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 think you should beg/borrow/buy/steal one of those electricity things after all. You aren't using the emergency immersion on your hot water tank by accident are you?

no, it is definitely switched off, will look at getting one of thsoe gadgets. and hope the new boiler helps.

just called british gas now, just the 23 minutes on hold we are in credit, by £182 quelle surprise, i gave them a meter reading.. had to go into the scary cellar full of loofahs.. and she will call back tomorrow with new direct debit option or info about pre payment. going to ring the leccy people now too

prepayment meters do cost more. Which is horrible, because people who have them tend to be those who have the tightest budgets!

however, they are good if you don't want a big bill and they do stop you getting into debt, because you pay as you go, so to speak.

I just think it's disgusting of the companies to take advantage the way they do.

We have pre payment for both as we are renting atm and they were already here.We thought it was a good idea as we planne dto be here 6 months but now over a year later still here and much more expensive than direct debit.Every time the prices have risen this year we can see it immediately which ahs been interesting but scary.The beauty is that you pay as you go but it is hassle to keep topping up

thank you, it is true, hecate, for those who need to wathc their moneym which, lets face it, is now everyone , that pre payment is more inconvenient and more expensive.

thank you noddy, i think you are one of the most clued up MNers as regards all thigsn financial

am a bit torn as to what to do

either see if we can reduce the direct debits, as we are in credit, and on a fixed rate , or go for pre payment.

am all of a dither ,really don;t know what to do. we are just paying out so much money and we barely use the heating.

pre payment might suit you then but the tariff is higher.But my friends mum volunteers at teh CAB and she says legislation to stop this is in hand and might even have been passed as I saw her months ago so check.Our new house has open fires and I am determined to use those as gas bills are horrendously high and the dry heat isn't nice.BTW I bought onre of those panel heater things at a car boot sale.They cost pence to run and I have it on in the living room and i can see on teh clock how much it has used and it is pence.I hang all clothes on a rail and leave them in teh room too.I haven't put my heat on yet and this flat IS freezing.Worth experimenting.

lulumama I used to work for Npower, the prepayment meters do have a higher tariff as they cost more because of all the back end service, stay with me on this.

Every time you take your prepayment card into a shop and they put it into the machine to top it up, it sends you meter status to Npower or whoever, down a phoneline, it tells us EVERYTHING about your meter -

Meter readings, if you are in credit/debit, if you are tampering with the meter (seriously it sends us an SOS) etc etc,

Then everytime you put your card into your meter to transfer the money over it takes the meter reading and all other settings.

It means (and it is very big brother) we could always see when you topped up, where, how much for, what time of day/night you did it!

Personally I wouldn't go down the prepayment meter route unless you HAVE to. The topping up can be a nightmare, phonelines go down (recall hysterical call from bride on her wedding day where they couldn't top up the meter because the system was down, she had wet hair and needed to dry it) some areas don't have an all night garage or other late night place to top up.

The boiler will make a HUGE difference, it did to us, we had a 15 year old one that ate gas, had combi condenser boiler fitted, is a dream.

Stay on the fixed rate as in the long run you should do well. I don't know if it your gas or elec that is costing loads, my washing machine uses elec even when it isn't on so I switch it off at the switch.

Those elec usage things are about £30??? We are getting one.

Hope this long ramble has helped

fizzy did you see anything about reducing the tariff to bring it into line with regular rates?

No sorry, I used to work for them years ago, they took over us as MEB Midlands Electricity Board. I just know that obviously everything cost wise is recouped through the customer.

With the prepayment meters there is the cost of the cards, the consoles in the shops, the phone line, training the staff etc so it was always a last resort that we installed one. We usually did it to collect a debt so the meter was set a bit higher. But they were on a higher tariff.

Direct Debit customers get the discount as it is the company's preferred method because it guarantees money into the bank account and funds the credit customer, ie the one who uses electricity for 3 months then pays on receipt of bill.

Personally given a choice (it is forced when there is a debt that isn't getting paid) I wouldn't have one installed. I know that it helps some people to think about where they are using electricity and helps some people budget but on a budget scheme where you pay monthly (either cash or Direct Debit) you are budgeting for the year anyway, paying the same amount in summer as in winter.

If they are bringing tariffs in line with credit meters as they are called, then the cost must be being recouped somewhere.

thank you very much, i think we will stick with direct debit and see about reducing the monthly payment as we are in credit and hope the new boiler helps with the gas bills.. thank you all for taking hte time to post. much appreciated x

lulumama I have just checked and we actually have been using a max of £700 of fuel per year!!! Have you checked the energyhelpline.com with what you actually use per year and they will tell you the cheapest supplier and deal for usage level. You should be in credit because it's the end of the summer.

thanks cargirl, will look at that now.