pre-paid electric meter, My son pays for elec up front, usually he just puts the key in and presses the button?

Question

but on the past few occasions he as noticed that the the electric meter is deducting just under £2 pound off the total of what he has bought.. eg, he was using his emergency quota of £5 had £2.79 left to go, he topped up his card £20. when he put the key in it came up £15.83. it had taken off the emergency money owed but also nearly £2 of what was on the meter.. He phoned up southern electric and the guy on the phone had him check the readings on the meter. Was agreed there was no debt owing but didn't have no idea why this was happening,, the only suggestion offered was for my son to keep a check on what is happening for the next 3 top ups and if it keeps on happening to get back to them. him.. Was wondering if anyone else as had this happen to them could it be a scam. How can he prove this is happening, he wont know till he tops up again and he wants to wait till it goes into the emergency elec;. the guy from southern ecec; stated there was no penalty to pay for using this facilty. thanks for taking the time to read this

Update:

Thanks for your reply Kittysue, but he asked the guy on the phone was there a charge on using the emergency electric and he said there was not. people who use prepaid meters are called the POP. POOREST OF THE POOR. for any company who does this its the lowest of the low.. even in Bangladesh they give prepaid meter users 2% discount. they are getting their money up front and not in arrears by paying monthly or quarterly

Monny · Accepted Answer

There is also a "standing charge" for a pre-payment meter.
I had one a few years ago and it was £1.37 per week.

SpikeTheLobster · Answer

Mine's done this as well, in the past. It seems to be the standing charge or the bit they miscalculate and expect you to pay once they've taken a meter reading. When it happened to me, I got really paranoid about it but it didn't happen again for months - and when it did, I'd just had the summary bill in the post, so it fit that it was the standing charge part.

Definitely worth keeping an eye on. It hasn't happened yet in our new place but I'm sure it will.

Anonymous · Answer

Get your son to take readings from the meter BEFORE and AFTER top up.

Keep the details and when contacting Southern Electric INSIST they explain in detail their charges for the meter, and if or not a standing charge applies.
If unhappy with the outcome, then raise with ofgen, the watchdog of energy suppliers.

It is however true that prepayment meters are the most expensive way to purchase energy.

Anonymous · Answer

The £1 should last you until morning, and then you go on to emergency credit. Sorry if this sounds silly, but is it not possible to buy electricity online? Where they can email you a number that you can key into the meter?

Robin · Answer

kittysue is wrong, there is no fee for using the emergency credit however, as said, the tarriffs are generally higher.
If the 2pound is for a standing charge (not all companies charge this) then you can see this by pressing the blue button and scrolling through until u see STD CHG. This will tell u if there is one

Kittysue · Answer

Normally if you have to use the emergency it will charge you a fee. So by using that £5 emergency quota he is being charged a service fee for that service. £2 is not unusual

Zara · Answer

999

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pre-paid electric meter, My son pays for elec up front, usually he just puts the key in and presses the button?

7 Answers