Prepay meter question

Numpty_Monkey

Hi thought this would be the best place to ask about this

This morning i had a quick chat with my neighbour (we don't often see each other) she told me she was on prepay Gas meter with British Gas that was installed when she moved in(May 2007), and ended up paying for the previous tennants arrears:mad: ,
She asked for a new meter to be installed - i think she meant a normal Gas meter, but instead they installed a new prepay meter

The questions are
Can she claim the money back she paid for previous tennants arrears?

And
Can she get a normall billed meter installed for free or does she have to pay?


ps i think she is a pensioner its not right asking a lady her age:A

mabny thanks if anyone can help

Premier_2

She certainly shouldn't be paying for a former tenant's debt - get her to contact BG if she thinks she is.

What makes her think she is? When she moved in she should have got a new keycard and as soon as she credited the meter it normally changes the tariff - so wiping out the premium charge applied previously to recover the debt.
If she carried on using the former tenant's card without advising BG, she probably is paying off the debt! Be aware the pre-payment meters are charged at pemium rates compared to standard tariffs anyway because of the extra cost they incur to the supply company.

She could also request BG to swap her meter to a traditional credit meter. BG will advise if there is any charge to do so, but I got mine for free off BG in the past.

Numpty_Monkey

Thanks mate
As i said it was only a quick chat i had with her, I think the Housing people have an original meter reading from when she moved in, i was not aware about the keycard thing

Thanks

Premier_2

Whoops, re-reading what I wrote may be misleading a bit.

Any debt is recovered on a BG pre-payment meter via an agreed weekly amount (not a premium on the unit price as I earlier implied). Whilst a new keycard might cancel this charge, sometimes it's necessary for BG to actually visit to remove the weekly debt recovery charge (it depends on the exact meter type). As she has had a new meter fitted, I wouldn't expect that debt recovery charge to be there anyway on the new meter.

However, she shouldn't use the old tenant's keycard in any event. The key card is assigned to the account holder - so payments on the old card go on the old tenant's account.

This could get complicated if she still is using the old tenant's keycard so the earlier it is sorted out the better.

IKWeb

When she moved into the house she should have contacted BG to say she was the new person living @ the house, and that she wanted a new payment key for the meter. This would have removed any old debt and reset the meter to £0.
If she never did this, and the last person at the house had debt on the meter then yes she would have been paying for this (her fault) she can try to contact BG and see if there is anything they can do, but it maybe unlikely by this stage anything can be done.

Cardew

The other question was about a new 'credit' meter (i.e. get quarterly bills)

Most companies will fit them for free, but they have to be convinced that the customer is credit worthy.

If they have no record of the person or they have a poor credit record then they won't fit one.

Although sometimes a returnable deposit might do the trick.