Gas pre-payment meter

Helen819

As ive had some very good advice of here for myself,just wondering if any help can be given for my daughter.She is in a 1 bed flat with a pre-payment meter for her gas,this was in when she moved in (now 1 yr ago),how do these actually work,at present she had had to use the emergency money in it which is £3.She puts £15 on fortnightly on a fri.when she has gone now to the meter it says she owes it £10,does this included the return of the emergency cover,and is she paying to use the emer money.She could very well have the thing taken out but i doubt whether she'll then pay the bill when it comes in,and i aint doing it for her,so really there no choice but for it to stay.Any advice greatfully recieved.

sassybooboos

i have an electric meter in my new house think it works same as gas.

when she uses the emergency credit and tops her meter up it will take whatever the emergency credit was off what she has put back on her meter. has she put the meter in her name.

when i rang last week re my meter i was told i must have a new top up key in my name as if previous person owed money the meter would be set up to take money back from them by setting meter at a higher rate until debt cleared. (probably why the credit i did put on the meter has gone really quickly)

Helen819

But if the emergency credit is 3 pound why is it saying she owes 10 pound,when all of the 3 quid hasnt yet run out.So on fri if she puts in £15 it will take a tenner and she then left with £5 for a fortnight.thats got to be wrong.im sick of the bloody thing,its a nightmare.

sassybooboos

sounds strange to me. i would ring them and ask. the meter may be set up wrong.

Michelden_2

I have both gas and electric pre paid meters and recently received a letter from my electric supplier saying that as they had recently replaced my old token meter with a new key meter they were setting the meter to collect £30 at £5.00 a week. This was to cover any charge increases as my old meter may not have been set correctly. I queried this as I have only lived here for 6 months and they said they would stop the deductions and credit my meter with any deductions already taken. If I hadn't phone them I would have found my money running out very quickly. So phone your supplier and get your meter checked.

Helen819

Yes ive told her to ring in the morning to ask whether,there is any debt owing on the thing,it is in her name after 6 months of trying to get it that way,but she didnt ask if there was a debt owing on it.Also she asked if she could have the meters removed,and they said they would get bk to her with doing a credit check first(as this was first bill in her name) but they havent.how would be the best way to have them removed what if they wont do it,what are her options.

scottishfreebiehunter

Michelden wrote: »

I have both gas and electric pre paid meters and recently received a letter from my electric supplier saying that as they had recently replaced my old token meter with a new key meter they were setting the meter to collect £30 at £5.00 a week. This was to cover any charge increases as my old meter may not have been set correctly. I queried this as I have only lived here for 6 months and they said they would stop the deductions and credit my meter with any deductions already taken. If I hadn't phone them I would have found my money running out very quickly. So phone your supplier and get your meter checked.

same happened to me with gas I agreed a sum with them to pay back then a month later they decided they wanted more ,so called them and said cannot afford it so they changed it to what it was.

Helen819

Michelden wrote: »

I have both gas and electric pre paid meters and recently received a letter from my electric supplier saying that as they had recently replaced my old token meter with a new key meter they were setting the meter to collect £30 at £5.00 a week. This was to cover any charge increases as my old meter may not have been set correctly. I queried this as I have only lived here for 6 months and they said they would stop the deductions and credit my meter with any deductions already taken. If I hadn't phone them I would have found my money running out very quickly. So phone your supplier and get your meter checked.

THankyou,but she a bit funny when trying to speak to people on the phone,no confidence.They wont spk to me and as im in another town,cant exactly pretend im her,wot if they ask some info on a machine i cant even see.lol.will try and pester her to phone them up tomoz,i'll be a nagging mum.

Michelden_2

Your daughter might be allowed to give you permission to talk about her meter with the supplier but she will have to speak to them first. You will need to know her customer number and the date she moved in also did she do a reading when she first moved in? Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Wolfsbayne

If your daughter sends them a letter requesting you speak on her behalf with your details then you can ring up for her (according to the date protection act, it has to be in writing though). Whenever you ring ask them to check the memos on the account and one should be on there saying they can discuss things with you.

Im on a prepayment meter, if I switch on emergency credit and use £1.50 of it and then get a £10 card £8.50 will actually go on the meter as credit and the £1.50 used will be paid back.

If the prices have increased they may be clawing the money back with the £10? (not sure how this works but I know you can owe money on a meter after price increase, I suppose if you buy the credit before the price increase then the extra costs are taken off with the next credit.)

She doesnt have to talk to them on the phone - she can email or write. Actually, something in writing carries a lot more weight than a phone call, she should send it first class recorded asking for account activity statements, price tarriff and meter usage guide.

EPultra

Assuming she advised the supplier when she moved in that she was a new tenant and they issued a new gascard, there shouldn't be any debt being collected via the meter. If the meter is deducting money from her that she didn't expect, it may for a standing charge debt or emergency credit used. Best way to check is to press button A and check screens 00, 01, 02 & 03 after inserting credit. They will show the following information:

Screen 00 - Last amount of credit inserted
Screen 01 - Last amount taken for debt
Screen 02 - Last amount taken for emergency credit
Screen 03 - Last amount given for gas

Screen 03 should given the last amount of credit inserted less anything deducted for debt or emergency credit.

Screen 01 could be anything taken for standing charge debt (particularly after topping up at the end of summer when little or no gas has been used) or an amount taken for an account debt set on the meter. Pressing the button repeatedly and checking screens 25, 26 & 27 will show if the meter is deducting any account debt:

Screen 25: Minimum weekly debt recovery rate
Screen 26: Maximum weekly debt recovery rate
Screen 27: Total amount of debt still set on meter

If there is an amount shown on either screen 25 or 26 but nothing on screen 27 then nothing will be being recovered for account debt. If, however, screen 27 shows a debt that you are not aware of, contact the supplier to query this.