Town Council calls for token outlet

aiden123

page 12 of the donegal post 
can not understand why tokens are not available in my local paypoint outlet

hdowney

The shop that used to sell tokens in my locality just stopped, no warning to customers or anything. There is another shop that sells them (we discovered after some difficult investigation) but it is on the edge of town, a fair walk for some of the car-less elderly residents who'd be wanting tokens. It is a disgrace imo

aiden123

hdowney wrote: »

The shop that used to sell tokens in my locality just stopped, no warning to customers or anything. There is another shop that sells them (we discovered after some difficult investigation) but it is on the edge of town, a fair walk for some of the car-less elderly residents who'd be wanting tokens. It is a disgrace imo

my local shop wants to sell tokens but electric ireland will not supply him.cost me twenty euros in a taxi every time i need to top up my meter
rang them up but it was a waste of time they dont  care.

hdowney

That's the impression we got. That they actually don't care. You are 'expected' to run up a debt with them. It's bloody rediculous

aiden123

Electric ireland need to start caring or they will not have any customers to worry about.alot of people are changing to powerpoint.ie.

EI: Una

Good morning,


Just to provide information on the system in place:

The token meter is a facility for managing arrears, it is not a standard payment means.

And the token meter is being phased out, resulting in tokens becoming less available. The new type of debt management facility is the keypad/pay-as-you-go meter.

Customers whose arrears are cleared via the token meter, and whose local retailers have stopped selling tokens, are advised to have the token meter removed. They can still treat their account as pre-pay throughout the two months between bills, by paying instalments into it whenever possible, for similar amounts to what they would spend on tokens. List of payment means here: https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential/manage-your-account/payment-options.jsp
In addition, to keep track of consumption, our Appliance Calculator is an effective means of monitoring usage: https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential-energy-services/reduce-your-costs/appliance-calculators.jsp

If customers with token meters are still in arrears and their local retailers are no longer selling tokens, we recommend that they contact us in relation to being considered for a keypad meter.

For customers who are not in arrears but struggling to pay on time and worried that they may build up arrears, if they contact us, we are happy to set up an instalment plan for them.


Regards,
Una

aiden123

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Good morning,


Just to provide information on the system in place:

The token meter is a facility for managing arrears, it is not a standard payment means.

And the token meter is being phased out, resulting in tokens becoming less available. The new type of debt management facility is the keypad/pay-as-you-go meter.

Customers whose arrears are cleared via the token meter, and whose local retailers have stopped selling tokens, are advised to have the token meter removed. They can still treat their account as pre-pay throughout the two months between bills, by paying instalments into it whenever possible, for similar amounts to what they would spend on tokens. List of payment means here: https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential/manage-your-account/payment-options.jsp
In addition, to keep track of consumption, our Appliance Calculator is an effective means of monitoring usage: https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential-energy-services/reduce-your-costs/appliance-calculators.jsp

If customers with token meters are still in arrears and their local retailers are no longer selling tokens, we recommend that they contact us in relation to being considered for a keypad meter.

For customers who are not in arrears but struggling to pay on time and worried that they may build up arrears, if they contact us, we are happy to set up an instalment plan for them.


Regards,
Una

thanks Una 

The prepay meter is a standard way of paying for electric from other providers.
Why phase something out that  made life a little easier for people on a low budget?
Was electric ireland not making profit from token sales?
If payment plans worked we would not of needed tokens meters in the first place
in these hard times Una do you not agree that customers should come before profit.

Regards,
Aiden

EI: Una

aiden123 wrote: »

thanks Una 

The prepay meter is a standard way of paying for electric from other providers.
Why phase something out that  made life a little easier for people on a low budget?

Hi again Aiden,

The token meter is being replaced with the keypad/PAYG meter rather than this system being phased out completely. It is solely a facility to assist people with managing their arrears. For those who have not removed their token meters once the arrears are cleared, it is not possible for us to notify them to have them removed, but arrears-clearing is the specific purpose for this facility and we do not recommend that people keep them when the arrears are cleared - in order to avoid scenarios like this where the situation arises that the token meter may have to be removed.

Regards,
Una

aiden123

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi again Aiden,

The token meter is being replaced with the keypad/PAYG meter rather than this system being phased out completely. It is solely a facility to assist people with managing their arrears. For those who have not removed their token meters once the arrears are cleared, it is not possible for us to notify them to have them removed, but arrears-clearing is the specific purpose for this facility and we do not recommend that people keep them when the arrears are cleared - in order to avoid scenarios like this where the situation arises that the token meter may have to be removed.

Regards,
Una

THANKS una

I am going to have my token meter removed next week and then going to take a break from paying my electric ireland 
bill for six months or so. then i might be able to the new keypad meter to clear the arrears.hopefully by then electric ireland
will start putting peoples needs ahead of their profit margons.
regards
aiden

emffb1

My local provider no longer supplies tokens and i have to travel to buy them. I was told that under no circumstances will i be considered for a pre pay meter and now i see a post here stating that i could be???????????????

Electric Ireland: David

Hi emffb1,

Our apologies if the above information isn't completely clear; these sorts of situations have to be taken on a case-by-case basis. We can't guarantee that in any one case a customer with a token meter installed can subsequently have that replaced with a keypad meter, as token meters aren't being mass-replaced with keypad meters as such. Rather, for customers who find themselves in debt (and who satisfy our other criteria, e.g. easy-access to meter at all times), we now offer a different kind of meter than we had previously, and in that sense token meters are being replaced (or phased out, as Una put it).

If, in exceptional circumstances, a customer can find no outlet to buy top-up cards for their token meter, and they are still in considerable arrears, we can review their account to determine if installing a keypad meter is warranted.

If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards,
David