What to do if you've got no gas or electricity
⚠️ In an emergency ⚠️
If your meter is sparking or on fire, call 999 immediately.
If there is a gas leak/or you think you can smell gas, call the Gas Emergency Line on 0800 111 999 as soon as possible, even if you aren't 100% sure, and then follow the steps on this checklist.
Read this guide to find out if we can help, and here's how to reach us 24/7 in an emergency if you need to.
We’re only able to resolve gas or power outages that result from a faulty meter – but we do want to point you in the right direction to easily fix your problem.
If you’re left without power, here’s what to do. (On prepayment? Skip for tips specifically for prepayment gas and electric meters).
No Electricity?
- Call 105 to speak to your local electricity network operator. Tell them where you live and they will tell you if there is a problem in your area.
They also can check whether there has been any planned local power cuts (to do repairs, for example), and they should let you know when you’ll be back on supply. You can call this number 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
No scheduled power cut? If that’s the case...
- There’s a chance the problem is with your meter. Contact us to make sure. If this is the case, we can book an emergency appointment to exchange your electricity meter.
Call us for help on our freephone number 0808 164 1088, 9am to 5pm Monday-Thursday (9am to 4pm on Fridays).
Email us to emergency@octopus.energy from 8am and 10pm, Monday - Sunday.
Contacting us via email or social media outside of phone hours? Don’t worry. Any emergency-related messages you send us will be picked up as a priority, so someone will be there to help you soon. If you include the word 'emergency', your message is guaranteed to be marked as priority.
No Gas, heating or hot water?
⚠️ If you can smell gas, call the Gas Emergency Line on 0800 111 999 as soon as possible, even if you aren't 100% sure, and then follow the steps on this checklist. ⚠️
- Try turning on a gas hob.
If this doesn't work, check whether your gas meter is displaying ‘ON’ rather than ‘OFF’. If your meter is displaying ‘ON’ but your appliances are still not receiving a gas supply, please call the Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
If your hob works, but you are still having problems with heating and hot water, it could be a problem with your boiler… - See if it’s a problem with the boiler.
It’s worth checking whether you can solve a boiler issue yourself before calling an engineer. Below is a checklist, designed to help you solve smaller problems, and work out when you really do need to get an expert involved.
Things to try if your boiler's not working
- Check the fuse box.
If your boiler isn’t working but other gas and electrical appliances are, you should check your fuse box to make sure a switch hasn’t tripped and cut the power to your boiler. - Is the pilot light on?
Check whether your boiler’s pilot light is still on. If it has blown out, you can try relighting it by following your manufacturer's instructions, if it keeps blowing out you will need to call an engineer. You can call a gas safety engineer on 0800 408 5500. If you think you can smell gas, don’t attempt to relight the pilot light, contact the Gas Emergency Line on 0800 111 999. - Could it be a water pressure issue?
Your boiler works best when the water pressure is between 1 and 1.5 on the bar. If the pressure’s not quite high enough, you can adjust it carefully using the filling loop. - Is your boiler’s timer correct?
Your boiler’s timer can be thrown off by power cuts or accidental knocks, so you should double check that yours is set correctly. If you’re unsure about how to reset your boiler’s timer, check your boiler manual. - Do you have a water tank or cylinder?
If you do, the problem might lie with the thermostat/programmer a tank or cylinder. Check to make sure it’s displaying the right settings and if not, change them accordingly. - Do you need to reset your boiler?
Boilers require the occasional reset for all sorts of reasons, and not all of them are serious. Once you’ve located your reset button, try resetting it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If your reset button is inside the boiler’s casing, you’ll have to leave this to a Gas Safe engineer. - Have you tried turning it off and on again?
If you still don’t have hot water, try turning the boiler off at the mains for a few seconds, before turning it back on again. - Could you have a frozen pipe?
If it’s very cold outside, it’s not uncommon for a boiler’s condensate pipe to freeze. You can try to thaw it by pouring hot (but never boiling) water over it, or by a hot water bottle.
If you’ve given all that a go and you still have no heating…
- Call a gas safety engineer on 0800 408 5500.
If an engineer confirms that the problem is not with the boiler, it’s probably your meter. - Contact us to book an emergency appointment to exchange your gas meter.
Call us for help on our freephone number 0808 164 1088, For general questions our phone lines are open 9am to 5pm Monday - Thursday, and 9am - 4pm Friday.
Email us to emergency@octopus.energy or send us a message on Facebook or Twitter between 8am and 10pm, Monday - Sunday.
Contacting us via email or social media outside of phone hours? Don’t worry. Any emergency-related messages you send us will be picked up as a priority, so someone will be there to help you soon. If you include the word 'emergency', your message is guaranteed to be marked as priority.
On prepayment meters? Here's some more to try
- Double check you have credit on your meter.
- If you have credit on your meter, but your electricity or gas has cut out, please try to top up the meter again to see if this works.
- If the top up doesn't work, your key or card might be faulty. Take a note of error codes. We've included a full list of prepayment error codes and what they might mean below.
- If you've lost your key or card and gone off supply as a result, get in contact with the subject line 'Lost key / card' and we'll help
Good to know: Emergency credit and Friendly credit hours
Our friendly credit hours for electricity meters
- From 4pm to 10am, Monday to Friday (these hours are given according to GMT so will be an hour later in the summertime)
- All weekend (so from 4pm Friday afternoon to 10am Monday morning)
- All day on Bank Holidays (Over the Christmas period, our friendly credit will extend from 4pm on December 24th to 10am on December 29th)
If you run out of credit during these times, your electricity won't shut off. Instead, the cost of any energy you use will be added onto your meter as debt, and will then be deducted the next time you top-up.
Emergency credit
Your gas meter has £10 emergency credit (£5 between April and October) and your electricity meter will have £5 emergency credit all year round. You will be able to use this once the credit on your meter is running close to zero.
Once you are down to the last £1 of your electricity credit, or £2 of your gas credit, you just need to insert your electricity key or gas card to activate the emergency credit.
Please be aware that the emergency credit will be taken in full next time you top up.
No luck? Contact our team for emergency help
Email emergency@octopus.energy for quick help between 8am and 10pm every day.
Between 9am and 5pm Monday to Thursday, or 9am and 4pm on Friday, please free call us on 0808 164 1088.
Prepayment meter error codes
And how to fix some of the simple ones yourself.
Electricity:
| Error Code | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| A1/B1/D1 | Communication error between key and meter | Re-insert key, if this doesn’t work please let us know |
| A3/B3/D3 | Mismatch between key and meter | We will need to issue you a new key, please get in touch |
| A4/B4/D4 | Key belongs to another meter | Please use any other keys you have. If you have no others, let us now and we will send a new key to you |
Gas:
| Error Code | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Call Help | Meter fault | Get in touch and we will send an engineer to replace your meter |
| Card not accepted | Wrong card inserted | Try using another card |
| Card fail | Wrong card inserted or dirt on card/ meter slot | Wipe card with a dry cloth, blow into meter slot and try again |
| Low battery | Battery is running out/ meter fault | Get in touch and we will send an engineer to replace your meter |
| Blank screen | Meter should be in 'sleep mode' to save battery | Press red button to wake up screen |
Do you have a smart prepayment meter?
If you’ve recently switched and you have a smart meter in prepayment mode, there’s a chance your old supplier didn’t change your meter to the right ‘mode’ during the switch.
Just get in touch and we should be able to fix it. Call us for help on our freephone number 0808 164 1088, 9am to 5pm Monday-Thursday, and 9am to 4pm on Friday.
Email us to emergency@octopus.energy or send us a message on Facebook or Twitter between 8am and 10pm, Monday - Sunday. If you include the word 'emergency', your message is guaranteed to be marked as priority.
If in doubt, get in touch – we monitor emergencies 24/7.
Email us emergency@octopus.energy.
Good to know: outside of hours, include the word 'emergency' in your message and we'll pick it up as priority.
Or, call our freephone line 0808 164 1088.
For general questions, our phone lines are open 9am to 5pm Monday - Thursday, and 9am - 4pm Friday.
Published on 11th December 2019 by:
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
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