Prepayment meters

[GenderCriticalTrumpets]

Posting strictly for traffic because I genuinely do not know what the fuck we are going to do. Our energy provider want 1200 pounds a month for gas and electric. We do not have 1200 pounds a month at all. We could go on a fixed tarrif which would be 1000 pounds a month but again - we just don't have it.

Does anyone have a prepayment meter? Are they totally hideous?

I genuinely feel unwell with worry.

Pretty sure that you pay more per unit with a prepayment meter.

Before these price rises you must have been paying hundreds a month anyway. How on earth are you using so much gas and electric?

How much do you pay now?Do you owe money for fuel?Lots of questions.How big is your property,type of property.Something is not right.Read the meters,check what’s going on.Good luck.

My understanding is you can refuse a direct debit and just pay each bill individually. You will have to dramatically cut down your usage. Do you know why it’s so high?

Those are ridiculous prices. They don't sound right to me. Could someone else be tapping into your supply?

What’s your current usage in KWH? Try and get that down. Insulation, turning off immersion heater (except for 30/60 mins before you need a shower), cutting back on appliances that heat up, using a slow cooker/air fryer instead of main oven etc.

I’d try to pay by billing period, rather than DD, you might lose a DD discount though, it’ll still be cheaper than prepayment meters. Make sure you send in readings regularly.

Dear god what size house have you got? We have a 4 bed detached 1970s and were baulking at a rise to £210 from £116. But £1200!!! 😱

Im sorry your energy bill is £1200 a month - what on earth are you heating, a frickin mansion?!
Prepayment meters are more expensive.

I'm assuming there are unpaid arrears. Having ongoing consumption that's several times the national average is a problem with an obvious solution.

I have prepayment meters for both gas and electric.
Yes the standing charge or whatever it's called is higher.
I live with partner in 3 bed house.
Electric is about £60 pm and gas £45
But
I only do 2 washes a week
We aren't in during the day and heating on gets put on in the evening.
Everything gets switched off. And now weather is better washing on line.
This is the email from BG with our new breakdown

Picture for some reason won't load 🙄

Something must be wrong, that figure is ridiculously high.

How the fuck are your bills so high? Have you been hugely underpaying or something?

Agree that can't be right. Are you repaying a debt?

Firstly, do they have up to date meter readings? If not submit some now.
Secondly, if you have accrued a large debt then ring the debt team and speak to them, they are able to spread the debt over a longer period of time if you talk to them and make it clear that is unaffordable.

If neither of those are applicable and you don't live in a mansion / have a weed farm in the loft then ring them and ask for someone to com and check your meter because it sounds like it could be faulty.

Have you actually spoken to them because sometimes the system can just blip and throw random DD increased out.

Dear god what are you living in?! That's more than I spend a year

I have a prepayment meter , it was there when I bought my house - never had one before , but decided to keep it and see how I got on with it. So much better, yes the unit price slightly higher , but no big quarterly bills or monthly direct debits. Can top up as and when. Last year my total yearly gas was approx £450 for the whole year. I don’t limit my gas and put it on when I want . I am in a 2 bed terrace with a decent boiler - a newly put in Worcester

We have a prepayment leccy meter, no DD so we just top it up, works out around £50 a month for leccy. Our Gas is fixed at £35 a month dd.
The meter was here when we bought the house, just not got around to changing it luckily for us.
It's gone up to 28p from 19p and standing charge from 30p to 50p. bit of a jump. But spring is here so, washing is dried outside, we'll save money.
These prices rises are only if people continue to use the same amount of energy.

That's an insane amount. You are either heavily in arrears, it's a mistake on their end and you need to contact them, or you are somehow using an incredible amount of energy, but you will surely know if you have that kind of lifestyle and your bills will already be very large.

That's a crazy amount. Unless you live in a fecking castle, it can't possibly be right.

Anyone with a prepayment meter would be well advised to put as much credit on it as they can afford before prices go up at the start of April. It means you'll be "buying" that energy at current prices instead of at the new prices.

I'm prepayment for gas and electric in a small 3 bed semi-detached house, teen and I are at home all day so constant use.

We top up £150 a month to cover both and usually have a bit left over to save for skint times.

Your usage sounds unusually high so I'd take regular meter readings and send them over to get a rough idea of how much you should be spending.

@LakieLady that only applies to certain companies and those with old style non-smart meters.

We have one and I actually don’t hate it. I lived in shared houses in London for years and had so many problems with electricity bills as I always dealt with them and ended up paying so many debts from people who had moved out. So now it’s nice to know exactly what we’re using and there’s never a big scary bill.
It’s just a pain that ours aren’t smart ones so we have to walk to the shop to top it up.

For anyone else who has one, Martin Lewis is saying to top up as much as you can afford to before April as you pay the rate at the point you top up rather than when you use it so you could get an extra few months on the current rate.

Something isn't right unless you live at Buckingham palace. Our 3 bed is £120 a month currently rising to £167 from April on a smart meter so should be accurate. Unless it's a 17th century mansion I can't see how anyone is bill could be over £300 (we have heating on as needed, plenty of hot water)