Pre Paid Meters ?

Hi guys and girls,

I have a question or questions :(-:

I have been renting out house with 5 rooms (I don't live in the property). I have 5 tenants and I pay for all bills (gas, electric, water) including council tax. The tenants are not related, they all rent a room each and share the kitchen and the bathroom/shower upstairs and the toilet downstairs.

The gas bill and electricity bills have been very high, they never turned the heating off, it ran 24hrs. So I agreed with them to set the timer on the boiler, so they got heat 8 hrs a day on the times they suggested.

After I had it set and a lock put on the boiler, 2 months later I noted someone had picked the lock and removed the screws on the boiler and again the heating was running 24hrs a day. They would dry their clothes on the radiators etc...

I don't know which tenant was fiddling with the boiler they all blame each other or just say they don't know anything

I was thinking about getting pre-paid meters installed for winter. If I did get one installed, how does it all work? Do they put in money to use it? Would it be under my name? I don't think any of the tenants would want it to be under their name?

How does a prepaid meter work between 5 tenants?


Thankyou for any advice