My niece lives in London. When she went to school there years ago she rented a house with a bunch of other kids. The heat (electric?) was paid for ahead of time. They went to the electric company across town, put $400 on some sort of card, and then put the card in the meter at their house. (Goofy)
I don’t recall the actual numbers, but the $400 lasted them 11 days or something stupid - then the heat turned off! Then back across town (buses, subways, etc.) to add more mony to the card.
It sounds REALLY expensive over there.
In earlier times I had heard of London homes which had gas meters which required you to drop coins in a slot.
You can top up any cards at any wee post office or major/corner shop. No need to traipse across town. And the idea of a gas/electricity/other card isn’t goofy, I fail to see whats weird about it.