To stick with a prepay meter?

[LovingLife0]

Even though I’ve been living in my current house for five years, we’ve never got around to changing our pay as you go meters (gas and electricity) to a direct debit smart meter.

We currently pay 100-150 for gas and electricity combined for a 3-bed house (2 adults, 2 children). Compared to some of the rates other people are saying they’re currently paying on direct debit, this seems on the lower end.

AIBU to keep my prepay meter or will I regret it in April when prices hike?

Surely if you're on a pre-pay meter, you're already paying more for your power than if you pay via Direct Debit? I'd get it changed over a.s.a.p.

If you can buy top it up now, and you will get the lower rate until you top up again.

The pound amount you pay isn’t anything to go off, all that matters if your cost per unit and your usage.

You might be paying less than others who use their heating much more.
You are almost certainly paying more per unit of energy than anyone on a direct debit as prepaid meters have higher prices.

I read an article recently that said if you have a prepay meter you can load up as much money and it will charge the same rate you are on now until that money runs out (after the increase)
It will only charge you the increased rate after you next top it up. So if that's the case then you may be better to stay on it for now, if you can afford to add some extra money too it.

Same boat as you op am sticking with mine for now , even with the projected increase ( they sent a letter based on my current usage with the new rates taken into account ) it’s still lower than any of the fixed rate quotes I looked at , I think all the good deals have gone a lot of the time I couldn’t even get a quote just a message about the massive increases and it wasn’t possible to quote at this time !

The amount you pay per month isn't a way to compare - you might be lower users.
You need to compare standing charges and charges per unit.

I'll be sticking with mine. It's a great reminder of how much fuel you are using, plus mine seems to be really cheap !

Even managed to get mine down a bit last month!

Thanks for all your replies - it’s interesting to hear I’m not the only one who’s thinking of sticking with pre-pay.

I've had one before and tbh if I had one now I would probably keep it so I couldn't inadvertently run up debt.

You can't compare with other people, they pay a different amount to you for reasons such as different usage, different tariff, estimated bills, deliberate overpayment etc

But it's totally up to you how you choose to buy your power, not unreasonable at all as long as you're happy.

I’m staying on a metre although it’s a smart metre but I have to top it up, I don’t trust direct debits and don’t want to get a huge bill they will just take out my account, though when I first moved in a I had a work man in and he told me I should change it straight away as they are only for “people who don’t pay their bills” 🤦🏻

We're prepay and we're definitely sticking with it. We've always paid around the same or lower than friends and family who are on direct debit bills over the course of the year. That's per unit and standing charge so we know its not that we use less.

I think that because we know how much we have left til payday, for example, it also helps us be more conscious of our use. Fitting example goes something like this "we're in the emergency now til Tuesday so no using the washing machine and showers only guys!"

To those people who say to top up now and overpay before prices go up.....there was a question about this on radio 4 the other day (either You and Yours or Moneybox I think). It depends on what type of prepayment meter you are on. If it's one with a 'key that you top up at the local shop then I think you are OK to do this, I think. But if its one linked directly via apps etc it's not workable. I've never had a prepayment meter, so don't know what I'm on about really (as usual) but maybe you could find the excerpt on bbc 'sounds' or something.

My last house was prepay for both, I’m now prepay for electric and bill for gas. Only option for gas is a quarterly bill, but I can credit my account each month if you see what I mean. I wish I was still prepay gas in a way. You know where you’re at!

We're sticking with prepay too. We'll top up as much as we can before the end of the month as well. We'd rather pay upfront and not worry about having to find the money for a massive bill.

Just wondered how you’ve found staying on a meter @LovingLife0 @Whatthebarnacles @MrsMigginsCat

im old style key prepay, considering moving over to smart meter with direct debit as I’m worried about running out of money over the winter months
but so far I haven’t used nearly as much as I thought I would and have managed to keep on with topping up £80-£100 a month for dual fuel

I’m sticking with mine , even the current fixed deals are 2-3 times what I have spent during the summer after the initial price rise

I prefer to pay for exactly what I use even if it does cost a little more

@Changemaname1 where are you seeing fixed deals? We moved to the UK a month ago and I can’t find anywhere offering anything other than the standard rate! U switch had nothing at all. I don’t even know if we can switch to prepay right now!

@PeekabooAtTheZoo sorry i wasn’t very clear I meant this was for deals as the current increase was coming in around April time , the deals i saw were around 2-3 times more per month than I have actually being spending during this period ( so I’m glad I didn’t bother ) There were a limited amount of them though some suppliers came up saying along the lines of “ we can’t offer anything right now “

so based on the fact they were so much higher than what I have actually ended up paying I haven’t even bothered looking at ones for the new price rise period from October but I’m guessing they are even harder to get hold of unless you are an existing customer with the company

I’ve got a pre payment key for electric and a pre payment card for gas and I’m definitely sticking with them. They’re easy to budget with, I can’t go into debt and I can control how much I’m spending.

I’m just worried that the price will increase beyond what I can afford to top up but as change mentioned I haven’t spent nearly as much as expected considering there was a price rise in April,
however if it rises beyond what I can afford I may be better off on a direct debit as at least I can set up a payment plan (I know debt can be taken off the meter but not sure if the amount they take can be negotiated)

The benefit of dd for gas is you spread the cost over the year as you build credit in summer when you use less and then spend it in winter when you use more

depending on your supplier it could be more expensive as some give a direct debit discount

Also with prepayment if you can’t afford to top it up you have no power or heating with dd you still get energy

@Forpoxsake you can just get billed for what you use with a direct debit but am not sure how difficult or easy it is to move onto that from pre pay currently

that is the concern with prepay of it really does go sky high and people don’t have it to top up then that’s that we will have 10 pound emergency credit and then it will go off whereas I think on a direct debit there is more leeway to get into debt etc one way or another youl pay it a lot but it won’t be like they will disconnect you that very day like prepay does

however at least you can keep an eye on what you are using and as you say not seen the rise we were expecting to even with the initial increase hopefully not be as bad as predicted oh and don’t forget the 66 pound a month I think we will get as a voucher to add in there to

Typo up there - i meant either way you’ll pay It all back not pay it alot