Student housing prepayment energy meters

Hi!

I've just picked up the keys to my new student housing, and although being told it did not have a prepayment energy meter it turns out it does :frown:

Has anyone lived in a house with a pre paid one before and can give a rough idea of how much it costs monthly, just so I have an idea of how much I am paying this year?

Thanks guys

Reply 1

doodle_333

I had a prepay but not in a student house and only on the electric... so there was 2 of us in a 3 bed house, heating/oven were gas, shower was electric

I think we spent between £5 and £10 a week? maybe £30 a month on electric?

Reply 2

thewhoviannerd

Hi- last year we had a prepay meter for the electric. If we put £40 on the meter (£10 each, there was four of us) it would last us nearly two weeks. Obviously budget ahead because in winter it gets a lot more expensive, I ended up sleeping in a sleeping bag and duvet some nights because it was expensive to heat the house- this is an extreme though and mostly its fine, and its great in the summer when you're not there because you pay little to no money on it.

Also arrange with flatmates in advance who's paying the money and how much because it can cause arguments if someone thinks they're contributing more than others.

Hope it all goes okay! :smile:

Reply 3

Kattir96

Original post by thewhoviannerd

good lord you are making me scared....I have plenty of warm clothes for this winter!
I too will be pre-payment
Does it turn out to be cheaper?

Reply 4

thewhoviannerd

Original post by Kattah96

good lord you are making me scared....I have plenty of warm clothes for this winter!
I too will be pre-payment
Does it turn out to be cheaper?

It's probably not too much different in cost to be honest

I think what made it cold in our house was it feels more real taking cash to put on the meter than it just getting drawn out of your bank account every month, so you're less likely to want to put the heating on. Does that make sense?

Just keep in perspective that its way cheaper in the summer and you'll be okay :smile:

Reply 5

sr90

Volunteer Team

We had a meter one year and it was absolutely horrific in the winter. Electricity is fine but the gas was ridiculous, we were topping it up literally every week.

The upside is you pay **** all if the weather is warm. I don't think there is much difference in cost but I would rather pay a flat rate every month rather than constantly having to faff about getting money out for the meter.