scottish power prepay meter

[anubis68]

Hello all just need a few answers if anyone can help.
ok here go's we got into debt with scottish power so they came and fitted prepay gas and electric meters and they seem to take the debt out of our emergency credit like tonight we come to bath the toddler and the water was ok for a few mins then started running cold i checked the gas meter and saw no credit and no emergency credit so that meant no hot water or no heating.
is there anything i can do about this?

i was told that the meters should'nt turn off after a certain time at night
can anyone verify this for me?

thanks

[mree]

Sorry, don't know where you've gotten that one from, but it's completely untrue, they will stop whenever they run out of credit, doesn't matter what time it is.

The debt isn't taken from your emergency credit, but the debt collection is suspended while you're in emergency credit, so when you go to put money on your meter, you have to pay the amount of the emergency credit, plus however much debt should have been collected in the period you were in the emergency, plus however much standing charge has accumulated in that period before any of your money actually goes towards gas or electricity. For example, say debt's collecting at £5 per week, your standing charge is 10p per day, and your emergency credit facility is £6 - you'd need to put the amount of emergency credit, plus the £5 towards the debt, plus 7 days' worth of standing charge, plus however much you want in actual credit on the meter. So say you want to have £10 credit left, you'd need to charge the key/card with £6+£5+£0.70+£10 = £21.70. However, if your next debt payment was due the day after you put credit on, it will deduct another £5, leaving you with £5 credit.

The only course of action with this is to A) stay out of your emergency credit facility, it's an emergency facility and if you use it every time you'll have no safety net if ever you can't afford to put credit on; and B), contact Scottish Power and find out how much your meter is collecting each week, if it's too much for you to afford try and negotiate with them to lower it. This may be difficult if you have a large outstanding debt with them. It'll be easier if you're on benefits, as most power companies will accept a lower weekly collection rate if you're in receipt of certain benefits.
















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[anubis68]

thanks for clearing that up for me.

is there some sort of funding that can help me out with the debt as i'm out of work and am on disability living allowance

[mree]

Well, the DLA will certainly help you get your payments reduced, but you could also ask Scottish Power if they have any sort of fund or associated charity set up that could help you out if you're in real difficulty. Some suppliers do have these, but bear in mind they're generally there to help with one-off financial difficulties that have resulted in you not being able to pay your bills, not as an ongoing solution. You could also ask if they have any 'social tariffs' available, again, some suppliers will have these (usually entitling you to a lower unit cost on a credit meter or an annual refund cheque of a percentage of your fuel spend if on a prepayment meter) - they're not advertised, but don't be afraid to call them and ask about these things!

[buzby]

Scottish Power are also members of a charity scheme to help people pay their bills in these circumstances. Contact them and ask.

[treechocred]

'i was told that the meters should'nt turn off after a certain time at night
can anyone verify this for me?'

Some suppliers (BG for example) provide some electricity meters that will not run out of credit between certain times (i think its 7pm-7am). The amount of leccy used overnight when you should have been off supply, is added as a debt, and taken from when you next top up. All the new Key meters have this facility (well the BG ones do, not sure about any other suppliers!)

However, this is not the same for gas meters, you will go off supply if you run out of credit during the night.

[tr03bor]

Originally Posted by mree

Sorry, don't know where you've gotten that one from, but it's completely untrue, they will stop whenever they run out of credit, doesn't matter what time it is.

You are wrong, most meters will run over night as long as they enough credit to get in the night period.

This does not include Quantum meters (Gas pre-payment meters)


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[ozzywizard]

'i was told that the meters should'nt turn off after a certain time at night
can anyone verify this for me?'

Just to clarify,
Gas meters will cut off when run out of credit
Token electric (little cardboard cards) will run out when out of credit.
Key meters will not cut off as long as there is a penny left in credit or emergency between 8-8 and 9-9 in summer. they work on a 24 hour cycle and time changes when clocks go forward or back.
What you use in this time will be a debt on your meter when it cuts off in morning. So you will owe emergency used, weekly debt and 70p etc in morning when you top up oh and some for credit.