Gas and electric pay as you go

[Gasmeters]

Do you know you can switch to direct debit?

If you have a smart meter and you're Pay as You Go top up in shops etc. go onto USwitch and pick any company to switch to, tell them your a direct debit customer with your current company and in 3 weeks the new company will take you on as a direct debit customer and they'll change the smart meter to direct debit..

I went to CAB about my bills and the man said to do this and now we're direct debit so we don't have to worry about how much we're using. It's cheaper than payg. It's still expensive obviously but you pay a lot less.

Hope this helps someone

sounds like a good tip for anyone stuck on pay as you go - do keep an eye on the smart meter and how much you're using to avoid shock horror bills you were't expecting.

@ThinWomansBrain oh yes I've unplugged everything that's not necessary, we're using so much less. It's just a relief to be able to know I can turn on the oven and I won't lose all the food in the freezer because I've run out of credit on the electric. I can't tell you the relief I feel

Hmm, you certainly do have to worry about how much you are using.

Yes Pay as you Go is extortionate but if you struggle to budget, then monthly DD’s could easily become a serious debt problem. Know thy self, if you are disciplined enough to monitor your usage and set money aside regularly then go for it.

I'm a nurse and I inherited this payg meter. It's so much more expensive.

@AgentJohnson no I meant comparatively payg is extortionate. I can afford the direct debits. There's only 3 of us in this house. No one works from home. Child is at day care, heating is wood burner, boiler will be used for showers.

We've been given a bill of £120 a month based on usage. It know it will go up in October and then in January. But it's so much better than payg

You should be able to. When we moved into our house it had a PAYG meter and it was replaced quickly by our new provider. We were switching to the provider we had in in our previous house.

That was years ago before smart meters, so the actual physical meter had to be replaced.

Ring up your current supplier and ask to switch.

Running out of credit is bad planning though, not necessarily cost related.

I have a pay as you go meter and have never run out of credit because I ensure I top up regularly. It's much easier then the pre payment meter when you used to have to go to the shop and it's also cheaper for me per month than any quote I have been had to change to monthly billing. I am keeping mine because it keeps me in control.

Again, know thy self. I wouldn’t rely on the energy provider getting it right either. Is 120 based on actual usage? Keep an eye on your usage yourself and make the calculations yourself.

It's actually not at the moment tbh.
My units are cheaper than what lots of people on DD are fixing at

Like @mattressspring said, im paying less-much less than some families i know who are paying DD.

im also sticking to it. It was here when we moved in and ive been doing what a smart meter does for years.

But fixing and unit cost is a completely separate issue to how you pay.

I don't think the differential is as much as it used to be, but the OP is right that you pay less on direct debit than prepay.

Plus you get to spread out the higher cost of winter usage (heating, more lighting, possibly more cooking of hot food) over the entire year.

Anyone who says 'I'm paying so much less on prepay than I would on direct debit' will be telling a very different story in January unless they don't put the heating on and sit in the dark all the time.

OP is right that you pay less on direct debit than prepay.

Pay as you go is different still. I'm not sure what the cost difference is, if any, though.

Isn't pay as you go simply the pre payment just some call it payg?

Google says they are the same thing.

Prepayment meters also known as 'pay-as-you-go' meters are a type of domestic energy meter that requires users to pay for energy before using it. Energy is added by using a smartcard, token or key that can be topped up at a shop or via a smartphone app.

www.edfenergy.com/for-home/help-support/pay-as-you-go#:~:text=Prepayment%20meters%20also%20known%20as,or%20via%20a%20smartphone%20app.

Thanks. I did wonder if I am going crazy.
As far as I know it's DD, pay on receipt and PAYG/prepayment.

Happy to be corrected

No. Prepayment is the old style top up with key/card and pay as you go is the new top up online smart meter. According to EDF anyway.

Oh just realised the link above is EDF also!

This is my account. It shows my new pay as you go and my old prepayment. Also the gas which is still card top up as prepayment!

Click to see the actual part I was trying to show

I think they just call it differently to entice us with old meters to finally get a smart one (on top of the harassment by emails and mail 😂). Their deemed tarif card shows no difference unless you get to economy 7?