How to read your top up (prepayment) meter
Your top up meter screens can tell you information about:
credit and debt on the meter
energy rates and prices
debt repayment rates
From time to time, we may ask you for specific information from your meter. This guide explains how to find that information.
Gas
You can see basic information without inserting the gas card. To start, press the red A button once. Press it again to cycle through the following:
(1) Credit screen - the current credit on your meter.
(2) 'OWED' screen - emergency credit and standing charge debt
(3) Meter Index - your current meter reading.
You can find more detailed information by inserting the gas card. The most important screens are listed below, and your meter might show them in a different order.
To start, insert your gas card. The meter will read ‘Please wait…’, beep once, and then show how much credit is on the card.
Take your card out and immediately press and hold A until you hear another beep. Press the red A button to scroll through the display screens.
(00) Most recent top up added to the meter
(01) Last amount taken to repay general debt
(02) Last amount taken to repay emergency credit
(03) Amount of credit available for gas use
(27) Total general debt
(31) Total non-general debt on the meter
Electricity
To start, put the key in the meter and press the blue button to switch between the following screens.
If there’s an ‘E’ after the number, or ‘Debt’ above the number, and you don’t have electricity
You’ve used up your emergency credit, or there is additional debt on your meter. To turn the power back on, you'll need to top up this amount plus at least £1. This will restore supply and repay any emergency credit used, making the emergency credit available again.
[888.888] Test screen
This screen is for engineers’ use only.
[B] Emergency credit reset amount
If your electricity is off, you'll need to top up this amount plus at least £1. This will restore supply and repay any emergency credit used, making the emergency credit available again. Find out more about emergency credit on your electricity meter.
[C] Current time and rate (2-rate meters only)
The rate at the time you’re reading the meter - ‘R1’ or ‘R2’. This usually corresponds to day and night rates
[D] Current date and rate (two-rate meters only)
The tariff rate at the time you’re reading the meter.
[E] Total credit
The total amount of credit added to the meter since it was last reset by an engineer.
[F] Standing charge and debt collection amount (if applicable)
If there’s no electricity debt on the meter this will only show the weekly standing charge.
If there’s more than £3 of electricity debt on the meter, this will show the sum of the weekly debt repayment (usually £3) plus the weekly standing charge.
[G] Total units used in the meter’s lifetime
The total number of units recorded on the machine since it was manufactured.
[H] The current meter reading
If you have a 2-rate meter, this is the meter reading for R1.
[I] Price per unit of electricity
If you have a 2-rate meter, this is your R1 price per unit.
[J] The current meter reading for R2 (2-rate only)
If you have a 2-rate meter, this is the meter reading for R2.
[K] Price per unit of electricity for R2 (2-rate only)
If you have a 2-rate meter, this is your R2 price per unit.
[R] Emergency credit limit
Find out more about emergency credit.
[S] Total debt amount on the meter
[T] Debt recovery rate