changing supplier while owe debt

patchy987

i currently have prepayment meters for both gas and electric, i am with a different company for each.what i am wondering is if i would be allowed to change supplier while i have the debt, if i am does it get transferred to the new company or do i pay it back to the old supplier.any help would be great

Cardew

Usually depends on the size of debt.

Normally you will not be allowed to change if the debt is substantial.

ExNRGXpert

When you change supplier the old supplier can block the transfer until the debt is paid.

mynameisthehulk

Any debt over £10 which has been outstanding for more than 28 days can be a cause for objection to change supplier.

spinningsheep

How does it work id you are with a supplier and pay by DD and you are in "arrears" with them ie you are in a debit balance on your account,which your current DD payments are paying for? The way NPower described it to me, my balance from the last 6 months is £520 for gas and electric combined, so my DD over the next 6 months is £90 a month which clears that money off, but by which time I will owe another 6 months! How can I move suppliers, it seems like they have you by the short and curlies unless you happen to be in a position to pay off the whole 6 months in one go!

Cardew

spinningsheep wrote: »

How does it work id you are with a supplier and pay by DD and you are in "arrears" with them ie you are in a debit balance on your account,which your current DD payments are paying for? The way NPower described it to me, my balance from the last 6 months is £520 for gas and electric combined, so my DD over the next 6 months is £90 a month which clears that money off, but by which time I will owe another 6 months! How can I move suppliers, it seems like they have you by the short and curlies unless you happen to be in a position to pay off the whole 6 months in one go!

Exactly!

However, if your savings for changing supplier are substantial, it might be worth borrowing the money and paying off the debt.

You have to balance the interest you will pay on that loan against the effectively interest free loan from the Utility company.

far

mynameisthehulk wrote: »

Any debt over £10 which has been outstanding for more than 28 days can be a cause for objection to change supplier.

This is interesting - how is that defined? For instance, say if someone is paying by monthly Direct Debit and the payments have been set too low and more than £10 is outstanding - what happens then - could the switch still be blocked?

SwanJon

spinningsheep wrote: »

my balance from the last 6 months is £520 for gas and electric combined, so my DD over the next 6 months is £90 a month which clears that money off, but by which time I will owe another 6 months!

That sounds like a strange system to me. They usually estimate how much you are going to use, then add the debt and spread over a year, not pay back the debt but not current usage.
If you paid £90 a month for a year, would that pay off the last 6 months, and the next 12?

far wrote: »

This is interesting - how is that defined? For instance, say if someone is paying by monthly Direct Debit and the payments have been set too low and more than £10 is outstanding - what happens then - could the switch still be blocked?

Technically, yes. Practically, so long as you've been making payments, and there was no debt at the start of the plan, they'll probably not object.
I'd heard the limit was actually £1 - again different companies probably set their own limit for practical purposes.