New house, electricity top-up meter...

Fart

Hi all,

So I've just about bought a house with the missus and there is an electricity meter that takes the pre-paid top-up cards.

Isn't this for someone who is in arrears?

I'm just wondering if it would be possible and costly to replace the meter with a normal one that is used for monthly billing?

Cushie Butterfield

If the supplier is Electric Ireland or Airtricity. it's likely that the previous account was in arrears. If the supplier is PrePayPower it wouldn't be the case. In that case it could be that the previous owners had rented the property out ,or they just decided to switch to them. They could also have been in arrears with EI or Airtricity & switched.

Either way, you'll need to know who the current provider is & decide which supplier you want to use. Once you have decided who you want to use, contact them with the MPRN number & set up a standard account. The equipment will have to be returned to whatever supplier it belongs to so you may have to liaise with them also.

The only problem that you may come across is if the previous owners are still in contract with the present supplier & didn't cancel, in which case you will have to prove that you recently bought the property.

Best to do all this ASAP in case for any reason by using the electricity that you are unknowingly agreeing to a contract. Also, if the supplier is EI or Airtricity & the account was in arrears, a percentage of any top-up credits that you do make to the meter may be going towards the previous account holders arrears, so you may find that if you top-up by say €20 that only €15 of that can actually be used. The other €5 could be paying off the arrears on the previous account. This wouldn't be the case if it's PrePayPower.

Fart

That's great, thank you Cushie.

I was worried about paying towards the previous account holders arrears. With all this info I'm sure I can sort it out .