What is Traditional Pay As You Go?

This payment method can make it easier to budget for your energy needs alongside other household bills. With traditional Pay As You Go you have to top up manually at an outlet, whereas with smart Pay As You Go you can also top up on the ScottishPower App.

If you’re looking for quick answers our Pay As You Go help guide might be able to help.

Topping up with Pay As You Go allows you to manage energy usage and spending by paying small, regular amounts. Or you can top up in bulk, see our Pay As You Go help guide to see the maximum you can top up at one time. Topping up is when you buy credits to power appliances and heating. If you run out of credit you lose supply until you top up.  You can top up by bringing your electricity key or gas card to any Post Office, PayPoint or Payzone outlet. When you top up, you’re paying for the electricity and or gas you use, as well as standing charges, and any payments you may be making towards an outstanding balance.

How do I top up?

You can top up from as little as £1 and up to a maximum of £49 per transaction at PayPoint or a maximum of £99 at Post Office or Payzone. Once you've topped up your key, simply insert it or card into the meter and the credit will transfer over. You’ll need to top up again when your credit starts to run low. Electricity meters can hold up to £255 of credit. Please run down the credit on the meter until this is below £255 before topping up again.

What happens if I don't top up?

Your meter has £10 emergency credit built in. This is to help keep your energy supply on until you're able to top up or this credit runs out. Once you run out of emergency credit, your supply may be temporarily disconnected until you top up your meter. Emergency credit has to be paid for the next time you top up along with the energy you plan to use - you must repay any amount of emergency credit used plus standing charges and any payments you're making towards an outstanding balance (if applicable). It's important to also top up enough credit to cover the cost of the energy you’ll use.

If you run out of credit during periods when it may be difficult to top up, your electricity meter's friendly credit hours, which is a safety function to ensure your energy supply won't turn off, will be activated. This lasts from 6pm - 11am Monday to Saturday and all-day Sunday and bank holidays, providing there was credit at the start of the period. Again, you’ll need to pay any credit you use over this period the next time you top up.

There’s an error on my meter

If there is an error message on your meter please login  to your online account and select the option 'Key Card Help' for instructions on what to do.

If you don’t have an online account, the below guide provides information on what action to take if you experience an issue with your electricity meter.

I am paying back an outstanding balance, how is this collected from my meter?

If you’re paying back an outstanding balance through your meter, a Debt Recovery Rate (DRR) will have been set on your meter.

To view the DRR on your electricity meter, please insert your key into the meter and press the blue button until you reach screen S. This will display the current debt on the meter and pressing the button again to screen T will confirm the DRR that the debt is being re-paid at.

The weekly DRR is divided by 7 days and an equal amount collected each day of the week. To do this the meter splits the weekly debt repayment into 100 smaller payments which are taken from the meter at regular intervals throughout each day, provided there is enough credit on the meter.

You can top up from as little as £1 and up to a maximum of £49 per transaction at PayPoint or a maximum of £99 at Post Office or Payzone. Once you've topped up your key, simply insert it or card into the meter and the credit will transfer over. You’ll need to top up again when your credit starts to run low. Electricity meters can hold up to £255 of credit. Please run down the credit on the meter until this is below £255 before topping up again.

What happens if I don't top up?

Your meter has £10 emergency credit built in Summer and £30 in Winter. This is to help keep your energy supply on until you're able to top up or this credit runs out. Once you run out of emergency credit, your supply may be temporarily disconnected until you top up your meter. Emergency credit has to be repaid - you must repay any amount of emergency credit used plus standing charges and any payments you're making towards an outstanding balance (if applicable). It’s important to also top up enough credit to cover the cost of the energy you’ll use.

There’s an error on my meter

Check to see if there is an error message on your meter. If you have an online account please login and select the option 'Key Card Help' for instructions on what to do. If you don't have an online account, the below guide provides information on what action to take if you experience an issue with your electricity or gas meter.

Gas Meter Errors

I've topped up my gas but it didn't work

If you haven't made regular top ups throughout summer, you'll have built up daily standing charges, which are applied to your meter even when you're not using energy. Similarly, if you have an agreed debt recovery rate and haven't made regular top ups, you'll have built up an outstanding balance.

To start using energy again, you'll need to top up enough to clear any outstanding balances on your meter, plus the amount of credit you’d like to add. Up to 70% of any top-up may be taken to clear any debt you owe on your meter.

If you have topped up and your gas still isn’t working, please check if this could be a fault with your boiler, rather than your meter. Also check with your neighbours to see if there is a fault in the area.

I am paying back an outstanding balance, how is this collected from my meter?

If you’re paying back a debt through your meter, a Debt Recovery Rate (DRR) will have been set on your meter.

To view the DRR on your gas meter please insert your card into the meter, which will then beep once before displaying the amount of credit on the card. Please remove the card and press the red button A on the meter until this beeps again. Once this beeps you can then press button A again and scroll through the different screens. Screen 27 shows the debt set on the meter and screen 24 shows the DRR set to repay this.

Your meter will take the full weekly debt repayment rate on Wednesdays at 2am. If there isn’t enough credit on the meter to take the full amount then the meter will take a proportion of the debt from the remaining credit. If the full weekly debt repayment rate is not paid after a week, the meter switches to time based recovery and will take 1/7th of the weekly amount every night at 2am. If the full weekly amount is not paid after the 2nd week the meter then takes 2/7th of the weekly amount every night at 2am.

If you’re off supply, there are a few things to check before notifying us of a meter fault.  Firstly, please make sure you have enough credit in your meter and top up if you need to.  If you have topped up and your gas still isn’t working, please check if this could be a fault with your boiler, rather than your meter. Also check with your neighbours to see if there is a fault in the area. Should you still need support, please first chat to us through our webchat. If your issue remains unresolved, please call us on 0345 270 0700 (lines open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm). If you're off supply and need help outside of our normal opening hours please call us on 0345 058 0005 (lines open 5pm-8pm Monday to Friday & 9am-4pm Saturday).

The below video provides information about your Pay As You Go bill.