Talk to me about Prepayment meters

[Confusedmaa]

Just had a conversation with British Gas and unfortunately my only option is to go on a prepayment meter. I am panicking so much. For nearly 2 weeks in a month I literally have no money at all. It all goes on bills and food at the beginning of the month. I have cut back as much as I can just to be able to pay the massive mortgage payments. I'm really worried that we run out of credit and I can't afford to put anything on it. I'm in such a state over this all. Can anyone tell me about your experiences with this please.

My brother has one and hated it, but it was the only way to pay off his debt. I would go to CAB or one of the other free debt advice charities such as stepchange. The advice is always to pay yourself first and then pay your debts. Obviously, if the numbers don't add up, and you don't actually have debts for which you can reduce repayments, it means cutting back more. In the past, we had times when we couldn't have a phone or a TV because we couldn't afford them. Just have to grit teeth and get through - it doesn't last forever.

One of the organisations I've mentioned will be able to help you draw up a budget, maybe negotiate with creditors and ensure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to.

Negotiate for the lowest weekly recovery rate you can get. I know it means your debt is taking longer to pay off, but if it means you can keep topping up the meter that's not a bad thing.

Do your absolute best not to dip into emergency credit, as soon as you top up the very first thing it does is takes your debt payment which can leave you too close to running out again.

Aside from that budget as carefully as you can, contact specialists like Step Change to help if needed.

Also one last thing, have you applied to the British Gas Energy Trust for help clearing down your debt? For some daft reason the advisors don't push this even though the company repeatedly asks them too. It would make a massive difference to how quickly your credit is used up if the debt being recovered is smaller.

I'm going to be paying 8p an hour off what we owe. And I will be topping up with £200 per month. I know that isn't going to go very far. I've already cut back everywhere I can so that we can afford our mortgage repayments and increased food bills. There is nothing left. I got paid today and it's all gone. I've realised that when we've used that up there is no way of topping up anymore short of selling a kidney. I know there is nothing anyone can say to help but I just need to say all this to get it off my chest.

Please call the British Gas Energy Trust. They really might be able to knock your debt down.

Plus your recovery rate can be lower, I know people paying as little as £5 a week back (you'll be paying £13), if you don't get anywhere with British Gas Energy Trust then call British Gas back again and tell them it's too high and ask for it to be lowered so that it's manageable.

Definitely get some help with this - there's lots of free advice out there. On the moneysaving expert page, there's a budget planner where you can put in all outgoings whether monthly , weekly or annual and this can be useful for when you approach organisations for help. If you have any debts, definitely get interest frozen and repayments reduced where you can. Internet is pretty much essential these days, but is there any way you could cut back on broadband, TV etc? Shopping at Aldi/Lidl. Reducing insurances by shopping around. Obviously, you may have already done these things. Can you earn any more?

It's very worrying when you feel yourself sinking, but a prepayment meter is a way of making sure you don't get into more debt, so I suppose that's an advantage in the long term. Maybe think about C'mas too and pre-warn people that this year, it'll be children only.

My council are doing hardship funds for people in energy debt. It's worth having a look to see whats available also British Gas Energy Trust. They may be able to cover a proportion. I applied to SSE version of this years ago and they wrote off a third.

I've always had meters. I love it because you can't spend what you don't and I would dread big bills through the post.

I have an electricity one - sibling was supposed to pay the bills on a house we inherited and didn’t, so I got landed with it. For me it’s not too bad - I put £100 a month on it and 50% is to pay off the debt. I live on my own so usage is not too high. One thing I do though is that I pay my council tax over 10 months, so for the two months I don’t pay it I put it on my meter. I try to always keep that on through the year as a buffer.

I have a prepayment meter and a 2 bed house. With a family of 3. We WFH and DS is Gaming.

Our electricity is £2 max. Since yesterdays price hikes it was £2.02. That's with 50 mins of oven cooking too.

We use an app and pay by card etc.

We only have one because the last owner had it installed for her tenants but I quite like it!

I have one, it’s fine, had it for about 7 years... never had a problem, like someone else said I’ve dreaded having a big bill come through so with these I can only spend what I have.

Incidentally I had a quote for a direct debit from the same supplier and it said £181 a month. No idea how they justify it when we clearly don't use that much power but thats the way it is...

Considering I'm in charge of how much I put on the meter, I'd say thats a win.

We have a direct debit for gas as we're on a normal tariff etc. I hate how they control the direct debit amount.