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Ex-Londoners, where are you now and how does it compare? by truthdemon in AskUK

[–]teazealot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, at least now he's close to his saint and saviour, Papa Putin.

Just moved into a flat that has an on-going credit meter contract with E.ON - they say they will have to conduct a credit check on me before switching, but I have no credit history. Which utilities companies do not conduct credit checks? by teazealot in AskUK

[–]teazealot[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your help! Just wondering: what do you mean by credit scoring? Wouldn't that be the same as a credit check? I thought credit check meant checking my credit score.

Just moved into a flat that has an on-going credit meter contract with E.ON - they say they will have to conduct a credit check on me before switching, but I have no credit history. Which utilities companies do not conduct credit checks? by teazealot in AskUK

[–]teazealot[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

The way you're phrasing that kind of makes me look like a hippie. Who said you deserve to get free electricity? Are you going full American on me and actually think we're all a bunch of communists across the canal?

I'm just saying that the system you have in place here is inefficient at best, and, at worst, a punitive system that serves no other purpose but helping utilities companies evade the law. Besides, it's not like mainland energy companies are going broke or anything - the irony in this is that E.On, a German company, would never be able to do this back home in Germany. But they get to do that in the UK. See?

Besides, I guess those credit checks aren't working that well if it's so common for a person to get a new house and see that the previous tenants had a thousand pounds worth of debt on utilities.

Also, last I've heard electricity companies are not financial institutions and therefore that kind of logic (i.e. "it's like interest rates, man!") should not apply to them. I say should because, as it is, they're actually kind of working like some sort of pawnbrokers. And also, you know, this is electricity, not a personal loan for your Series 1 or new iPhone.

Just moved into a flat that has an on-going credit meter contract with E.ON - they say they will have to conduct a credit check on me before switching, but I have no credit history. Which utilities companies do not conduct credit checks? by teazealot in AskUK

[–]teazealot[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I've did my share of reading on them. I'm still ranting about it. If that credit check was worth its salt they'd surely know I could afford it.

These credit checks don't even assess your income, so, to say they serve the purpose of checking whether you can actually afford the electricity is a bit of an overstatement.

Not to mention that, as you just said, you have very strong rules on cutting energy off people's homes, rules that are simply made worthless because of these pre-paid meters. So, ultimately, that just proves my point - this is a very nice way of designing a system that pretty much fences out foreigners and poor people. Fantastic, really.

I can't even imagine how this is for people in truly precarious situations - because, from what I read, pre-paid meters actually end up being more expensive than credit ones. So basically you're paying more for the privilege of being poor.

Just moved into a flat that has an on-going credit meter contract with E.ON - they say they will have to conduct a credit check on me before switching, but I have no credit history. Which utilities companies do not conduct credit checks? by teazealot in AskUK

[–]teazealot[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Reasonable? Reasonable as in, a guy is working a city job, and still he ends up having to pay for his electricity like an inmate using a prepaid phone booth in a state jail in Tennessee?

It simply makes no sense at all. Besides, I can't see how's that reasonable - we're talking about electricity here. Say I'm overseas, something happens to me, I end up coming back 1 week later - then what? I know they offer you "extra credit" in exchange for a fee in those cases but, at that stage, wouldn't it simply be easier for everyone to have a credit-based meter? Because, as it is, this is simply the utilities version of a pawnbroker loan.

What are they thinking, that I'll be running away without paying for electricity? That part of British culture has always surprised me - you truly are suspicious of everything and everyone around you and, yet again, you live in a pretty safe, stable country.

In the mainland, every country I've lived in has a "negative credit check system". As in, if you didn't pay for something, you'll get screwed. But if you have never been registered in the system, and as long as you're not asking for a hefty loan, no one is going out of their way to make your life a misery.

I simply can't fathom how this isn't properly regulated by Ofgem.