Are prepayment gas and electric meters cheaper?

Livinlovinlaughin

There electricity was turned of in my area briefly whilst I was at work… came home to see flashing alarm clock, so I knew there had been a power outage.
checked uk Power networks  website, and it had something about they had turned it off and only 2 people were affect…. Anyways it was off for 20/30 mins.

now one of my prepayment  meter is blank and  and needs to be replace because according to edf my meter it’s faulty.

i Was looking to change both prepayment meters to regular meters… I guess it’s smart meters now and I was advised that prepayments where cheaper than regulars meter, I was not aware of this , it’s always been the other way round for me.
edf person told me this changed about 5 years ago?
can any one confirm or deny this…. They advised me to stay on prepayment🤷🏽‍♀️

I don’t have any debt, I have had prepayment meters for years.

MWT

Prepayment is cheaper than paying your bill on receipt by cash/cheque, it is not cheaper than paying by DD though.

Livinlovinlaughin

MWT said:

Prepayment is cheaper than paying your bill on receipt by cash/cheque, it is not cheaper than paying by DD though.

Thanks for that.
the edf person quoted me prices , she mentioned nothing about direct debits, but said me paying monthly on a regular meter, I would pay just under £100 a year more for gas and electric.

she did allot of talking and it didn’t make much sense to me, I felt like I was talking to a salesman/woman

QrizB

Livinlovinlaughin said:

MWT said:

Prepayment is cheaper than paying your bill on receipt by cash/cheque, it is not cheaper than paying by DD though.

Thanks for that.
the edf person quoted me prices , she mentioned nothing about direct debits, but said me paying monthly on a regular meter, I would pay just under £100 a year more for gas and electric.

EDF's standard variable prices are here, you can see for yourself:
https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/r505_deemed_rate_card.pdf

You might find that, compared to DD, the prepayment standing charge is higher, but the unit rate is slightly lower. You would need to be a huge user of energy for prepayment to work out cheaper overall.

Livinlovinlaughin

Thanks
So the edf agent was lying😏

Northern_Wanderer

It depends what tariff you are on. My friend wanted to change to a credit meter for a better deal but the rates for his THTC tariff were actually cheaper on prepayment than the credit meter.

pochase

Are you currently paying by direct debit or after receipt of a bill by cash/cheque?

If you don't pay by direct debit prepaid has cheaper unit rates.

Livinlovinlaughin

pochase said:

Are you currently paying by direct debit or after receipt of a bill by cash/cheque?

If you don't pay by direct debit prepaid has cheaper unit rates.

I am on prepayment meters.

Livinlovinlaughin

Northern_Wanderer said:

It depends what tariff you are on. My friend wanted to change to a credit meter for a better deal but the rates for his THTC tariff were actually cheaper on prepayment than the credit meter.

I won’t be doing direct debits so I can see that it will be a bit cheaper with credit meter of about the same.

itsjustafad

There doesn't seem to be one answer that will satisfy all the variables. (I am on a pre-pay meter for electricity but pay d/d for gas). You will get the best offers if you pay d/d for both as part of a dual fuel arrangement. Your supplier sounds as if they'll replace the "broken" meter for free, but not the other one? Please let me know if I've got that wrong. If you want the best tariff or fix, you'd need to pay to replace the working meter which may make it not worthwhile. £100 saving per year is £2 a week - only you can weigh up the pros and cons. MSE recommends getting rid of pre-pay, but you need money to save money (if you know what I mean) 

Livinlovinlaughin

itsjustafad said:

There doesn't seem to be one answer that will satisfy all the variables. (I am on a pre-pay meter for electricity but pay d/d for gas). You will get the best offers if you pay d/d for both as part of a dual fuel arrangement. Your supplier sounds as if they'll replace the "broken" meter for free, but not the other one? Please let me know if I've got that wrong. If you want the best tariff or fix, you'd need to pay to replace the working meter which may make it not worthwhile. £100 saving per year is £2 a week - only you can weigh up the pros and cons. MSE recommends getting rid of pre-pay, but you need money to save money (if you know what I mean) 

They will replace both meters for free with smart meters…

I have been getting emails, texts and letters from edf for the past 2/3years (maybe longer) about booking an appointment to exchange both meters for smart meters.

A couple of years ago, my prepaid gas meter got a code B3 on screen, I think it’s to do with battery life, I feel like edf is doing all it can to get me and my neighbours to change their meters.

pre paid meter have definitely helped me budget and save, I have had them for at least 15 plus years.

I don’t trust energy companies or any company with direct debit access, never had a good experiences.
I also worked with British Gas many years ago and I saw the mix ups and direct debits going wrong and this was way before pandemic