Pre-Pay Power

soups05

I switched to Pre-Pay Power about two years ago, seemed a great plan at the time. pay as you go meter, no more huge bills every two months etc. it was going so well I even changed my gas over at a later point.

Meanwhile the regular ESB meter reader still came around to read the meter every so often. Then about six months ago I get a letter stating that the meter has not been read in x amount of time, could I submit a reading. So I submit one from one of the two meters in the house.

I get another request so I submit another reading. Finally I get a call from prepay power, the rather nice,helpful guy on the phone talks me through reading the meter. then he gets confused and asks for a reading from the second meter, the prepay power meter. Finally he say he will get back to me because there is a difference in the readings.

months pass, am busy so I forget about it, now I have received a bill from them stating it must be paid immediately. apparently their meter is wrong and I used up €150 more than they billed me for.

Now I can't understand how their meter could mess up so badly, or that they could do nothing and allow it to continue for so long. The only reason action has been taken now as far as I can see is that the meter guy called around three weeks ago.

Now there is always someone in the house, it is rarely empty, so I cannot understand the meter guy being unable to access the property for a year (that is what they tell me happened) but that aside they had the readings I took months ago and did nothing. Now I am faced with a bill I was not prepared for due to their meter being wrong. Am so pissed at this stage.

Anyway, rant over, I thought this may serve as a warning to anyone considering the pre pay meter route. I gotta go find some money for this bill now, anyone need a slightly overweight gigolo? I look like george clooney ( In a very,very dark room). anyone? am really cheap?

corks finest

soups05 wrote: »

I switched to Pre-Pay Power about two years ago, seemed a great plan at the time. pay as you go meter, no more huge bills every two months etc. it was going so well I even changed my gas over at a later point.

Meanwhile the regular ESB meter reader still came around to read the meter every so often. Then about six months ago I get a letter stating that the meter has not been read in x amount of time, could I submit a reading. So I submit one from one of the two meters in the house.

I get another request so I submit another reading. Finally I get a call from prepay power, the rather nice,helpful guy on the phone talks me through reading the meter. then he gets confused and asks for a reading from the second meter, the prepay power meter. Finally he say he will get back to me because there is a difference in the readings.

months pass, am busy so I forget about it, now I have received a bill from them stating it must be paid immediately. apparently their meter is wrong and I used up €150 more than they billed me for.

Now I can't understand how their meter could mess up so badly, or that they could do nothing and allow it to continue for so long. The only reason action has been taken now as far as I can see is that the meter guy called around three weeks ago.

Now there is always someone in the house, it is rarely empty, so I cannot understand the meter guy being unable to access the property for a year (that is what they tell me happened) but that aside they had the readings I took months ago and did nothing. Now I am faced with a bill I was not prepared for due to their meter being wrong. Am so pissed at this stage.

Anyway, rant over, I thought this may serve as a warning to anyone considering the pre pay meter route. I gotta go find some money for this bill now, anyone need a slightly overweight gigolo? I look like george clooney ( In a very,very dark room). anyone? am really cheap?

Tnx, was thinking of pre pay later ,that's put paid to that

theteal

It’s a higher unit price. Why do people use these companies???? Issues like te OP’s aside, its just more expensive.

Sleeper12

If you owe it then you owe it. No way out however as its their mistake as them to spread it over the next 12 months. That wouldn't be an unreasonable request

Bubbaclaus

Why do people use this? It costs more. Makes no sense and literally defies logic.

corks finest

theteal wrote: »

It’s a higher unit price. Why do people use these companies???? Issues like te OP’s aside, its just more expensive.

Some people are stuck 🀔,and think esb etc requirements are a deposit for some ppl,and believe it or not ,if there's nothing left, you'll take anything

corks finest

OmegaGene wrote: »

Esb is now called electric Ireland and don’t require a deposit
People do have a choice and loads of people I know have signed up with these companies because they believe it can help manage their money better.
Woman in the shop earlier got 40 fags and put €4 on her electric and she hoped this would see her through until Monday

Irrespective of the esb etc do or do not require a deposit,ppl who opt for these rip off companies are obviously stuck,feel for them, different in the 6 counties, or was when I was there, national electric company was the only group allowed install meters,and obviously being a government body(nice) were monitored

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

corks finest wrote: »

Irrespective of the esb etc do or do not require a deposit,ppl who opt for these rip off companies are obviously stuck,feel for them, different in the 6 counties, or was when I was there, national electric company was the only group allowed install meters,and obviously being a government body(nice) were monitored

ESB Networks are still the only group authorised to install meters. These pre pay companies are really just putting a regulator in. The ESB meter is independent and the only official measure of usage.

runawaybishop

corks finest wrote: »

Irrespective of the esb etc do or do not require a deposit,ppl who opt for these rip off companies are obviously stuck,feel for them, different in the 6 counties, or was when I was there, national electric company was the only group allowed install meters,and obviously being a government body(nice) were monitored

They will be even more stuck if they sign up to prepay as they cost way more.

L1011

I suspect if enough complaints are made to the CER about billing difficulties with these firms; the bolt-on "meters" may not be allowable anymore. Other providers are already able to use ESBN prepay meters.

soups05

for myself it comes down to a matter of budgeting. too often in the past i let a bill slide this week for some other, non essential reason. the prepay meter keeps me on my toes and forces me to keep it up every week no matter how broke i am.

last exam next week, then hopefully a job soon after. when i am earning, i can then afford to change supplier to a cheaper one as i will have some spare cash for emergencies (in theory).

oh ans sleeper, i agree i owe it, fully intend to pay it, just pissed off that i paid extra over the las few years to avoid a big bill only to have one anyway. might just have well stuck with the bi-monthly in this case.

salmocab

OP I would be arguing that if I was you, basically they work by measuring how much electricity you use and it should match the amount of units on the esb meter, esb bill them for that, if you have been paying credit into it and the unit you have is running an inaccuracy it’s really their fault not yours. As someone else says you did use the electricity but I’d at the very least be getting very favorable conditions for the repaying. Now might be a good time to tell them they can remove your meter for you.

L1011

From a previous thread on this I have some memory that their contract has coverage of the potential difference (ooh, electricity pun) between their meter and the ESBN meter. Whether it will be considered an unfair contract or not would probably cost more than its worth to find out.

salmocab

L1011 wrote: »

From a previous thread on this I have some memory that their contract has coverage of the potential difference (ooh, electricity pun) between their meter and the ESBN meter. Whether it will be considered an unfair contract or not would probably cost more than its worth to find out.

Quite possibly, could also be the ESB meter that’s reading wrong which means they have paid for the electricity they used.

Terry

I had an ESB pre-pay meter installed years ago because I was late with my payments.
As soon as it was paid off, they took the meter, and I went back to the normal way of paying.

Being crap with money, I wanted the meter back, so I deliberately didn't pay my bill. Year after year, it reset every January (this was during the switch to Electric Ireland).
Eventually they sent me a warning, so I rang and asked for a meter.
They installed one, and I was paying them back €5 a week. I didn't mind that.

One evening, a rep from Pre-Pay power called, and told me that they would pay off my Electric Ireland bill, so I agreed to sign up with them. What I wasn't told was that €1.08 would be taken from my account every day. I only found that out when their meter was being installed.
As soon as my contract is up, i'll be going back to Electric Ireland.

P.S. Electric Ireland sent me a letter a few months after switching over, and it said that they owed me something like €900. I didn't follow that up. I'm so bad with money, that I won't even look for money owed to me.
In fairness, I owed them thousands, so it's probably not right for me to claim money from them.