£400 grant gas prepayment meters - Is MSE wrong?

Unicornucopia

Our daughter is with British Gas using non smart prepayment meters for gas and electric. Following advice from Martin she (with our help) topped up her electric meter pre 1st October so she's still on the old rate until she next tops up at the end of December when her credit expires (she has solar panels and uses very little electricity). She currently has very little credit on her gas prepayment meter but the British Gas £66 voucher makes it clear it can only be used for electricity and this was confirmed when she contacted them via online chat. Her heating is gas boiler, her cooking is via gas and she will be struggling to pay for heating the home this coming winter. 

Is MSE wrong with this information on their website which clearly states it can also be used for gas?

Brie

Is there any reason she can't top up the gas meter as the note you show from BG seems to say she can?  Ok she will be in credit but is that a bad thing?  

t0rt0ise

You should try it. Go to the Post Office and ask.

ariarnia

i wouldn't ask... just hand over the voutcher and the gas key/card and see what happens. worst is you say sorry you brought the wrong key out. 

Unicornucopia

ariarnia said:

i wouldn't ask... just hand over the voutcher and the gas key/card and see what happens. worst is you say sorry you brought the wrong key out. 

Yes, probably the best option - will tell her to try it out and let forumites know the outcome.

Unicornucopia

Brie said:

Is there any reason she can't top up the gas meter as the note you show from BG seems to say she can?  Ok she will be in credit but is that a bad thing?  

The BG letter she has says only for electric meter. If she tops up her electric meter now it will move her onto the new tariff and also hit the credit ceiling you can have on a prepayment meter. Worst case scenario is she waits until December to top up the electricity with the October voucher and then monthly, using the last (March) voucher before the 90 day expiry date.

doesntnotcompute

If you look on a receipt it doesn't show "electricity" or "gas" on it, there's a bunch of numbers that nobody in a post office is going to know what they mean - and it shows the supplier name at the top. There's probably a clue about whether you've handed them a gas or electricity key in the numbers, but do you think a cashier really cares?

The vouchers are a cash transaction that then gets added to the key, my receipts from the warm home discount earlier this year show "MOP: Cash". There isn't some "block" that prevents vouchers being added to a key if it's the wrong supplier or whatever - it's just added as cash as if you gave them the cash yourself.

As others have said, probably best not to confuse the issue by discussing it with the cashier - just hand them the voucher with some I.D. and hand them the key you want the credit added to. At worst maybe a bit of social engineering might be in order if there are any problems, "Oh really? I must have brought the wrong one (smile), it's fine, you can just add it on to that key! (smile) No really, it's fine! (smile) Yes. (smile)". Easy!

I'm not sure what happens if the voucher has been cashed but not added to a key, at that point the money is your money - can the transaction be cancelled or something? I wouldn't leave the post office without some evidence in that situation, put it that way.

Keep_pedalling

If she is cooking only with gas, then it might be a good idea to invest in a slow cooker and / or air fryer. An electric throw would be another good buy to keep herself toasty with the CH turned down.

EssexHebridean

Keep_pedalling said:

If she is cooking only with gas, then it might be a good idea to invest in a slow cooker and / or air fryer. An electric throw would be another good buy to keep herself toasty with the CH turned down.

As she is currently cooking with gas then she would probably be well served to continue to do so - cooking using electrical devices - and particularly ones that she's had to go out and buy - is going to cost her more. 

newlywed

When I gave my voucher at the local newsagent/post office, they took cash out of the post office till and walked me to the front shop pay desk and asked them to put the money onto my key… the guy put the key in once and said it doesn’t work. I said it usually works. He said it doesn’t work, do you have your gas card? I said nope as I thought it had to go on electric key.  He shrugged and said take the cash.


in any case, the meter will only update once the key is put into it.  So she can get the credit onto the key (if she has enough space on it) and then put it into the meter later.