What is Traditional Pay As You Go?
How do I top up at an outlet?
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 the 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.
Please keep the receipt as proof of purchase to confirm your transaction has been successful. For more information, see our Pay As You Go Help Guide.
Why didn't my top up 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 it 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. 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.
Why is there an error on my 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.
Electricity Meter Errors
Gas Meter Errors
Last updated: 26 June 2025