First question. How will S&S take away the pound weekly charge? And I heard that it is only for 5 weeks (to pay for the extra fiver they give you) Is that true?

Second question. Is it a good idea to pay for all my electric at one go? I don't want to go to the bank every week

Hi,

Prepayment meters are never a good idea as they cost you more, but often if you've got a prepayment meter you don't really have a choice.

Basically prepayment meters work like this:

1. The £1 weekly standing charge will be deducted from the balance on the meter. This could either happen on a certain day, but it's more likely to be taken off daily. I.e. at 14.28p per day.

2. You don't need to go to the bank to put money on a pre-payment card. Plenty of supermarkets, post offices, and corner shops have facilities for this. You'll be given a card by your supplier that is tied to your electricity account. You then insert this into the meter and it will read the balance you have put on it.

3. Never ever ever buy "cheap" prepay cards off someone in the pub. These are not tied to your account, the money won't be registered against your balance, and the energy company will still want the money off you so you'll end up paying for the usage twice.

4. It really doesn't matter if you put loads of money on your pre-pay card all in the one go or if you put a bit on every week. The standing charge will get deducted at the same rate, and you'll only use as much balance related to the electric you're using.

Following up from that. The £1 per week most likely relates to the standing charge, and no, this is not just for 5 weeks, this is one of the disadvantages of having a pre-pay meter. The suppliers claim it costs more to "maintain" a prepay meter so your standing charge is higher. This is not something that ends after 5 weeks but continues for the time you have the pre-pay meter.

I worked out that 3 to 4 KWH a day (from the meter). Which I believe is really low.

The person who installed the meter said that the weekly charge lasts for about 5 weeks. He said that there is five pounds on the meter but that will be taken off a pound a week. Plus there isn't any charge one the gas meter (currently I spend under a pound a week).

They gave me a key thing (which is being kept in a safe place). Plus I don't drink so I won't be going to the pub.

The reason I want to put a lot one at one moment is because I don't want to go out a spend 10 pounds one week when I could buy 40 a month.

Hi,

Yeah as I said it wont make a difference how much you put on the meter so if you want to put a lot on then it certainly wont do you any harm.

s&s will take a £1.00 per wk for the first 5 wks only, this is to pay back the £5.00 the engineer puts onto your meter when he installs it, this £5.00 will be divided and taken over an hourly period over the course of the wk, there is no charge on a elec or gas pre payment meter with s&s, you can check this amount on screen F on your meter, after 5 wks this should show £0.00