Some British Gas customers on prepayment meters left fuming after struggling to top-up as energy giant ditches Paypoint for Payzone
- Some British Gas customers say they didn’t know about top-up changes
- People on social media claim they were without energy on New Year’s Day
- From 1 January 2020, pre-pay customers can’t use Paypoint terminals
- Have you had a problem? Get in touch: [email protected]
Some British Gas customers with prepayment meters were left fuming after claiming they did not know about the energy giant ditching Paypoint for Payzone terminals on 1 January 2020, narrowing their choice of where to top-up.
This led some people to complain they were left without energy on New Year’s Day because they couldn’t find a Payzone location nearby or the terminal was not yet set-up for British Gas payments.
The change from Paypoint to Payzone caused concern when it was announced last month as there are 15,000 fewer Payzone locations around the country.
Some British Gas customers with prepayment meters have been unable to top up their energy
The switch from one provider to the other was made yesterday with customers also now required to spend a minimum of £5 when topping up their card as opposed to the previous limit of £1.
The changes are a massive blow to prepayment customers who struggle to pay their bills and rely on paying small sums at a time to budget better.
Prepayment customers must now top up in person at 11,500 local Post Offices or at 13,000 Payzone locations.
This compares to the 28,000 Paypoint locations that customers were previously able to use.
However, the Post Office says that nationally 94 per cent of the population live within one mile of a Post Office or Payzone outlet and says Payzone is working with British Gas to fill in any gaps in areas where a Payzone outlet could operate.
Customers can also top-up online if they have or can get smart prepayment meters installed.
One user said he couldn’t top up his meter and was left with a very small amount of money
Another user said she was ‘disgusted’ with British Gas after not being told about changes
A Twitter user said she had no gas after she said she wasn’t told about the change to plans
One user was also unable to get any gas after finding that nowhere selling services were open
Left without: One user said he had received no notification of the change to Payzone
One user said their nearest Payzone was a 20 minute drive away and they don’t have a car
One man said he was unable to contact British Gas when the change to Payzone happened
He continued to say that the Payzone map was not accurate and many weren’t accepting British Gas customers yet
Peter Earl, head of energy at Compare the Market, said: ‘Vulnerable customers are the most likely to be impacted by British Gas’ decision.
‘Prepayment meter customers often pay the most for their energy as a result of being stuck on a more expensive tariff, and the unfortunate consequence of the Big Six supplier switching to Payzone is that these customers have fewer places to go to top up their energy.
‘Customers on a prepayment meter should check whether they are able to switch to another provider, which could offer meaningful cost savings.’
Many of the customers have taken to social media to vent their frustrations.
However, British Gas said it wrote to all customers to inform them of the changes.
A British Gas spokesman said: ‘British Gas announced it will be ending its contract with Paypoint on 31 December and signed a new contract with the Post Office and Payzone, which took effect on 1 January 2020.
‘The services were dual-running between December and January, allowing for customers to find their nearest Payzone/Post Office location.
‘The new contract means customers will be able to undertake all over-the-counter bill payment services at any one of the Post Office and Payzone’s 24,000 locations.
‘We wrote to all of our customers to inform them about the change in December – this was either by email or post depending on whether we had email addresses for the customer.
‘It is vital that our customers are able to access this important service and we are working closely with Payzone to ensure that we meet the demands of our customers.
‘We have undertaken an analysis of the areas impacted by the change and Payzone has committed to work with British Gas to increase its reach in areas where we foresee we will need additional services.’
Customers with any concerns are advised to contact British Gas’ customer services. They can also find the list of their local Payzone points here.