Top-Up Electric?

Hi all, as some of you may know we just got a flat and the electric is "top up" style, anyone use it?

It is expensive.  If your landlord agrees, I'd talk to the electric company and see if they would replace it.

Giant pain in the ars*. Hated it.

Thanks, exactly what I didnt want to hear...

Yes, you'll pay a higher rate per unit on that sort of thing.  Hopefully you can get it switched out!

Worst thing ever. We had both electric and gas pre-paid meters at our last place and paid an absolute fortune on them. Definately see if you can get them switched out.

If the landlord says yes but the company says no look into switching suppliers.

Thanks, exactly what I didnt want to hear...

You'll live. But if you can't get it switched out, at least you'll go in with advance warning.

Is it a card or coin operated?

You'll live. But if you can't get it switched out, at least you'll go in with advance warning.

Is it a card or coin operated?

Card

It's probably there because of a previous tenant who wasn't paying their bill.  BF worked for an energy supplier for a while.  He said if there was someone who was constantly delinquent and never paid, they would turn up to their house one day and replace it with the PAYG one.

I agree to call and try to see if you can get it switched out. 

It's not that horrific! I've lived for a year in a place with a coin operated payg electric. I calculated that it was only a bit more than the previous place which was not payg. Also, atleast you'll know how much you're spending and it won't be a shock when the bill comes.

Something to bear in mind with these meters is that, as NoseOverTail said, they are often installed when a person gets behind with their bills, sometimes the company will do this as a last step before disconnection. The thing is, very often in that situation, the meter will be set to recover, from each fresh recharge of the card or token, a portion of the debt owing, so effectively the electricity or gas will be more costly than it needs to be. If you keep the meter or if you have it removed, it would be a good idea to get this aspect straightened out, they may need to send a person to alter the meter setting and take account of any overpayment you may have already made. Also the meter will collect the "standing charge" - the fixed quarterly charge. They usually do this on the same day every week, so sometimes a newly charged card won't get you as much connection time as you expected.

Hello I 've lived in houses with either coin or card operated meters and it was not too bad. If there is a difference, it's only a few pounds. Where I live now, my boyfriend and  I pay less than 30 pounds per month (summertime). I think I like it, call me old fashioned, but I don't like direct debits out of my account, hehehe!

Ok, dont' know if it's just because I live in N.I. and the rates here may be cheaper, but I absolutely love having a PAYG electric meter.  It helps me spread out the cost of the electric over the whole month and we only pay when we are getting low. 

We had a previous debt put on ours because of some roommates of my partners who didn't pay their share of a bill, so we weren't getting the full amount when we topped up, but once that was cleared it was fine.  We actually get a discount to be on a PAYG rate.  I reasoned that it was because when you're on a month-to-month bill, the electric company is effectively extending credit and carrying a risk.

We use a lot of electric with our tumble drier, but last month we only spend about £55 and last week we used £12.  Our keypad gives us the prices per month we're spending and yes it gets a lot more during the winter (around £110 for January) but that's because our boiler was broken, so no central heating and we used space heaters all the time.  Of course, let me reiterate by saying we're in Belfast, so our tarrifs may be a bit different.