Bord Gais - 20,000 Pre-payment Meters in Cork?

Fnergg

According to the Indo, Bord Gais have installed 20,000 pre-payment meters in Cork.

Really?

It seems an extraordinarily high figure.

Does anyone have more information?

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/how-to-make-sure-you-dont-get-a-shiver-when-the-gas-bill-arrives-2047343.html

Regards,

Fnergg

RoadKillTs

That sounds very high to me. 20,000 in Cork alone? Doubt it.

dudara

Not a Consumer Issue.

Moved to Cork forum

dudara

mudokon

Another option may be to have a pre-pay meter installed and according to CER there has been a greater demand from customers for this service in recent months with, for example, 20,000 new meters installed in Cork recently.

I'd say that these meters were requested by customers rather than just installed by Bord Gais.

Fnergg

I'd imagine most pre-payment meters would be requested by customers but 20,000 such meters in Cork - requested by the customers or not - just seems to be incorrect. Maybe it was 2,000 or 200.

Regards,

Fnergg

mudokon

Due to the recession maybe people were getting into financial problems & opted for this as a precaution.

The figure doesnt seem that high in these circumstances as it equates to about 4.15% of the population of Cork based on the the CSO's statistics from the 2006 census.

simu

I thought they were a thing of the past... obvs not.

mik_da_man

I'm pretty sure that ain't true..

Davy

mik_da_man wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that ain't true..

Nobody really wants prepay meters. They cost to much to be reset at every price change.

aujopimur

I think you'r confusing prepay meters with slot meters.

Davy

explain

MunsterCycling

Modern prepay meters are like the old phone cards (remember them), digital and reprogrammable remotely

Davy

Didn't know the gas ones can be done remotely

probe

While the 20,000 number is difficult to believe (the quality of Irish journalism is often at its weakest when it comes to numerical accuracy) this system exists -

http://www.bordgais.ie/networks/index.jsp?1nID=102&2nID=115&3nID=348&nID=724

Having said that, most Germans don't trust credit cards - they prefer to pay in cash or with a debit card. Credit can be a fools paradise. People are far more thrifty when they have to hand out real money for a product or service rather than getting a bill a month later.

Meanwhile retailers and banks would love people to charge everything they buy to plastic, preferably making the minimum payment when the bill arrives so they can charge extortionate interest on the purchase + unpaid balance, and get the suckers to consume more....

Keep your house nice and cozy - at least 24C - pay by direct debit, and shred your post before looking at it!

Fnergg

The pre-pay meters have nothing whatsoever to do with credit cards.

Regards,

Fnergg

Solair

That's a LOT of meters!

There are 480,909 people in Co. Cork.

Average number of persons per household is roughly 2.5.

So, 192,363 households.

Which would be just shy of 40% of households!

And that's assuming that 100% of Cork households are using natural gas, which is no where near reality.

So, the stats are clearly way off

I'd say it's more likely some kind of misquote.

Bord Gais is HQ'd in Cork City, so maybe the reporter picked up the national figure as only relating to Cork ?

Victor

Solair wrote: »

There are 480,909 people in Co. Cork.

Average number of persons per household is roughly 2.5.

So, 192,363 households.

Which would be just shy of 40% of households!

Most urban areas in Cork have gas.

20,000/192,363=10%

New View

This appears to be the latest info on Bord Gais' website.

Please Note: Prepayment meters are currently only available in certain areas of Dublin. They are not available countrywide and can only be requested through your gas supplier. Their general availability is currently under consideration by the gas industry and the Commission for Energy Regulation.

Wyldwood

Their website info is way out of date (2006 on bottom of page). I recently enquired and was told the prepayment meters are available to all current gas users at a cost of €395.55 for installation.