Ot: Getting smart meters installed; which supplier does it quickly?

[Al-T]

I'm going to be out of pocket by £200 to £400 over the coming 12 months, due to the dropping of Ebico's partnership with Southern Electric. I have prepayment meters, which have been there since I bought the house. I 've been getting my electricity and gas via SSE/Ebico's Dual-Fuel, Equipowe r and Equigas, which were both tarrif-free.

Now it no longer seems possible to find similarly competetive rates anywher e. It appears that I can only get a comparable rate by having credit meters installed, and paying my monthly direct debit. (I'm guessing that that mea ns having smart meters installed).

Does anyone have any knowledge of which energy suppliers can do this meter installation quickly, and which ones take a long time?

Many thanks, Al-T

[Andy Burns]

Tariff free? Do you mean no standing charge?

Doesn't need smart meters, you might find pressure from suppliers to have them, but they're not necessary.

Mine were about a month, but the supplier contacted me as they were having a push in the area, if you contact them, you might have to wait longer.

[Brian Gaff]

I have heard that smart meters are very very hard to get due to the mess up on the communications side due to the hacking of meters and the current ones not working over the industry.

The dual fuel problem has seemingly made things worse and if you are on any special tariff then some don't work. I guess all you can do is ring around. I think it stinks that a company can change its policy so fast you are unable to make alternative arrangments in time. Might be worth complaining to the regulator. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

EDF just are not interested these days, but it may vary with area. I am paying quarterly direct debit on actual readings from a dumb meter but then I have no gas. There is a standing charge but its not much. Brian

[Dave Liquorice]

[Dave Liquorice]

EBICO announcned the dumping of SSE in favour of Robinhood Energy around 6 months ago, perhaps before...

[Dave Liquorice]

At one time EBICO was the only supplier with a true no standing charge tarrif but that may be no longer the case. nPower had one until Dec last year.

A £200 to £400 increase doesn't sound right for Pre-Pay Equipower/Ga s from EBICO under Robinhood Energy rather than SSE. Equipower dropped in price slightly if you changed to Equipower Zero, under Robinhood Energy. Be aware that SSE are also marketing an "equipower" tariff, those prices have bumped up and SSE are not overly clear in their communications about what has been going on between them and EBICO.

Check directly with EBICO what their pre-pay tariff is now supplied via Robinhood Energy.

Of course pre-pay is generally more expensive than a credit meter so shifting to a credit meter, direct debit etc will probably save you money even staying with EBICO. Their credit meter rate is quite high compared to the cheaper tariffs you can get with a standing charge and lower per kWHr rate. The abscence of a standing charge is only any real advantage if useage is low (3 ish units/day)

[Al-T]

Thanks.. Slight correction of what I said: I'll lose £200 over 12 mont hs if I staye with SSE, and I'll lose £150 if I switch to Ebico/RHE. A FAICT, their Ebico Zero tarrif only applies to monthly DD customers. I pres ume I can't pay by monthly DD unless I get my meters changed. I assumed thi s would mean smart meters, because I'm assuming that smart meters are the o nly meters they are installing nowadays. Maybe I'm wrong. If I keep my prep ayment meters, it looks like I'd get the best deal from British Gas dual fu el. But I'd still lose around £150 compared to last year. Unfortunatel y I'm not quite eligible for Warm Home Discount (or whatever it's called).

Al-T

[Al-T]

Yes, sorry; that's what I meant.

I gather so, but in order to get a better deal, I'd need to pay my supplier by monthly DD, which one can't do if one has prepayment meters.

Ha ha - Possible! That's why I thought it prudent to ask about this here.

Al-T

[Al-T]

I am under the impression that the no-standing-charge deals have all ended now, because they are no longer viable because of the warm home discount th at they have to pay out to peeps who qualify. I read that somewhere. I thin k it was the moneysavingexpert forums.

You are right. I was mistaken. I'll have to pay £200 more than last ye ar if I stay with SSE and £150 more if I swicth to Ebico/RHE. That's q uite a serious blow for me because I'm really scraping by and almost in 'fu el poverty' due to circumstances beyond my control.

Equipower dropped

Yes, but I gather that one os for monthly-DD payers only, which I can't do unless I get my prepayment meters swapped for normal ones.

Be aware that SSE are also marketing an "equipower" tariff,

I didn't realise that. I don't use much energy cos I live alone and am pret ty frugal, but it's probably more than 3 units a day. It's actually 4.72 KW H of elec'y per day and 20.11 KWH of gas per day on average.

Many thanks, Al-T

[Dave Liquorice]

Thank your lucky stars you have gas for space heating. We don't so are on oil, that is really volatile. 3 years ago it was 60p/l, last year down to 26p/l last delivery 37p/l (+ 5% VAT). We get through about 4000l/year so thats an oil bill varying from £2500 to £1100/year. Then add another £2400 for electricity. IIRC "Fuel poverty" is defined when the energy bills are more than 10% of income, 49k to 35k income don't make I larf! 20k if we are lucky...

They do have a pre-pay tarrif but I don't know what it's numbers are.

The only real way to find the best deal is to plug your actual useage and a selection of tarrifs gleaned from one of the switching sites also fed with your useage.