Gas & Electricity pre payment meters

[lulumama]

We are paying fortunes for our gas & electricity. Combined it is £ 265 per month. A lot of money. And although we are on fixed tariffs, energy prices will only go up.

would a pre payment meter be a benefit, would it save us money per month?

we use energy saving bulbs where we can, switch lights off where we can, heating is on rarely, tumble dryer barely on.. and yet our bills have risen and risen and risen year on year.

so, any advice?

I've had a gas one fitted. I used the emergency credit of £10 which lasted 5 WEEKS! I put £20 in it on thursday though and it's eaten alot.

NPower do give you money off in Jan if you earn less than 13.3K. You can get £250 off.

we are well over teh earning threshold but thank you. did you phone up and request one or was it suggested to you?

Lol! I phoned up and asked them to fit it (I did owe them money aswell, which pushed me into it a bit, wasn't alot though). My old meter was bleeding me dry and I wanted to see how much I was using. I use my heating/hot water/cooker the same and I think it should work out cheaper than the £60 a month I was paying before. I think I can get away with £7 a week. Maybe.

ok, we don;t owe them any money, but if this continues, we soon will !! i will ring them in the morning and see what the score is. thanks for replying

Lulu how on earth are you spending £265 per month, do you live in a huge drafty mansion?

My friend has gas prepay and always stays in emergency credit as she says it seems to cost at least half of what it costs when 'in credit'. A pain topping up all the time though.

we are having a new boiler fitted soon, and that should make a difference i hope as our old one is so inefficient.

yes, i live in a huge draughty mansion, with sanded floors and no double glazing it is a 'mare! we are huddled round the coal fire in the kitchen... brrrrrrrr! we wear coats inside the house

thank you too TWDP

We pay £43 per month but live in a compact 3 bed mid terrace without complete double glazing!!!! Think the new boiler will make a huge difference what kind of system are you getting?

bloody hell, that is cheap !

condensing boiler i believe and some new pipework as the people who did our new pipes when we move in did an awful lot of it wrong.

well they say that if you pay by direct debit you get a direct debit discount and a dual fuel discount too if both from same supplier
(and an extra £30 one off cash back if you go through a price comparison site)

so surely in theory as you get these discounts if you pay by direct debit... and dont get the discounts if you have a meter, and use the same amount of energy which costs the same amount per unit it ought to be cheeper to pay by direct debit?

Also i thought that (all but one) energy companies charge more per unit that is on a prepay meter, than those who pay a bill, so each unit should cost less with direct debit too

DD discount is miniscule. changing suppliers is such a nightmare, last time we did, it got totally messed up, british gas took £450 out of our account and took ages to get it back, then they tell you are in debt and have to pay back lots.. and the savings are never as much as what you think. .>breathe>

I think you do have to be careful because some suppliers do charge you more on their prepay rate than their standard rate. How much is your gas and electricity individually?

£145 for gas and the rest for leccy. don;t have the bills to hand right now for the tariff rates etc. but we are on fixed rates which are more expensive

£145 for gas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When is the boiler being replaced????????????????????????????????

The thought of it makes me want to lay down, have you watched your meter tick around, surely it's not possible to use that much?

i had to bargain them down from £175 a month, they switched me to a different tarrif . meter in the cellar, and there are spiders , so i don;t go in there. boiler should be in the next 3 weeks.

are you SURE your meter is reading right

and they havent made a silly mistake such as giving you a meter in kwh, and assuming its an old style meter and charging you as if its an old style meter (ie by doing some big calculation to make the number = kwh)

cause that really does seem like a LOT

just me in a 3 bed house, and my combined has gone up from £24 - £30 / month but house is unoccupied most of the day and i dont normally cook here either

(and i have just got one of thise 'how much energy is my appliance using' meter things and my (old)fridgefreezer is using almost £10 of that... yes am shocked and will be getting new A rated fridge freezer asap )

they have been round and read the meter. so i presume so. although who knows !?

is it worth getting one of those gadgets, do you think?

well if you got one you could see much energy your plugged in electrical appliances are actually using and see if you have something drinking electricity?

do you have your hot water on all day or anything like that?

have you turned your water thermostat to 60c (ish) so you are only heating water to that temp and not boiling it all day or anything...

it just seems such a HUGE amount to be using

those gadgets only work on electricity, both of your meter usages are shocking!

hot water on once in the morning and once at night.

boiler set to middle setting, it has not got a thermostat, it is 0 - 6. new boiler will be better i hope.

It's not got a thermostat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you just switch it on for less time and a lower temp and see if you get enough hot water?

We have a combi boiler which is okay because we have a small house the one good thing is that they are very energy efficient!

i know, cargirl. we had the leccy board out a while ago to see if tehre was a problem with our meter or if we were paying for our neighbours electricity too.

it is on all day but heating rarely on and hot water on twice a day. can;t switch it on and off can you?