How prepayment, credit and smart energy meters work
Energy companies use different types of meters to measure how much energy we use, which are based on our credit history.
Prepayment meters
As the name suggests, with a prepayment meter (also known as a pay-as-you-go meter) you pay in advance for your gas and/or electricity using either a token, card or a key and the credit is then deducted. It works on the same principle as a pay-as-you-go phone and there’s no credit check involved.
However, it’s the most expensive way to pay for your energy, although it might be useful if you’re on a tight budget. And if you don’t have enough money to buy credit, you won’t have any energy, although suppliers do provide an emergency credit amount.
You may be put onto a prepayment meter if you’ve fallen behind with your bill payments and the amount you owe will be taken from your credit.
Prepayment meters can be a hassle if you don’t live near a Post Office or shop that offers top ups. And you have to remember to top them up sufficiently if you’re going away.
Credit meters
The majority of people are on credit meters, which record your gas and/or electricity usage. You’re then charged on either an estimated or accurate basis, depending on the last time an accurate reading was taken from the meter.
Credit meters record your energy usage in various different ways – from aluminium discs in standard meters to dial meters to digital meters.
If you’re on an Economy 7 or Economy 10 tariff, the meter will display two sets of numbers – one for the day rate and one for the night rate.
You may be credit checked before you can use a credit meter, whether that’s when you’re moving into a new home, switching supplier or applying to switch from a prepayment meter.
Switching from a prepayment meter to a credit meter can take several weeks while the meters are switched off.
Smart meters
The Government wants to install smart meters in every UK home. Smart meters use specialist software to send accurate readings of energy usage to energy suppliers. The idea is they will also encourage us to cut our energy usage by showing us clearly how much it costs.
There continue to be concerns over the level of information smart meters will collect.
Some energy suppliers are already installing smart meters, although the main installation programme is now not due to completed until 2020.
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Comments
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jennysue19, it baffles me how you can say this is a "misleadingly titled article". It is titled to reflect the fact that it doesn't just cover prepayment meters, but three different types of energy meter, which are dealt with in turn in the article. I don't think that's poor writing when it's clearly signposted at the beginning of the article. If you think the information is inaccurate or lacking in detail that's a different matter, although I would disagree. Simon (article author)
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And I guess that if you have a water meter and as these are outside, anyone, not just the authorities, can read your water usage and see if you've used any. This can be done, in very short time scales: minutes, hours, daily... Conversely Smart Meters log data on an half hour basis and data is transmitted via the mobile phone network daily, weekly or monthly. Depends on the suppliers setup. They can't tell if you used a machine washing or a toaster. They can however in the future adjust your tariff so that it's more expensive during certain times, eg 6am to 9am, 5pm to 7pm That is what we need to be careful of. It may seem like it won't happen but once they are all in place it'll only take a few suppliers to start offering free Saturday energy for costlier week-day energy. (Oh, look BG have already offered free Saturday energy if you install a Smart Meter...)
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Re: Smart meters. A lot of people are not against these because they send accurate records to your suppliers but because it is easy to tell when you are in or out or on holiday i.e. if little or no electricity is used then there is every chance that you are not in and if it is over a longish period then you may be away from the property. Knowing how on many occasions now private individuals information has been lost (e.g. computer discs left on trains etc) it is understandable that people are very wary about these meters. Also it smacks of big brother once again. Mobile phones, Sat Navs etc tell the powers that be where we are at given times during the day and computers inform them about what we think (GCHE record our e-mails, phones etc). Smart meters will tell them where we are at every moment for a great deal of the year. What next....recording devises in our bedrooms !!!! Oh and if you think I am paranoid about them being nosey, I have just had a letter from Birmingham City Council regarding rubbish collection (I am a pensioner with Arthritis who is under 5 feet tall) and they wanted me to sign a document to say that they could come and visit me at my home to assess whether I should have this service Firstly, I never asked to go over to a recycling service, secondly, I am happy to send them a Doctor's note and thirdly I gain no financial benefits from their operatives merely walking an extra 3 meters to collect my bins. I signed my document to say I would not agree. No doubt I will now be forced to struggle to put out my own bins (I can just about do so at present but when they get really full it will be crippling.
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16 September 2013