New installation of prepayment meter and no key!!

[Beebow2121]

Hello!

I’ve gotten myself into trouble with not paying my gas and electric.

Yesterday I came home to find Scottish power had fitted a prepayment meter at my house.

They have put on £30 electric and £10 gas. However I have not been given any key cards & it isn’t a smart meter so cannot top up online.

I’ve tried to contact them and all they keep saying is cards won’t be issued until my account has been updated - which I am told can take a couple of weeks.

The gas 100% will not last me that long and it is showing ‘emergency credit’ so once that is gone, it’s gone.

I’ve been told if I get cut off I will need to contact them and they’ll send an emergency engineer out who will provide me with a key but that can be a long wait.

I have a child in the house and we need to bath/shower before school and work, and as it’s getting colder I’m scared to put the heating on incase we’re left with nothing.

Can anybody share their experiences of this with me please? How to rush a key through or something! 😔

I don’t understand why they cannot leave a key or put on more credit initially if they know it takes so long to update the system.

I understand I’ve gotten myself into this mess so please don’t make me feel any worse that I already do 😔

www.scottishpower.co.uk/customer-services/pay-as-you-go/

Ah bugger I thought you may be able to get one from a shop but you can't.
How old is your dc? They have to do things quickly if there's an under 5 in the house I think.
And don't beat yourself up. These things happen for various reasons. Is the debt coming off your meter or is it a separate payment to be made? In a way it would be better off your meter then you can't get into a muddle again.
Make sure you have hot water bottles. Borrow an electric heater in case the has goes if you can-they take pence to run the new ones.
There's a thread somewhere on keeping energy costs down over winter I'll see if I can find it.

Sorry to hear about it . That's completely unacceptable by Scottish Power. (And how did they fit it, did they force entry, and if so did they have a warrant to do so?)

No I have to wait until it’s updated until I can top up - it all seems a bit backwards to me! Not leaving you with enough gas/electric to last up until then but won’t give you a key 🤷🏽‍♀️

Thank you! I’m just hoping my electricity stays on too other wise we would be in a real pickle!

She is 9 so they probably won’t do much about it!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/592666-ways-to-keep-warm-this-winter

They sent a letter out with a warrant but it happened very quickly from the letter, things got busy at work and I forgot to call them once home 😔 they didn’t have to force entry as my meter boxes are at the front of my house! Looks like they have broken one of the covers of the protective box though 🙄

Thank you lovely ❤️

The gas will probably go so I'd maybe use it for hot water and not heating if possible. Maybe check on the Martin Lewis forums hopefully someone else will come along and say what it's called there maybe advice on there too.
When dd was little we lived in a freezing house. I put the heating on for half hour in the morning and an hour at night to keep her warm then turned it off when she was in bed. and that cost £35 a week! On benefits it nearly broke me. She had a hot water bottle, cellular blanket-if you can get one they are so warm, and was warm as toast.
When she was at her dads I didn't use it at all and I slept in clothes with a woolly hat.

If you’ve no gas or electric they tend to come out the same day or give you a code to pick up a card and key from a shop. You could probably actually get a shop to give you a key and card but the payments won’t register on your account so wouldn’t be the best idea. You’ll probably get a key and card in the post though soon.

Thank you! Hopefully it will go at a time when I’m able to wait in for them! Well that was my original plan but obviously I’d be spending money and wouldn’t be able to use it! Oh I do hope so! The advisor told me it could take a couple of weeks though!

Oh bless you that sounds awful 😔 it’s insane how much more you end up paying on a prepayment!

I used to have prepayment meters and I am pretty sure you can buy them for a nominal sum from some outlets that top them up. This was a few years ago now though.

How can they just come and fit a prepayment? I've no idea how this works but do the not have to five you plenty of earning to pay off the debt and give you time to sort it out?

How long have you not been paying for and how much debt are you in to them now?

You'll have to pay off the debt as well as fund the new prepayment meter. There are lots of threads on here to help with budgeting but maybe you could post your budget and get some help with sorting it out? There are loads of people on here who are great at budgeting meals and all of that so you'll get lots of support to get yourself back on track.