Prepayment Meters- can't switch suppliers

[pugsley]

If you try to go to USwitch and get the best deal for a prepayment meter either gas or electric or both, it is not possible unless you get your supplier to change it back to a normal meter apparently (which they charge you for).

This seems unfair, prepayment electric and gas cost more- WHY? is this really fair?

I believe they say they cost more for the company to run and maintain, is this actually true? they don't tend to send statements afterall, and they don't have to chase bills? I feel a bit conned.......

Why should people on low incomes have to pay more for electric and gas and not have easy access to U Switch deals? which could apparently save me £200 a year!!!!

[saxon]

hello, we have an electric pre pay meter, we were with NPower,switched to British Gas, we were with them 1 week and the cost had doubled so had to wait 4 weeks to switch back.

All we had to do was wait for new keys, no charges for swapping, no meter changes, nowt.

If you know who is going to be cheaper for you, do it manually, then you are dealing direct, you never know your present supplier may equal or even better the deal.

[pugsley]

I'm with British Gas and I can't stand them since they once changed and meter over as the battery was dying and lost all my credit off and wouldn't give it back....arrgghh, sorry just remembered about that, it was about 9 years ago. I am going to try some others from their websites, winter sure is expensive for me as I have only 1/2 inch loft insulation and the local council are dragging their feet in putting new insulation in.

[shazzaspannered]

I used to have a pre-payment meter with Powergen and they wouldn't swap it back to a normal meter.

In the end I pleaded and pleaded with them once I'd paid off what I owed and got to Zero balance and then set up a heft DD to cover any charges on my account and they did it for me.

It did take a hell of a lot of sweet talking to the man on the phone though!

[Rich44]

Powergen are scumbags for pp meters. A house I moved into was with them and had pp meters fitted and even though I was a new customer and had a good credit rating and ad even been a previous customer with them they said they would not remove them for 3 months so I moved to Npower who arranged to change them as soon as the change was complete

So change provider manually and it'll sort it out

[saxon]

Hello Pugsley, I don't know if you're a council house tenant or not, but we got our insulation via Care and Repair, we had to go all around the houses to find the information but, they provide the grants for this and most other repairs.

Ask at your local council, telephone suppliers of the insulation they are usually very helpful, if they can't help, then ask if they know someone who can, that's how we did it.

Hope that helps

[pugsley]

I just spoke to the council (this is a council flat above a shop and a walkway) and they are sending an inspector to look at cavity wall insulation and look at the loft insulation again.

As for the gas meter British Gas refused to put me a new meter a few years back, even though I had no debt, might be worth another try, my electric meter has about £20 debt on at the moment which I pay off £5 per week, so they are unlikely to put me on a proper meter either. If I can get some insulation that would really help.

[ozzywizard]

Oh dear, I really am not liked am I . .

Ok I work for powergen in the prepayment department account manager.

Trust me I am one of the good guys, I chose this department in the company because the people we deal with are more on my level and down to earth than the "general customer" .

Anyways I will do my best to help any of yas here at this site, its my way of giving somthing back to the site.

Pugsley

There is no charge to change from a prepay meter to a credit meter, however you do have to have your account cleared of debt for a period od 3 months before they will concider changing it. If it is fitted under warrant then it is there to stay (there is a way around this).

You know if your an high user it can actually cost less to have a prepayment meter depending what area you live in. Its all to do with being charged a standing charge on prepay but not on standard meter but the secondary units are cheaper on prepay. Really does depend on your area and useage.

Your right it costs less for the company as most statments are suppressed etc. loads more to say here lol. Kinda a stitch up the standing charge. Its the same anywere make the poor poorer.

The best deal with any company is to have there gas and electric with the same company. You lose so much having them seperate. You get stuff like DD discounts and duel fuel discounts etc. (your right about being more expensive if you take this into account theres none for prepayment) .

Hey BG by law should of given you your credit back, it was your money.

Saxon

Yeah I agree do it manually and make sure you give actuall reads to both suppliers, biggest stitch up ever is estimated reads.

Shaz

It really really does depend on which advisor you get through to, if your ever not happy with powergen just ask for me, hehehe. . . or ask for a manager not gonna guarantee you get a manager but thats another story.

Rich

Your right, the person you spoke too sounds a scumbag. lol. . . they used the 3 month rule on a new tennant . . . unreal.

Regarding the loft and cavity wall insulation powergen do it free of charge to a certain catagory of people and you dont even gotta be a customer. The direct number to the specialist team is. 0800 479 0162

advise >>>> is it possible for users of this forum to see my real name and work mail addy. I gotta hold back on giving company information in fear of somone losing me my job. lol.

[pugsley]

Thanks Ozzy I will wait a few months and get it all changed.

Funny thing is I paid off my debt to london electric and they had to give me a cheque back as they had no way to take the debt off my meter, seems really silly to me.

As for BG I asked them to put a prepayment meter in when I moved in 6 years ago they said I had to go into debt (actually encouraged me to) to qualify for the meter, I paid this off about 5 1/2 years ago and now as times have changed I would like more freedom to switch for better deals.

I

[ozzywizard]

No worries, Ha you must of had an old token meter, only way of removing the debt is to send an engineer and that cost far more than sending a cheque out. lol.

As for BG I asked them to put a prepayment meter in when I moved in 6 years ago they said I had to go into debt (actually encouraged me to) to qualify for the meter, I paid this off about 5 1/2 years ago and now as times have changed I would like more freedom to switch for better deals.

omg unreal, never heard that one before.

[elsinore]

Originally Posted by ozzywizard

advise >>>> is it possible for users of this forum to see my real name and work mail addy. I gotta hold back on giving company information in fear of somone losing me my job. lol.

You can reply to a private message with the info. But you need to be sure who's asking!!

Elsinore

[installspark]

Originally Posted by ozzywizard

advise >>>> is it possible for users of this forum to see my real name and work mail addy. I gotta hold back on giving company information in fear of somone losing me my job. lol.

There's ways of giving the info without giving the info (wink wink nudge nudge). Could probably be able to locate you down to your desk then Think COS and someone who's not been in work for a while Unless you are located in a sleepy river crossing back office.

Don't forget that a supplier is only allowed to object on debt over 28 days or incorrect technical info. So if a supplier is blocking on a ppm account and that account is debt clear give energywatch a call

If you are a new occupier of a property where the existing meter is prepay, all you should need to do to get this changed is supply a copy of the tenancy agreement/proof of purchase.

I agree that prepay accounts tend to have the most estimates on them, also with these accounts you tend to get false credits/debits due to the way that they are billed, I always go by what's on the customer's meter at the time of call, and if necessary justify the balance on the account and make any necessary adjustments.

[ozzywizard]

Yeah these meters are never calibrated correctly, and yuppers energywatch carry a lot of weight with suppliers.

[Moodymulder]

Hi all especially Ozzy,

I too have tried to get rid of my pre-payment meters... I have one for gas and one for electric. After looking around for deals I switched to SP. After the switch over I asked then to come and take out both pre-paid meters as the debt on both of them was paid about 2 years ago and I have been debt free since. I was told the charge for removing both pre-paid meters is about £90 each.... so Ozzy is this true and is there a way round this ? I feel most aggrieved that I have to pay to get them removed years after paying my debt off.

[installspark]

So long as the meters were'nt put in under a warrant then there should be no charge and SP are talking through their backsides. If they still insist on trying to charge you for changing the meter from prepay to credit then give energywatch a call and let them ort it out for you.

[ozzywizard]

Hiya Moodymulder,

They are wrong in asking for a charge of 90 to change each of the meters, a supplier can by law only bill you for the energy used and should provide free maintainance on supply to the meter inc. anything after the meter is your responsibility.


My advise is to phone up and ask for the prepay meters to be removed and you offer payment by fixed direct debit which is concidered a form of prepayment as you cover your bills before they are billed.

Also tell them you are a home owner and by energywatch they should change meters.

Home owners

• We will remove the meter.
• The customer is unlikely to have any pay history with us but will have been subjected to thorough credit checks with their bank/ building society before receiving a mortgage.
• They are likely to be a good payer.
• DD is the preferred payment option.
• If a customer needs to pay using a card, we can set up an RCP or unmonitored arrangement.
• However, for an unmonitored arrangement , we need to advise the customer that they must pay any outstanding balance on arrival of the bill.

These rules are because:

• If a customer we know nothing about has a mortgage, they have undergone strict credit checks so should be a good player
• If a customer has been a good payer to Powergen in the past, they should be again
• If a customer has been a bad payer to Powergen in the past, they may be again
• Prepayment is a reliable way for Powergen to collect debt - 90% of RCP customers miss payments

Powergen procedure.
If you get the same response then change to powergen which takes 28 days and I will help you from there.

There is no checks if your an home owner or not.

[Innocenti]

I was with British Gas and I had prepayment meters already installed when I moved in. I rang BG when i first moved in and asked for normal meters. BG wanted £120 PER meter which they would leep for a year and if I paid my bills on time then I would get the money back.

I was furious as it wasnt my debt that got the meters installed.

Anyway i rang Powergen about 18 months ago and they said they would put 2 meters in free and all I had to do was pay a set amount every month by direct debit which I was really happy about as this is what I wanted.

28 days after signing for Powergen, they arrived and changed my meters. I have never had a problem with PG since and I am really happy about them. BG have tried to make me go back to them several times, but I wont.