Top up your Smart PAYG meter online or use the Ecotricity app
Help Guides
On your Pay As You Go meter, emergency credit allows you to keep your power on even when your balance has run out. This is a £5 buffer that you can use to keep the gas or electricity on for a little while longer in an emergency.
We’d really recommend that you only use this in an emergency because you’ll need to pay back what you’ve used before you’re able to use it again. Don’t forget that your daily standing charge will still be taken from the meter, but during this time we won’t take any debt repayments that you should be making.
You’ll need to pay back all of the emergency credit that you’ve used (as well as any debt balance that has built up such as standing charge) to be able to access your energy supply again.
If your meter doesn’t automatically let you use the emergency credit, then you’ll need to manually tell it to do so. There are three ways you can do this.
On your In-Home Display
❯ If your credit has run out there will be an option on the In-Home Display to activate the emergency credit. Just press the ‘Yes’ button to turn this feature on. If you’ve pressed ‘No’, the screen won’t be displayed again and so you’ll have to follow another method.
If the above message isn’t displayed and your In-Home Display has a good connection to the smart meter you can:
❯ Choose the fuel that you’d like to turn on your emergency credit for
❯ Press the ‘Status’ button
❯ Press ‘E-Cred’
❯ Press ‘Yes’ to activate the emergency credit
On your Secure 100 meter
Press 7 on the keypad. If there’s emergency credit available to use it will display ‘EC OFFER’.
❯ Press A to accept the emergency credit.
❯ Press B to confirm.
If the emergency credit has already been used when you press the number 7 key, the screen will display ‘USED UP’. To see how much you need to pay back to be able to access the emergency credit again, just press 7.
If you’re having a hard time keeping credit on the meter please get in touch with us because we might be able to help you out.
Most of the time there’s only one display that you’ll need to look at on your Pay As You Go meter – the one that tells you how much credit you have!
If you don’t have any gas, we’ll need your meter displays to work out why. Here’s how to take them:
❯ Press the red A button to see displays 1, 2 and 3.
❯ Without the card in the meter, press and hold the A button until you hear the meter beep and the display changes. You’ll then be able to press the A button to scroll through the other displays.
❯ If no new displays have appeared and the meter didn’t beep, put the card in the meter and hold down the A button.
❯ The display should change, and you’ll be able to scroll through the other readings by tapping the A button.
If you’re still unable to take your displays, please get in touch and we can talk you through it. If you’re using your meter to pay back a debit balance, you can check how much is left to pay by looking at display 27 for accrued debt, and display 31 for loaded debt.
Most of the time there’s only one display that you’ll need to look at on your Pay As You Go meter – the one that tells you how much credit you have!
Sometimes you’ll need to look at the others though - you might want to see the amount of energy you’re using, or if you’re repaying a balance through the meter you need to be able to see how much is left.
To see your meter displays, hold down the red A button until either the screen changes or the meter beeps. Press the A button again to scroll through the different displays. You’ll need the key to access any displays that relate to debt.
Taking the meter displays can be a bit confusing, so if you need a hand please get in touch.
On your Pay As You Go meter, emergency credit allows you to keep your power on even when your balance has run out. On most Pay As You Go meters this will be £5, although there are some very rare exceptions to this.
We’d really recommend that you only use this in emergencies, because you’ll have to pay back all the emergency credit you’ve used before you can access it again. Also, because we assume that the only time you’re going to use this feature is in an emergency – and therefore need to use the energy – we don’t take your daily standing charge from the meter. This can mean that you can start to build up a debt on the meter that will need to be paid back when you next top up. Because of this we’d advise that you keep a £10 float on your meter at all times.
If your meter doesn’t automatically let you use the emergency credit, then you’ll need to manually tell it to do so. Put your electricity key or gas card in the meter, and a message will appear on the screen advising you to press the A button to activate the emergency credit feature.
If you’re having a hard time keeping credit on the meter, please get in touch with us because we might be able to help you out.
See How to top up your gas & electricity in the Help with billing and payments section.
See How to top up my smart meter in the Help with billing and payments section.
Related FAQs - PAYG Smart Meters
If you’re topping up through the app you’ll see the latest balance on the screen there – this can take a couple of hours to update, so should only be used as a guide. The best place to see how much credit you have is on the In-Home Display, or IHD for short.
On your IHD there will be buttons for electricity, gas or dual fuel. If you choose the energy type that you’d like to check you’ll be given the up to date balance on your meter. If your IHD doesn’t have a very good connection to your meter – maybe there’s a thick wall or the distance is too far – then you can get this information directly from the meter itself. All you need to do is press 7 on the keypad.
If you need to top up your meter you can do so easily through our app or online account.
If you’ve got a smart meter you’ll have access to something called friendly credit during times when we’re not open, or are closing soon.
We don’t want you to go off supply when we’re not about to help you, so we allow you to exceed your emergency credit during these times.
Because these times are subject to change, the best way to check them is on your meter.
You’ll need to go to the meter itself and press the number 8 button on the keypad.
The meter display will show you when the friendly credit times are specifically, but they usually follow this pattern:
❯ Friendly credit will turn on half an hour before our contact centre closes between Monday and Friday, and turn off at 8:30am the following working day.
❯ For instance, if we were closing at 7pm on a Tuesday the friendly credit would turn on at 6:30pm and turn off at 8:30am Wednesday morning.
❯ If it was a Friday and we were closing at 6pm then your friendly credit would turn on at 5:30pm Friday evening and turn off at 8:30am on the Monday morning.
Friendly credit is also turned on for bank holidays when our call centre is typically shut – although we do have an emergency contact line.
There are two types of debt that you could have on your meter:
Accrued debt
This is a debt that’s been built up on the meter. For example, a build-up of daily standing charge, or paying back emergency credit that you’ve used.
Loaded debt
This is a debt that we’ve added to the meter to help you to pay it back bit by bit.
It’s possible to have both kinds of debt on your meter at the same time, so it’s worth checking how much you own in total.
If you have an In-Home Display
❯ Check your accrued debt the same way that you’d check your current balance. Press either the ‘Electricity’, ‘Gas’ or ‘Dual’ buttons on the screen to show your up to date balance. If you’re in debt, you’ll see the figure as a minus. You need to pay all of this back before you’re able to have energy again.
❯ Check your loaded debt by selecting ‘Account’, and then pressing ‘Debt’ in the bottom left corner. You’ll be shown how much debt you have outstanding and how much your daily payments are.
If you don’t have an In-Home Display or it doesn’t have a strong connection to your smart meter, you can check it on the meter itself:
To see your accrued debt, press number 7 on the keypad.
❯ If this is displayed as a minus figure, that’s how much you currently owe. If you’re off supply, that’s the amount you’ll need to pay back before you’re able to have energy again.
To see the loaded debt, press number 5 on the keypad.
❯ The screen will cycle through the displays and show you how much debt is outstanding in total, and how much we take from your credit each day to make your repayments.
❯ To prevent yourself from being in a position of debt on your meter it’s important that you make regular top-ups to cover things like the standing charge, and any debt repayments that you’re making.
❯ We continue to take these payments from the meter whether there is credit on it or not, so this could lead to a large accrued debt being built up.
❯ If you’re finding things difficult and are struggling to make your payments, then please get in touch so that we can help.
If you don’t have a bank account, please get in touch and we’ll send you a top up card.
You’ll need to take them to a PayPoint, PayZone, or the Post Office to top them up and the credit will be added to your smart meter automatically.
The credit can take up to an hour to be added to your meter. You’ll be given a receipt with your 20-digit vend code on it – please keep this just in case you need to add the credit to the meter manually.
This is a service that we’re only able to offer to customers that don’t have a bank account, however we’ll be looking to offer this to all of our Pay As You Go customers in the future.
Currently, you’ll be unable to top up using our automated systems without a debit or credit card.
If there’s credit showing on your smart meter but you’ve still got no gas or electricity, then it’s most likely that the meter has gone into something called ‘armed mode’. Don’t worry, it’s a safety feature and nothing to be concerned about!
When your meter goes into armed mode it prevents you from using any energy in your home. This is to ensure that it’s safe for an engineer to work on if they’re called out.
Your meter may go into armed mode if there’s been a power cut or you’ve used all of your emergency credit. If your meter is in armed mode it will look something like this:
Here’s how to take your meter out of armed mode
Electricity
❯ On your In-Home Display, you should see a screen with the words ‘Restore supply’ on it. Simply press ‘Restore’, then on the next screen press ‘Confirm’. Your electricity should come back on.
❯ If your IHD doesn’t have a good enough connection, you can come out of armed mode by using the meter itself. Simply press the red A button to connect and then press the blue B button to confirm – the icon will change to show ‘ON’.
Gas
For your gas, you’ll need to use the keypad on the meter itself to restore your supply.
❯ Press the red A button to connect
❯ Press the blue B button to confirm – the icon will change to show ‘ON’.
It’s important that you keep your meter in credit if possible to stop this from happening. See the guide on How to top up your smart meter above.
As one of our customers you’re covered by our Ethical Price Policy – this means that you’re always on the best price that we can provide for you.
Until 2020, twice a year, the energy regulator Ofgem reviews the tariffs set by energy companies across the UK, to ensure that nobody is being charged an unfair amount. This means that twice a year, in April and October, our prices may change to comply with their regulation.
Despite this, and us doing our best to keep our prices as fair as possible there may still be times that you’re finding it hard to keep credit on your meter. We’ll do our best to help you out in these situations.
Keys & Cards
If you’re struggling because you don’t have an electricity key or a gas card then we’re going to need to know so please get in touch after reading our guides on what to do in those situations.
❯ I don’t have an electricity top up key [link to: ‘I don’t have an electricity top up key’ page]
❯ I don’t have a gas top up card [link to: ‘I don’t have a gas top up card’ page]
Smart Meters
If you’re having a problem topping up your smart meter then we’d also need to know, but you might find the answer to your question in our smart meter Pay As You Go guide to save you calling us.
❯ How to top up your smart meter [link to: ‘How to top up your smart meter’ section]
❯ If you’re not able to top up due to financial difficulties, we’d like to help you – this is assessed on a case by case basis.
❯ If we are able to lend you some credit for a short-term loan, you may need to speak to one of our specialists first. As we may not always be able to do this, it’s very important that you ask friends or family to see if they’re able to help you out before getting in touch.
❯ Speak to Citizens Advice if you’re finding that this is happening frequently.
Related FAQs - PAYG Traditional Meters
Please refer to the Help with Meter Readings section and see The screen on my meter is blank.
It’s normal for your credit to go down even when you’re not at home. One of the things that your top up payments covers is the daily standing charge.
It might also be that you’re paying back a debt. Here how to find out how much you’re paying back each day:
❯ Smart meter - see the FAQ How much debt do I have on my Secure 100 smart meter above.
❯ Traditional meter - see How much debt do I have below.
Household appliances
Household appliance left on standby will be using energy all day. These may include:
❯ Fridges and freezers
❯ Boilers
❯ Ovens
❯ Televisions and set top boxes
If you think that there’s too much background use then it might be worth having a chat with us about it.
If you’d like some helpful advice about how to use less energy and save money take a look at our energy saving guide.
If you smell gas or suspect a gas leak please call 0800 111 999 immediately from a safe location.
Please don’t call from a mobile as this may ignite a spark. Use a neighbour’s phone or take a mobile phone outdoors.
You should also:
❯ Check the pilot light – turn all gas appliances off. If the pilot light remains on there may be a gas leak.
❯ Turn the main gas tap off – do this by turning the emergency control valve on the pipe leading into the meter to the ‘OFF’ position. The gas supply is off when the ridged line on the spindle is across the pipe.
❯ Open doors and windows to clear the gas.
❯ Don’t turn light switches on or off, use doorbells, mobile phones or any other electrical switches.
❯ Don’t smoke, light a match or use any other kind of naked flame.
❯ Don’t leave it to someone else – you could be putting yourself and others at risk.
If your meter has credit on it but you’re not getting gas coming through, there are several things that could have happened.
If there’s an error message on the meter, we’ll need to know about it in case there’s a fault.
However, there are some common error messages below and the things that you can do to fix them.
If the screen is blank or says ‘Call help’ then please get in touch as soon as you can.
If your meter is a smart meter it may be in ‘Armed Mode’ – we’ve got a guide on how to put it back in normal operation here.
Card Fail 35, Card Fail 38, Dead Card or CNA
The meter is having an issue reading the card. Try cleaning it with a soft cloth and re-inserting it.
Card Fail 4
The card was too cold for the meter to read it. Try to keep it somewhere warmer.
Has the meter been capped?
A cap is a small metal disc inserted into one of the gas pipes right next to the meter.
❯ If you own the property, you’ll need to call a gas safe engineer to remove it if it’s safe to do so.
❯ If you don’t own your property, speak to your Landlord or Letting Agent to get further advice.
Is the main gas tap on?
There will be a valve, normally right next to the gas meter, that you can use to stop the flow of gas down the pipe to your boiler.
The handle should be pointing the same way as the gas pipe. If it’s not, then the flow of gas has been interrupted.
If you have a Pay As You Go meter, there may be times when you’re paying off an outstanding balance such as:
❯ In an emergency we may have lent you some credit which you now need to pay back
❯ Your daily standing charge may have built up if you’ve not topped up in a while
❯ You may have a large balance that you’re paying back from a previous credit account
This can be stored on your meter two different ways:
❯ Accrued debt – shown as part of your balance
❯ Loaded debt – shown as part of a debt repayment plan that we’ve set up with you.
It’s possible to have both kinds of debt on your meter, so check both types so that you know how much you owe in total.
It’s very possible that you’ve had a power cut. Here’s how to check if that’s what’s happened:
Is there a red light on your meter?
Yes
This means that there is power going to the meter and so you should have electricity. If it’s safe to do so, you should check your fuse box and trip switches. All the trip switches should be in the on position.
❯ If one isn’t then it may indicate that a circuit in your property has been overloaded.
❯ If the switch won’t come on, or if this happens a lot, then you might need to speak to an electrician to have it looked into.
❯ If all of your switches are in the on position and you still don’t have power, then please let us know as we may need to offer you further assistance.
No
This means that you’re being affected by a power cut so the meter isn’t getting power. You need to speak to your distributor - the people that maintain the power lines into your property.
The best thing to do is to ring 105 for the National Power Cut Helpline. They’ll be able to offer further assistance or advise you of how long they think the power cut may last for.
Even if the lights are on in your neighbour’s house, or streetlights are on you may still have had a power cut to your property so it’s worth checking your meter.
As one of our customers you’re covered by our Ethical Price Policy – this means that you’re always on the best price that we can provide for you.
Until 2020, twice a year, the energy regulator Ofgem reviews the tariffs set by energy companies across the UK, to ensure that nobody is being charged an unfair amount. This means that twice a year, in April and October, our prices may change to comply with their regulation.
Despite this, and us doing our best to keep our prices as fair as possible there may still be times that you’re finding it hard to keep credit on your meter. We’ll do our best to help you out in these situations.
Keys & Cards
If you’re struggling because you don’t have an electricity key or a gas card then we’re going to need to know so please get in touch after reading our guides on what to do in those situations.
❯ I don’t have an electricity top up key [link to: ‘I don’t have an electricity top up key’ page]
❯ I don’t have a gas top up card [link to: ‘I don’t have a gas top up card’ page]
Smart Meters
If you’re having a problem topping up your smart meter then we’d also need to know, but you might find the answer to your question in our smart meter Pay As You Go guide to save you calling us.
❯ How to top up your smart meter [link to: ‘How to top up your smart meter’ section]
❯ If you’re not able to top up due to financial difficulties, we’d like to help you – this is assessed on a case by case basis.
❯ If we are able to lend you some credit for a short-term loan, you may need to speak to one of our specialists first. As we may not always be able to do this, it’s very important that you ask friends or family to see if they’re able to help you out before getting in touch.
❯ Speak to Citizens Advice if you’re finding that this is happening frequently.
If you’ve got an older gas or electricity meter that uses a key or card you just need to press the A button on your meter. The information is displayed slightly differently on an electricity or gas meter so take a look below for each meter. If the screen on your meter is blank, then take a look at our guide on what to do.
//insert charts for electricity and gas//
Top up your meter
To top up your PAYG meter call our automated 24-hour payment line.
For home: 01453 488101
For business: 0333 3444 149
Can't find an answer to your question?
Send an email to home@ecotricity.co.uk
Alternatively, if you would like to speak with someone, give us a call on 0345 555 7 100
Between 8.30am – 6pm Monday to Friday
Prefer to phone a landline? Call 01453 761482
Smell gas? Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999