Hey hope someone can help! The seller has a pre-paid meter installed as he rents it out but I want a standard meter. I don’t want a smart meter. My energy company is saying they’re only able to fit a smart meter (Octopus). Can I get the seller to sort that out? He said he was going to put a smart one in but I really don’t want one as I don’t trust them and have recently had issues with bills as it is (messing up with the change over when a diff company went into administration). Would love some insight please and how I would even go about getting a standard one, typical costs if any? I am a first time buyer and have only rented one property that has a standard meter.
Thanks!
Edit: found out the property supplier is Scottish Power, so if anyone has had a prepaid meter and got them to put in a standard one please can you comment below. Did they charge you for it? I read that any of the big 6 providers don’t charge for it…currently waiting on their online chat service to find out!
Edit 2: have got all the info I need I think so thankyou for all who took the time to answer! Feel free to add anything else, will leave this up in case it helps someone else š
7 comments
You are very unlikely to get anywhere to install anything but a smart meter. And even if you manage it, you’d be expected to upgrade to a smart meter in the next couple of years.
Most companies just use smart meters now. So it’s either that or you keep using the prepay one, which I wouldn’t advise.
The problems were with the first gen smart meters, I think second gen are a bit less troublesome
Personally I’d stick with the prepaid meter (at least to start with). A previous place I lived had one and it was great! We changed the supplier to Utilita and it meant we could top up online. Although prices are meant to be higher, we paid less than my parents (who also had a 3 bedroom house). It also meant we were more aware about how much energy we were using.
I’m not sure whether any supplier will fit a non-smart meter nowadays – it’s the future (apparently š)!
I have a smart metre but I just send metre readings myself once a month rather than relying on the smart metre.
Never had issues
When we moved into our current house it had prepayment meters, we first got them switched to smart meters so we could top up through an app which is a lot more convenient. However the supplier wouldn’t let us switch to direct debit until we’d been living here for at least 3 months and then they also had to do a credit check. This is despite us having paid by direct debit for years with our previous supplier. So in my experience it all felt surprisingly complicated, but having the smart prepayment meter was much better than having to go to the shop to top up.
While you go through the process of getting the pre-pay removed, make sure you donāt use the top up key / card from the previous occupant. You must get your own otherwise you might be paying off any debt.