Using Emergency Credit and Friendly Credit on your Smart Pay As You Go meter

When you’re getting low on credit, you’ll have access to £10 Emergency Credit. This makes sure your home has electricity or gas until you’re able to top up.

If you have a Smart Pay As You Go meter, you can activate emergency credit on your In-Home Display (the little screen which shows you information about your meter).

Want to know how to check if your Smart Pay As You Go meter is using emergency credit? We've explained how to check that here.

If you’re already off supply

If the meter screen is off, press either button once to wake it up. The screen will show a message about activating emergency credit.

Press either button once to activate emergency credit.

Important: If your supply is already off, make sure any electrical appliances are switched off before reconnecting your supply.

Your Friendly Credit hours 

Don't worry: if you run out of credit during these times, your supply won't be shut off.

Instead, the cost of any energy you use will be added onto your meter as debt, and will be deducted the next time you top up. You’ll need to repay any Friendly Credit you use in full before you can use it again.

• Electricity: Friendly credit Friendly credit 4pm - 10am in the summer and 3pm - 9am in the winter (when the clocks go back), Monday - Friday, all weekend and Bank Holidays

• Gas: Friendly credit 4pm - 10am in the summer and 3pm - 9am in the winter (when the clocks go back), Monday - Friday, all weekend and Bank Holidays