Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Gas, Electric meters, etc.

what memories this brought back we moved to a house in school lane bebington in the early 70s there was a meter to put a shilling in for electric,and in the winter my dad would lend us the money to get the kids winter coats and boots then we would pay him back when we got our rebate, so it was like a saving box to us,

I remember those meters, ours was in the corner of the 'front room', the leccy man would come and sit at the kitchen table to count it out and then give mum the rebate, never what it was called then i just knew when he came he gave mum some money.
ours was a shilling meter and had a butterfly handle to turn when you put the shilling in.
Who remembers the coal man coming? those heavy sacks full of coal they carried on there backs! and the bin man when they would come round and get your bin and carry it on his back, you didn't have to put it out in those days and it didn't matter how heavy it was or what you put in it, not like today!!!!

I thought you still had to put a shilling in the meter?

Yes, bins were heavy in those days with the ashes from the coal fires!

Thanks for all the wonderful memories of coin-in-the slot gas and electric meters. Does anyone remember the absolute misery of the light going out and not having a shilling to put in the meter?

You'd scrape around frantically to get together enough pennies, threepenny bits or sixpences to make a shilling - looking everywhere for odd coins, including the turn-ups on your Dad's trousers! Then you'd have to hope there was a shop or pub open to get them to change the money to a shilling coin - or a 'silver shilling' as we called it.

Despite the meters being a real pain, it was a fantastic day when the man called to empty the meter and you watched him counting out all those lovely coins and finally handing you a rebate. That rebate was a lifesaver for many families.

One thing that still amazes me is that a bloke such as the leccy man could walk round from house to house with a bagful of cash in complete safety in those days - 1950s and 1960s.

The same was true for the rent man, who called every week to collect your money (if you were a council tenant) and had a big leather bag which must have been filled with hundreds of pounds - an absolute fortune in those days. I never heard of any of them being robbed, but perhaps they were and I was too young to know about it.

As promised, heres some photos of one in a garage at work, the guy who owns it said it was in the back of a van he was weighing in along with a load of scrap metal.

"I couldn`t let that be destroyed" He said, so now it`s a feature on his garage wall!

That's excellent Ste, well done mate and many thanks.

That's the same as in my house!

Do you still have one of these up & running tiger?

Too young. But I remember the Bradshaws episode when the money runs out and in the dark a box lands on Alfs head that Billy had set as a trap

Remember all those meters, as for running out of cash...that's what rooting down the back of solfas was for. I know someone who had a prepayment TV with meter just a couple of years ago, they used it as a piggy bank.
Remember the penny ones as well as the shillings. There were still some houses with gas mantles for lighting too.
Also remember the first meter robbery that I had heard of. It was in the Massey Street, Cleveland Street area. Caused shock waves because people had to shut their front doors after that whereas they were always left open before. To me that is when the bad ass days began. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Anyone had a new "Smart meter" installed by British Gas yet? What do you think of them? I have had a letter saying they want to replace my electicity meter with a "Smart meter".

those pics are great, brought back lots of memories, i used to love putting the shillings in them----not my money of course!!

Have'nt heard of smart meters? i have card and key meters, are they the same?