Can I swap pre-pay gas/electricity provider?

Chanty17

My sister is on a low budget and thus insists on staying on pre-payement for gas and electricity so she never falls short. However I wondered if you can swap companies? Are some cheaper than others? How can she compare/do this?

Any advice appreciated:beer:

bullshine

Chanty17 wrote: »

My sister is on a low budget and thus insists on staying on pre-payement for gas and electricity so she never falls short. However I wondered if you can swap companies? Are some cheaper than others? How can she compare/do this?

Any advice appreciated:beer:

The simple answer is yes and any of the major comparison sites will help. Usually Ebico works out to be competitive as they do not penalise for using a prepay meter but please double check.

Chanty17

Thanks Bullshine - can you recommend a comparison site - any that I've looked at don't mention pre-pay at all.

Thanks x

bullshine

Chanty17 wrote: »

Thanks Bullshine - can you recommend a comparison site - any that I've looked at don't mention pre-pay at all.

Thanks x

Try uswitch It does have a prepay option. Of you want me to check for you I will but i need the postcode. I would send a private message to me with that. See if you can do it yourself first. I think you must put in that you are currently a prepay (pay as you go) customer and then use the drop down menu to select prepayment meter when it asks you how you would like to pay.

heeth

A little point to rememberm if your sister is on a low budget, she may benefit fromma social tariff. Most main stream comparison sites don't account for level of income, it is based on usage. Energywatch will be able to advise on what supplier is cheaper given any potential social tariff built in. Some comps do charge more for PPM's, Scottish Power actually charge less than their standard tariff with most, except good old BG and Npower I think charging more than their standard tariff, the rest charge the same. With a ST built in, your sis could save another 15% or so. Bear in mind if she has more than £100 debt loaded onto the PPM her current supplier will block a move.

BexTech

Don't use USCAM (AKA uswitch) use one of the non-dodgy sites (several listed at the top of the forum, such as Energy Helpline).

The problem with pre-payment meters is the cost of energy is usually a lot higher. So if you are on a low budget it means you are a lot worse off and will be on a lower budget. The easiest way out is simply work out how much has been paid each week in tokens for the meter and put that away in the bank and opt for a cheaper supplier and have a standard credit meter and pay by direct debit. Staying prepayment just means you are going to stay on a low budget. There has to be a point where you need to break the vicious circle. Yes, it means brushing up on money management skills, but it can be done.

However Ebico for pre-payment is probably the best bet. Depending on who your sister is currently with there could still be a saving to be made. Some suppliers offer the same rate on pre-payment as their cheque / cash quarterly billing, however pay by direct debit and you'll save a lot more, lower rates and discounts.

I've been in the same position and a very low budget, but having passed budgeting and money management skills exams and then being able to help others with budgeting it help me out a lot - even though most is to most common sense. It was a case of having to spend as little as possible otherwise I would be stuck in low budget for a long time, so everything was direct debits to save money, all services that I could do without I went without, no luxuries, eventually I built up a nice buffer zone in my bank account and slowly worked my way up out of low budgets.