Price per kWh on prepay meter

stevelloyd71

A fA family member moved into a one bed flat a couple of months ago and her electric costs are huge.

she’s putting £150 a month into the prepay meter and only has the basics on (fridge, tv etc). She believes from other tenants in the building that it’s on a business rate for the electric, and the unit cost is very high, but cannot get any details of how much per kWh.

From this photo of the meter, can anyone confirm the kWh rate please. I believe from reading the manual I found online that the T1 figure (1.8.0) is the rate, but is that 18p (too cheap) or 180p (very expensive)?

Any ideas please, thanks

MattMattMattUK

How is your family member applying credit to the account, using the previous residents card/fob? If so she may be paying their debt back as well as buying her own energy. She should have applied to the supplier when she moved in and they would issue her with her own card/fob, possibly an online top up account and also confirmed the rates applicable. I am guessing that as she does not have that information she is using the previous residents account and that will likely be where the issues have arisen. 

Robin9

This does appear to be a high use property -   meter is dated 2018 and consumption since then 23,500

That's about 5,000 a year and at approx 30p £1500 a year, £120 a month

With high consumption comes high bills

SAC2334

Iskra ME382 is a smart meter which can be used in prepay mode. Its a new one on me being an old meter reader but try scrolling through the menu by pressing blue button to screen 7 which should get you to active rate 1 and show pence per kwh . If it is a business smart prepay it will probably differ from the published rates for your area by your supplier.
It will be intersting to see what rate you are paying per kwh if its a business meter and not on a domestic tariff 
1.8.0. is the display code and refers to the total kwh s used , which is what is showing now .
screen 7 should display U.60.21 then the kwh tariff in pence 

Scot_39

Thats a fairly standard meter series for commercial landlords and even potentially for secondary metering by landlords based on a quick search.

The meter code isn't the tariff it's just a key to the displayed info and meter status.

1.8.0 just saying meter active on supply and digits total unit used  based on a google searched user manual from model number - iskra me382.

You need to cycle menus to see pricing.

See e.g. 

https://energylogix.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/meterpay-owner-instructions.pdf

Not the exact model, it has Mx382 not me382 perhaps,  but probably similar.

Says use blue button to cycle through displays to see unit rates.


£150 in summer seems a lot - but commercial rates can be much higher than epg discounted Ofgem.

From Jan to Mar domestic rates were being subsidised by EPG discounts at a high 33p, 17.9 and 17.4 iirc the quarters before and after.  So undiscounted true domestic market rates closer to 51/66/50p.  

And commercial rates don't get updated at same times as Ofgem domestic caps - so depends on landlords contract cycle too.

wild666

If it's a business rate she could be paying pounds per day in the SC rather than the average of about 50p per day for domestic users.
The family member should enquire as to the daily SC and the unit rates with the supplier. 
I'm in a two bedroom flat and my rates are significantly lower, even before I moved to the octopus tracker tariff in July, I was using about 150 kWh per month in electric and it was costing me £72 per month. 
The rates for prepayment are now around the same as that of those who pay by DD. 

Scot_39

The domesric rates for prepay are more on SC but less per unit for electric currently.

They balance out at tdcv - so unlike gas, there is no temp epg discount to force pricing to match.

See  

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support/energy-bills-support-factsheet-8-september-2022

And for domestic rate tables direct debit and prepay for comparison 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates/energy-price-guarantee-prepayment-meters-regional-rates-july-to-september-2023

But these only apply to standard domestic contracts with supplier - or on rebilling if landlord splitting a standard domestic supply contract between sub let's.


If the landlord/ property on a commercial deal - the rates and standing charges could be much higher to reflect past costs over last rate cycle and admin costs.

stevelloyd71

Thanks for all the replies so far, I’ve had zero experience or prepay meters myself, so all new to me.

the property has electric heating so probably is high usage, that’s what the family member is so concerned about. If it’s costing a load now without using any heat, what’s it going to be in the winter months.

I’ve got her to scroll through the meter screens and u.60.21 shows this, does that mean 83.92p per kWh? If so, that’s really high. Should the landlord have disclosed the high rates before she signed the lease do you think?

thanks again

MattMattMattUK

Who is she paying? Did she apply for her own account with the energy provider when she moved into the property or is she using the previous tenants fob/card?

stevelloyd71

She tops it up online with a serial number given to her by the landlord and all documentation goes to the landlord. Thats why she’s no idea what unit rate she’s paying. This is her first place, so she wouldn’t have known what to expect.

MattMattMattUK

stevelloyd71 said:

She tops it up online with a serial number given to her by the landlord and all documentation goes to the landlord. Thats why she’s no idea what unit rate she’s paying. This is her first place, so she wouldn’t have known what to expect.

It is not in her name and she could be on any tariff, I think she needs to have a word with her landlord as the account should have been created in her name when she moved in.

Is the landlord legitimate? Electrical safety certificate, EPC, deposit in deposit protection scheme?