Smart pay as you go meter

sunflower2

Hi 

Our prepayment meter went faulty last week and an engineer came out to try and fix it but he said it does need to be replaced as it's gone so he said we had 2 options we can either have a traditional prepayment meter like the one we have now but we will have to pay for it as British gas don't get supply of them anymore and so they are chargeable because they have to buy them or we could have a smart pay as you go and these are free. 

Well as mom is on benefits she agreed to the smart meter option because we can't afford to pay for a traditional one. 

He's supposed to be coming this morning but yesterday we were told that we shouldn't have to pay for a traditional one to be installed so I'm not sure what the truth is here.

And we have read stories online of people saying their credit ran out quicker with a smart pay as you go meter compared to the traditional prepayment meter but everything I read online says there should be no difference in cost as a smart pay as you go meter will still cost the same when using electric as a traditional one so we're confused anyone know what's the truth in all this

sunflower2

I should also state that mom is ok to have a smart pay as you go meter as long as it won't cost her more money as in that the credit she puts on now still lasts as long as it did with our current prepayment meter. 

British gas said that her tariff is the same it's just the meter changing so there won't be any difference which is what she was worried about seeing people on another forum saying that their top up doesn't last as long on a smart prepayment but we were told that it should remain the same as our tariff is the same and the charges are the same. 

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @sunflower2

I'm afraid I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area, but Scope's Disability Energy Support do. 

I would encourage you to reach out. You can give them a call on 0808 801 0828 or email Disability.EnergySupport@scope.org.uk.