Power Cards - Do They Really Help You To Budget?
While the majority of homeowner’s / tenant’s either pay their electricity bills by direct debit, or send a cheque when the bill comes in, there are still some homes who use the power card system.
This involves the purchase of prepaid cards which are scanned into a special meter, transferring the cash from the card to the homeowner’s / tenant’s electricity meter. The meter then shows the value of electricity left in sterling so that homeowner’s / tenant’s are able to track and budget their electricity use. But does it really help?
Even though the old style power card meters are being phased out in favour of “key†meters, which are controlled and programmed remotely by the supplier, many lower income families are relying on the power card system. The recent increase in tariffs by the majority of the electricity suppliers has resulted in shock extra payment requests for many. But how can this happen?
Its seems that many of the electricity supply companies have been very slow to change the tariff on individual power card meters, as they have to be changed manually. This has resulted in many families purchasing power cards on the understanding that they were covering their bills, only to find they actually owe more to the supply companies.
During the time it has taken some companies to change the tariff, a number of home owners have been charged electricity on the old tariff. The supply companies then send in their engineers to switch to the higher tariff, and then claim back the higher rate usage between the tariff change date, and the meter adjustment date.
Many homeowner’s / tenant’s have been left with additional demands for hundreds of pounds, and if they are not in a position to pay, a weekly debit is taken from each power card they use, to reduce the debt. This results in more power cards being used, and costs the home owner more money - defeating the point of lower income families being able to budget!
If you are ever in a similar situation it is essential that you ask for clarification as to why the changes have taken so long, and make an official complaint. Some power suppliers have been known to write-off the additional debt, but you will need to fight hard for this!
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