PAYG to credit meter
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iosullivan
Posts: 70 Forumite
in Energy
I am currently PAYG with utilita on a smart meter. I am now wanting to change to a credit meter (utilita dont offer this) so my question is what is the best way of doing this?
By changing to credit meter I am due to save over £400 a year so a no brainer here - just how is the question....??? :eek:
By changing to credit meter I am due to save over £400 a year so a no brainer here - just how is the question....??? :eek:
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Comments
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Utilita use Secure Liberty 100 smart meters. These can be changed remotely to credit or prepay mode. Are Utilita refusing to switch to a credit meter mode because you fail their credit history check ?0
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When you leave Utilita, they will set it into credit mode. You can then use this as a credit meter elsewhere.
If the smart meter you have already was installed by Utilita, it will be listed on the database as a smart credit meter. You can check this by doing a quote on EDF's website. After entering your postcode and house number, it tells you what meter you have.0 -
That may or not be true about suppliers switching smart meters to credit meter mode when a customer leaves them but the gaining supplier would block this if they end up with a new customer who is serial debtor who fails all credit checks on a credit meter basis.PennineAcute wrote: »When you leave Utilita, they will set it into credit mode. You can then use this as a credit meter elsewhere.
If the smart meter you have already was installed by Utilita, it will be listed on the database as a smart credit meter. You can check this by doing a quote on EDF's website. After entering your postcode and house number, it tells you what meter you have.
It makes more sense for them to leave the meter in the current mode on switching. If its a prepay, then it stays prepayment then it would be up to the gaining supplier. I would expect that OFGEM have thought about this and set rules in place.
Utilita and Ovo both started out as pioneers of smart prepayment meters using Secure Liberty meters and gained most of their early customers who switched to their smart prepayment meters, much to their disgust when they went wrong and they had to input a 60 digit long number to manually add credit0 -
That may or not be true about suppliers switching smart meters to credit meter mode when a customer leaves them but the gaining supplier would block this if they end up with a new customer who is serial debtor who fails all credit checks on a credit meter basis.
It makes more sense for them to leave the meter in the current mode on switching. If its a prepay, then it stays prepayment then it would be up to the gaining supplier. I would expect that OFGEM have thought about this and set rules in place.
Utilita and Ovo both started out as pioneers of smart prepayment meters using Secure Liberty meters and gained most of their early customers who switched to their smart prepayment meters, much to their disgust when they went wrong and they had to input a 60 digit long number to manually add credit
A failed credit credit would be flagged when someone applied to a particular energy company.
The OP asked how they could change from prepay to credit.
Utilita would swap the meter into credit mode to ensure that there was no loss of service. If the new company was prepay, the supplier would then change this back to prepay, otherwise it would be left as credit.0 -
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It makes more sense for them to leave the meter in the current mode on switching. If its a prepay, then it stays prepayment ...
I don't think that will work with the unique meter Utilita have.
The issue is that the Utilita meter has no top up facility, such as a card or key that other suppliers use; it is a smart meter and relies on the customer topping up remotely.
Most other suppliers do not support that feature - they issue top up cards, keys, etc.
If the OP fails a credit check with a new supplier (where even a security deposit will not be sufficient), then the new supplier can change the Utilita meter for a traditional PPM. This may need some negotiation with the new supplier because, as you say, the OP would initially be rejected by the new supplier based on them having a credit meter.0 -
I can see a flaw in the switching process. I don t think its that simple . The meter is now a dumb meter once the meter moves to another supplier, so a supplier may not be able to easily change to credit mode without an expensive meter exchange. Suppliers will not, quite rightly, take on new customers with credit meters without a credit history check. Failing the check would mean an expensive bond being laid down, so the switch would be blocked by the gaining supplier if the new customer could nt come up with the bond
Years ago I remember many complaints about both Ovo and Utilita virtually holding people locked into their supply if they started off as prepay customers ( as their early customers mostly were ), with them using methods to stop them moving suppliers asking them to pay a hefty sum because of the new smart prepay meters they used which no other suppliers could use.
It looks like Utilita are still doing the same thing now with the OP saying they will not "offer " this.
Since then Secure Liberty smart meters are used by nearly all the small suppliers and even one of the big 6, Eon have succumbed to the very low price of a new Secure meter and started using them last year.0 -
I speak from experience, having been with OVO prepay.
On the day I left, OVO put the meter into credit mode, so there was no loss of service.
As I move thed SP pay monthly, SP needed to do no more, as my meter was in credit mode.
I also know people who have swapped from Utilita to OVO (or boost as they are now). Utilita put the meter into credit mode and then OVO put the meter back into prepay mode.0 -
Scottish Power I know are pretty tight on credit history checks so you must have passed their checks to become one of their customers. They would have blocked it if you did nt . They used to charge £220 per meter to exchange from prepay to credit, before OFGEM changed the rules in 2014 and banned this. I work for them meter reading and know this as a fact having listened to complaining customers for years about SP locking them into expensive prepay rates.PennineAcute wrote: »I speak from experience, having been with OVO prepay.
On the day I left, OVO put the meter into credit mode, so there was no loss of service.
As I move thed SP pay monthly, SP needed to do no more, as my meter was in credit mode.
I also know people who have swapped from Utilita to OVO (or boost as they are now). Utilita put the meter into credit mode and then OVO put the meter back into prepay mode.
Yes OVO (Boost ) could do that , no meter exchange needed although smart switching is not supposed to be enabled yet , Ovo said in their website it could be possible I believe.
Maybe the OP could let us know what reason Utilita do not "offer " an exchange to credit meter status0
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