Pre-Payment meter

Bluepony

My son is in the process of purchasing his first home.  There is a pre-payment meter as the property was a rental but is now empty.  Should he ask the existing owner to start the process of changing the meter (think its Scottish power meter) as it is more likely to be registered to them or wait until he moves in. I understand he will have to register with the existing supplier for a short period before he transfers to a better deal

vic_sf49

Change the meter how? To credit? To a smart meter? Or do you you mean change the supplier, or the billing to your son? 

I'd wait, and do it myself, then you know what's happening and when. 

Details of the current supplier should be in the sales paperwork; fixtures and fittings maybe, or another one... can't remember which. 

He needs to take readings as soon as he moves in, then contact the current supplier ASAP, so he can be sent a new top up key / card / online account.

This is so he isn't paying any debts that the previous owner / tenant ran up. 

Then I'd sort out a meter change. If it's already a smart meter, it's possible that this can be done remotely / quickly, without needing to wait for an engineer to swap meters. 

Even if the meter has a Scottish Power sticker on it for some reason, doesn't mean that they still supply the property.

There's few tariffs* that beat the standard variable rate right now, so there's not such the urgency to switch of fix.

*Most of those that offer lower rats, are "time of use" tariffs, with the likes of Octopus for one. 

Congrats to your son on his (soon to be) new place! 

Jonboy_1984

I would make it a first day job to register a prepayment account with new top-up card or number, and ensure a meter reading is taken (with a date-stamped photo for your sons records) even though it is a prepayment meter (rate changes can be backdated with a card top-up for some meter types). This must all be with the existing supplier.

We got our keys last year and the meters showed £50 worth of credit. At Midnight it was taken back by the supplier and refunded to the previous occupier....We then got given new top-up numbers, but were not told they wouldn't work until midnight for that suppliers app... 

They processed a change to credit billing, but it took 14 days for them to arrange.

(This was with a smart meter they could reconfigure remotely).

Bluepony

Thank you, all sorted