Standing Charges and Prepayment meters

MattMattMattUK

diystarter7 said:

Ak yourselves this, why are people that are given no option other than a pre-pay meter complain.

In general because people either do not understand (eg. the believe that it is costing the more) or just like to complain.

I could understand it with old pre-payment meters, having to go and put money on a key regardless of weather or convenience, but with smart pre-payment meters people can top up from home. 

Scot_39

There are many people who would also not.

Elderly or poor people without Internet access, people without credit cards etc.

And why same higher standing charges - understandable for old e.g. to compensare shop keepers, supply top up cards /keys etc - but not new.

diystarter7

MattMattMattUK said:

diystarter7 said:

Ak yourselves this, why are people that are given no option other than a pre-pay meter complain.

In general because people either do not understand (eg. the believe that it is costing the more) or just like to complain.

I could understand it with old pre-payment meters, having to go and put money on a key regardless of weather or convenience, but with smart pre-payment meters people can top up from home. 

Including the media?

MattMattMattUK

Scot_39 said:

There are many people who would also not.

Elderly or poor people without Internet access, people without credit cards etc.

You can top up with a debit card, or online direct payment, you do not need to use a credit card.

Scot_39 said:

And why same higher standing charges - understandable for old e.g. to compensare shop keepers, supply top up cards /keys etc - but not new.

With new there is still the additional cost of processing the card payment which does not exist for Direct Debit (or at least in commercial banking terms is much much lower.

diystarter7 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

diystarter7 said:

Ak yourselves this, why are people that are given no option other than a pre-pay meter complain.

In general because people either do not understand (eg. the believe that it is costing the more) or just like to complain.

I could understand it with old pre-payment meters, having to go and put money on a key regardless of weather or convenience, but with smart pre-payment meters people can top up from home. 

Including the media?

Very much including the media, multiple times a week on here it is pointed out that there are news articles in the media complaining about energy costs which are factually wrong. 

Alnat1

Those mentioned in the news reports who were remotely switched seem to have complained because they thought they should be able to run up energy debt, ignore the energy companies concerns and not agree a repayment plan.

diystarter7

MattMattMattUK said:

Scot_39 said:

There are many people who would also not.

Elderly or poor people without Internet access, people without credit cards etc.

You can top up with a debit card, you do not need to use a credit card.

Scot_39 said:

And why same higher standing charges - understandable for old e.g. to compensare shop keepers, supply top up cards /keys etc - but not new.

With new there is still the additional cost of processing the card payment which does not exist for Direct Debit (or at least in commercial banking terms is much much lower.

diystarter7 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

diystarter7 said:

Ak yourselves this, why are people that are given no option other than a pre-pay meter complain.

In general because people either do not understand (eg. the believe that it is costing the more) or just like to complain.

I could understand it with old pre-payment meters, having to go and put money on a key regardless of weather or convenience, but with smart pre-payment meters people can top up from home. 

Including the media?

Very much including the media, multiple times a week on here it is pointed out that there are news articles in the media complaining about energy costs which are factually wrong. 

Thanks but I will go along with the media and its repscted media not tabloids etc and I think most will look at it like me.

Anyone reading this thread, don't take my and others word for pre-payments meters, just good pre-payments meters and you would be hard pushed to find a good word

Have a nice day.

Thanks

diystarter7

Alnat1 said:

Those mentioned in the news reports who were remotely switched seem to have complained because they thought they should be able to run up energy debt, ignore the energy companies concerns and not agree a repayment plan.

Hi

You are making a massive assumption about this. You have any evidecne to support your assertions please?

Thanks

ps - I'm a hard working guy and have and come from a hard-working family and pay our debts and dont spend what we cant afford - but I do know for a fact people get into debt at times when they become unwell, lose their job, social problems etc and these people need our help and not be taken advantage of when they are down.

Alnat1

@diystarter7 What do you suggest the energy companies do? Are you suggesting they should let people to run up as much debt as they want without question and not take any action?

You have lots to say on the matter, please explain what you would do if you ran the energy company.

pochase

The price comparison should not be between direct debit rates and prepaid, but between "other payment" and prepaid. As @MattMattMattUKpointed out the higher standing charges for example are based on the higher cost of processing the payment, same as for other payment methods.

If you compare against the other payments, prepaid is clearly cheaper, and as cheap or cheaper than direct debit for many tariffs.

MattMattMattUK

diystarter7 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

Scot_39 said:

There are many people who would also not.

Elderly or poor people without Internet access, people without credit cards etc.

You can top up with a debit card, you do not need to use a credit card.

Scot_39 said:

And why same higher standing charges - understandable for old e.g. to compensare shop keepers, supply top up cards /keys etc - but not new.

With new there is still the additional cost of processing the card payment which does not exist for Direct Debit (or at least in commercial banking terms is much much lower.

diystarter7 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

diystarter7 said:

Ak yourselves this, why are people that are given no option other than a pre-pay meter complain.

In general because people either do not understand (eg. the believe that it is costing the more) or just like to complain.

I could understand it with old pre-payment meters, having to go and put money on a key regardless of weather or convenience, but with smart pre-payment meters people can top up from home. 

Including the media?

Very much including the media, multiple times a week on here it is pointed out that there are news articles in the media complaining about energy costs which are factually wrong. 

Thanks but I will go along with the media and its repscted media not tabloids etc and I think most will look at it like me.

Below is a link to the EDF rate card, if you would like to look at it yourself you would be able to see that electricity is cheaper on PAYG than Direct Debit or other payment/pay on receipt of bills. Would you like to trust a news article designed to generate traffic, or would you like to trust verifiable facts?

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/government_energy_price_guarantee_prices._standard_variable_deemed_and_welcome._credit_meters.pdf?

diystarter7 said:

Anyone reading this thread, don't take my and others word for pre-payments meters, just good pre-payments meters and you would be hard pushed to find a good word

I agree with not taking the word of anyone on here or in the media as gospel without verifying it first. However people complaining online is usually best ignored, you are unlikely to get useful information from people ranting online that they are being "ripped off" by their prepayment meter when they do not understand energy billing or costs.

diystarter7 said:

Alnat1 said:

Those mentioned in the news reports who were remotely switched seem to have complained because they thought they should be able to run up energy debt, ignore the energy companies concerns and not agree a repayment plan.

Hi

You are making a massive assumption about this. You have any evidecne to support your assertions please?

If you look at the details the reason that people are switched to pre-payment is because they have refused to engage with the energy suppliers. If people engage with the supplier then between the two of them they can agree a payment plan, but the reason these cases end up with being forced to switch is because the customer has not engaged with the supplier to agree a payment plan so the energy provider uses the only tool they are left with to stop the customer running up further debt, which is pre-payment. They will not switch someone over if they have a debt but are repaying it and are engaged with the supplier, they will switch someone over if they ignore attempts at contact.

diystarter7 said:

ps - I'm a hard working guy and have and come from a hard-working family and pay our debts and dont spend what we cant afford - but I do know for a fact people get into debt at times when they become unwell, lose their job, social problems etc and these people need our help and not be taken advantage of when they are down.

I agree that people can suffer misfortune but I fail to see how letting someone run up further energy debt and letting them refuse to engage with a supplier is taking advantage of them.