A buyer moving into a London flat discovered that the property's old-style prepayment electricity meter still carried a £35 ($47) balance left behind by the previous owner.
Their energy provider issued a credit to clear the amount, but the situation didn't end there.
Here's what to know
In a Reddit thread, the buyer described repeated calls with their energy company and several visits to local shops. After securing an electric key and providing the meter readings the company needed, they received £40 ($53) in credit, meaning they didn't have to cover the previous owner's debt personally.
At least theoretically. "After running around more corner shops no-one knew what to do with the Tag code I was provided to top up with," they added.
One commenter summed up the consumer protection point that had worked up to this point.
"You make it clear that you are a new tenant and you expect your meter to not reflect the previous tenant's debt," a user wrote. "To be fair it sounds like they gave you credit to wipe out the debt."
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Another commenter said that, based on the details in the post, the energy provider had "done nothing wrong." They argued the real problem was now at the retailer level.
More background
The hold-up was not getting permission for a fix, but getting someone to carry it out. The original poster said they had already tried shops in southeast London and Sussex, "from dodgy corner shops that sell illegal cigarettes to co-ops" but said "no one seems interested in doing it, or trying to figure out how to do it."
Because older prepayment meters still rely on physical keys, resolving the issue meant using an in-store terminal rather than a newer digital process.
One commenter suggested post offices or shops with Payzone or PayPoint services should be able to handle it, while warning that outlets focused on newer smart-card top-ups may not know what to do with an older tag-code key setup. When shop staff cannot process the transaction, that protection exists in theory but remains unusable in practice.
What can be done?
One commenter posted the PayPoint sequence that residents in this situation could relay. Staff were told to enter the eight-digit RTI on the PayPoint terminal, go into the relevant service menus, and then insert the electricity key to load the credit. That kind of step-by-step guidance can help staff explain the process instead of turning customers away.
The buyer updated the thread with a takeaway for others who may run into the same problem.
"All pay points should be able to apply the credit, it's just that most shop staff don't know how to," they divulged. "If anyone else is looking at this in the future I'd go to either the post office or a larger chain to get this sorted."
Where can I learn more?
Inherited meter debt is just one of the utility problems homeowners can run into.
• A solar owner was hit with ridiculous charges from a utility and cried "Robbery!"
• Twenty years later, a homeowner finally beat a six-figure utility bill the company tried to pin on him.
• A homeowner's fears grew after increased utility bills fueled a heated scam theory debate.
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