the 6 weeks started. 

This all means we’ll be at least 10 weeks into our new property before they let us change the meter. That’s 10 weeks on a higher tariff. I can’t understand why we need to do this? The gas meter in the property is on a credit meter, we rang the supplier, set up a DD and had no issues, we weren’t forced to spend a couple of months on a higher tariff to “check how much energy we would use”. For info, both myself and my husband have good credit scores and have never been in debt with an energy company before. 

If anyone could offer any advice or tips on how we can speed this process up??? Any help would be much appreciated

QrizB

Welcome to the forum, congratulations on the new home and new family member!

newhome22 said:

We have done that, but when we called back we were told that would would have to first change to a smart prepayment meter, wait for 6 weeks for them to gather data on how much electricity we use (so they can set up a suitable direct debit) and then request a change to a credit meter. They tried looking for appointments to do this in our area and couldn’t find any, so we have to wait for an appointment slot, before we can get the 6 weeks started.

That's about right. you'll need a new meter, it will be a smart meter and can run in either credit or prepayment mode.
I'm guessing that Scottish Power don't have a decent estimate for your property's energy use which is why they want a priod of smart metered prepayment before transferring you.

This all means we’ll be at least 10 weeks into our new property before they let us change the meter. That’s 10 weeks on a higher tariff.

If it's any reassurance, prepayment rates on the standard variable tariff are only a few pence a day higher than credit ones. Those ten weeks won't cost you very much extra.

If anyone could offer any advice or tips on how we can speed this process up???

Replacement meters seem to be taking a while at the moment. Some people have been quoted months for replacement, so if you can get one fitted in weeks you'll be doing well.

macky0077

newhome22 said:

Hi, I’m new here, so hopefully I’ve done this correctly   
My husband, newborn baby and I have just moved into a new house. The electric meter is a prepayment meter and we want to change it to a credit meter. The meter is with Scottish Power, so we called them to ask. Initially they advised we had to set up an account in our names with them and then call back in 2 weeks to request the change. We have done that, but when we called back we were told that would would have to first change to a smart prepayment meter, wait for 6 weeks for them to gather data on how much electricity we use (so they can set up a suitable direct debit) and then request a change to a credit meter. They tried looking for appointments to do this in our area and couldn’t find any, so we have to wait for an appointment slot, before we can get the 6 weeks started. 

This all means we’ll be at least 10 weeks into our new property before they let us change the meter. That’s 10 weeks on a higher tariff. I can’t understand why we need to do this? The gas meter in the property is on a credit meter, we rang the supplier, set up a DD and had no issues, we weren’t forced to spend a couple of months on a higher tariff to “check how much energy we would use”. For info, both myself and my husband have good credit scores and have never been in debt with an energy company before. 

If anyone could offer any advice or tips on how we can speed this process up??? Any help would be much appreciated

I actually believe the advisor has misinformed you completely. When you are a NEW customer it's actually a 3 month wait before u can have ur smart meter changed to credit. I have recently moved into a new property and the 6 weeks is only applicable to customers who have been in their property and with the company for longer than 3 months, I don't know how recently u moved into ur property but I advise to prepare yourself to be let down and told u have been given incorrect information by the advisor when u call them back. I hope it's not the case but I believe u will have additional time to wait again before changing to credit mode once u have ur smart meter. Good luck and hope it doesn't take much longer!