Pillow

Hello!
I'm scandinavian but I just moved to England to study (so pardon my english). I don't know any other UK forums than this one, so I'm sorry if my question don't belong here.

Me and some of my friends recently rented a house here trough an agent, and we are already facing some minor problems. Like, how does the gas work? (We don't use gas in Norway).

So far we have figured out that we have a prepayment meter with a smartcard. We have already been to a paypoint two times to refill the gas, but we just don't understand how this thing work. There's only 2 buttons to press, so I don't get why it's so complicated for us!

I charged the card with 20£ 5 days ago. At that time the meter said we had 2£ left, and today the meter finally reached 0. I thought that once the money ran out the meter would automatically start using from the 20£, but it didn't. So after pressing some button a couple of times the meter said we had 6£ to use, and there were 4£ left (on the card? Or as emergency credit?). But where did the other 10£ go? Do you pay a 10£ fee every time you charge your card? Can someone please explain us how this works?

I guess this question is really dumb, but I appreciate every answer.
(p.s England is such a great place. I've never met nicer people than here! )

Ray

Damn ..last time I saw a prepayment meter ..you put a shilling in the slot


http://www.centrica.com/files/report...ent_meters.pdf



•Check the display to ensure that the credit on your key or card is correct. Press the button on your meter to confirm you want to transfer the credit from your card (the display will tell you which button to press if you have more than one).


Check the display again. It will tell you the total amount of credit available (the amount you transferred from your key or card and the amount that was already available.


Remove your card from the prepayment meter



Read more: Instructions for a Prepayment Meter | eHow.co.uk http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6924867_in...#ixzz10ZdGldZb

Jerseygirl

Hello Pillow...welcome to BE.

I've moved your thread into our Moving Back to the UK Forum...in the hope that some of the good people who have moved back home will be able to help you.

Scout

There's no fee for charging on the card....but you do pay higher rates with them than if you were billed quarterly or had the gas charges deducted by automatic debit from your checking account.

You can top up your gas card at any Pay Point (which many shops such as the Spar, etc has)...or you can also top it up at any Post Office.

How many people are living in your house? If everyone is showering, taking baths, washing dishes, washing clothes and if you've used the heat then £20 in 5 days may not be that much out of the ordinary.

mbike

Given the way the money is dropping off the card as soon as it is inserted,
I wonder if the landlord put the meter in to repay an previous outstanding bill?


just checking the pdf you posted, it say "If you are paying off any
outstanding amounts, your meter may be set to take
regular weekly payments at a rate that will beeagreed between you and us."

Wonder if the OP checked meter when they first moved in and made sure there was no existing payment agreement connected to the card?

Pillow

Jerseygirl: Thank you for moving it to a better place. I wasn't quite sure where to place this thread.

Ray: Thank you for the pdf, it was very helpful!

Scout: We are 4 people. Since we moved here we have barely touched the central heating, and we haven't washed our clothes so much yet. We cook for maybe 20min per day all together (some days we don't cook at all), and we take a shower every 2-3 day( half of them are cold!)
We were told by the university that spending 30£ on utilities per week per person would be normal, but after speaking to different landlords and our agent it seems like it's more normal to spend about 60 -90£ per month for all of us . But I am slightly confused, I don't know anything about the gas prices in the UK.

mbike: I think it's time for us to find someone we can contact! We have only lived here for 14 days, and it seems strange that we have used 20+20+18 = 58£ already when we have been so careful not to use too much gas.
I watch the meter every day because I want to keep track on how much we've used. The display tell us we have x,xx£ left to use. We normally use about 0.5-1£ per day. The few times we heat or everyone shower at the same day we spend 1-2£. About 0.2-0.5£ disappear in the night when everyone is sleeping (but I guess that's normal?)

Today when I checked the meter it said we had 6£ for gas, 4£ budget, and 18£ owed. (?)

But anyway, thanks again for your help. I hope we'll be able to figure out this meter soon!
(and again, I'm sorry for my bad grammar/spelling).

Pillow

mbike: What is an OP? Nobody has visited us since we moved here...

Picnic

Dear OP (Original Poster).

From that 18 UK Pounds owed it looks like your landlord is not being entirely honest with you. I'd get in touch and ask him to pay the amount owed which is presumeably from a previous tenant.

whitelinen

You say you rented through an agency, go in there first thing tomorrow morning and demand they send someone out to explain how everything works especially the gas meter which you suspect has been rigged.

mbike

Check out the picture of the meter on the thread here:

If your meter looks anything like that, you may find the following info from that thread useful:

Pillow

mbike: it's not entirely the same type, but it's alike. The type we have looks exactly like the one on page 6 in the pdf ray posted.

I read trough the thread, and it seems we should not press the black button cause that will turn off the gas? Well we have pressed it (many times)... So if that's true, how do we turn the gas on again?

Today we had no hot water and no gas for heating. Today was also an unusually cold and windy day, and we've been freezing our toes off! I almost want to go back to Norway. :P
However, the gas on the stove is still working, so I guess the gas isn't entirely closed off?

I'm kinda glad we're not the only ones having problems understanding the meter. But tomorrow I'll head over to the agency and hopefully we'll come back a tad smarter.

Pillow

mbike: It's not entirely the same type, but it's alike. The one we have looks more like the one on page 6 in the pdf ray posted.

I read trough the thread, and it seems like we shouldn't press the black button cause that will turn off the gas? Well we have pressed it (many times)... So if that's true, how do we turn it on again?

Today we had no hot water and no gas for heating. Today was also an unusually cold and windy day and we've been freezing our toes off! I almost want to go back to Norway. :P
However, the gas on the stove is still working and we can still cook, so I guess the gas isn't entirely closed off?

I'm kinda glad we're not the only ones having problems understanding the meter. But tomorrow we'll head over to the agency, and hopefully we'll come back a tad smarter.

pennylessinindia

sounds like you have a dodgey agent/ landlord
Do make a big fuss you would appear to be paying off someones debt.
did you have anything when you moved in to say what the meter reading was?
if the agent does not help visit Citizen advice

Scout

If you've got gas for cooking and no hot water for washing or the radiators, then something is wrong with your boiler. I'd be calling the agency or landlord that you rented from and have them over there explaining and making any necessary repairs.

Here's a few links: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/...lectricity.htm

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/...d_index_ew.htm

http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/energy-help-and-advice