Pre-payment key meter

jlwhite

We were on a pre-payment card meter until around July this year when it was switched to a new keymeter. We have a couple of issues. When they changed the meter we had £29 credit left. The fitter left us with only £10 credit and said I would need to ring powergen to get the rest put back on. When i called them they said that this would be put on within the next three ''fill ups''. I put in £50-£65 every month so we called them again 3 months later as we hadn't seen any extra credit go onto the meter, and they said it had been credited in August. This didn't show on the statement we had recieved but as we couldn't prove it was there before they changed the meter we chalked it down to my mistake for not getting the fitter to give us a record of what was on the meter.
Today we got a letter from Eon (the new powergen) saying that we owe £109.36 because the old meter was set wrong. The have adjusted the meter to collect an extra £5 a week for 22 weeks (no dates though). Does anyone have any advice on this situation? We feel that it is very wrong that people have been allowed to get into debt with these pre-payment meters with no warning from powergen that this could be happening. Fortunately we can afford to pay this but I'm sure there are lots of other people in the same situation who may not be able to.
We have also recently had a gas supply connected and central heating fitted and are trying to find out how much we are paying per unit of gas but we couldn't find out. Does anyone know how we can find this out, also do you think we'd be better off on pre-payment for gas too?

Terrylw1

Hi,

PP is always more expensive really due to the additional maintenance charges to the Supplier. If you go onto a credit meter you can get DD discounts or annual rebates with some. Dual fuel is also wise as it offers discounts.

Unfortunately, this PP recalibration failure issue is up to your Supplier. There is nothing stopping them charging this. PGen is one of the remaining 3 that do this as most Suppliers have stopped this process. Energywatch & CAB have countless cases where this has caused consumers lots of hassle and are trying to get Ofgem to outlaw this policy.

Until then, you can only complain and see if they will reduce it due to pressure using say Energywatch.

Your credit should have been reported by the meter operator as it should have been noted when the meter was removed. Your Supplier will be able to see your credit if they compare the removal meter reading to the payments and check this credit with the meter operator. However, the price rise issue has probably clouded it to them since they the meter was charging a lower unit price than your bill.

If you cannot see that the credit has been given back, you should ask them to explain where it is on the statement. If they cannot, complain about it.

pearldrogan

I'm having the same problem with Npower! I recieved a letter from them in November saying I owed £54 after they had replaced my card meter with a key meter because they hadn't reset my old meter properly. I complained to customer services saying that its not my fault they hadn't reset my old meter and they said they would look at my account and I would be notified of the outcome.

7 days later I recieved a letter saying that I now owed them £75 and they were just going to take the debt off the meter at £3.00 a week (which I no doesnt sound alot but when it costs a fortune to start with it seems like alot), no mention of looking at my account or explaining where the extra £21 had appeared from!

I e-mailed customer services again (if you phone you just get put in a queue for 40mins!) nearly a week ago and had no response. I am just about to write a letter to there complaints department and see what/ if any response I get from them.

I will keep you updated!

stimpo

pearldrogan wrote: »

I e-mailed customer services again (if you phone you just get put in a queue for 40mins!) nearly a week ago and had no response. I am just about to write a letter to there complaints department and see what/ if any response I get from them.

I will keep you updated!

Whenever I need customer services I usually get straight through. Try 0800551555. There may be a wueue at peak times but at least its free

paisley_lass

i have my electric with scottish gas and after changing from PP to standard meter i got a statement saying i was 500 quid in credit...woohoo thought me only to be told it was wrong

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle

I've just told npower to stick their service because of this. My delightful MP is on the case and sorting it out for me. I can only suggest you write to yours and see what they say. It's a diabolical act and something needs doing to stop it.

hannoja

Other than facing their dreaded 'customer services' :rolleyes: I can't offer any advice on finding out how much you pay for gas per kwh or whatever it is jl. I'm registered online and there's a usage page with nice pretty graphs on it. I was trying to use it to work out our usage (for the comparison sites) and got quite confused to be honest! but it's quite doable I'm sure: I just didn't have the patience at the time. Not sure if you're in a position to do this, but thought it worth mentioning .

I 'almost' had the same problem with Powergen (now e-on)...
I rang them to ask about changing from Pre-payment to credit meter and it turned out that when their man had changed our gas meter a few years back, he hadn't bothered to update the new meter's serial number, etc.. Powergen therefore had incorrect information, and I had to wait a few weeks whilst they looked into it. When I hadn't heard back from them after a couple of weeks, I rang again to see what was going on, only to find that the lengthy conversation I had had with one of their staff, including all the different readings from the electric meter, hadn't been recorded!! :mad: Anyway, they eventually said they'd sorted it. I was relieved to hear that I didn't owe any extra, although I would have been flabbergasted if I had, it being a PRE-PAYMENT meter after all... (don't quite understand how it works tbh )

What Powergen failed to tell me whilst all this was going on, was that it will cost me £50 PER METER to get them changed to credit meters! Now I'm in limbo wondering whether to bother.. I emailed them asking them to waive this fee or I'd have to seek alternative energy suppliers. They recently replied telling me they wouldn't waive this fee, so the next step in my likely-to-fail and, not-as-cunning-as-I'd-like-to-think plan, is to ring the two other companies that keep coming out top for me (apart from e-on :mad:) with uswitch and simply switch, who I think are npower (pearldrogan and 'idle's posts worry me a bit there..) and Scottish power..... fingers crossed...

Good luck with it!

stimpo

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle wrote: »

I've just told npower to stick their service because of this. My delightful MP is on the case and sorting it out for me. I can only suggest you write to yours and see what they say. It's a diabolical act and something needs doing to stop it.

which diabolical act is this?

The fact that PPMs are slightly more expensive that credit meters? OFGEM are happy with this and theres nothing your MP can do about it.

Mee

Dear All,

My elderly and sick terminally ill father is being asked by EDF to pay up to £250.00 to get an electrician to complete an installiation certificate. Due to the large amount of credit on his pre-payment meter and length stays in hospital - his pre-payment key hasn't been used for sometime. EDF have a policy of asking for cerficates to prove safety of wiring if said key isn't used for 3 months or more. They claim that there hasn't been any activity since 2005!

Oddly they say that will issue a new key if we send the certificate.

Has anyone else been in this position?

stimpo

Mee wrote: »

Dear All,

My elderly and sick terminally ill father is being asked by EDF to pay up to £250.00 to get an electrician to complete an installiation certificate. Due to the large amount of credit on his pre-payment meter and length stays in hospital - his pre-payment key hasn't been used for sometime. EDF have a policy of asking for cerficates to prove safety of wiring if said key isn't used for 3 months or more. They claim that there hasn't been any activity since 2005!

Oddly they say that will issue a new key if we send the certificate.

Has anyone else been in this position?

Safety certificate is standard and suppliers have to ask to see a valid certificate after 3 months inactivity

anniecd1

I have a key meter and have been told that it will cost £125 to change to a direct debit facility. Does anyone know of a way round this?