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.

, 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 prepayment meter is using emergency credit? We've 

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 

If you run out of credit during these times, the supply 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. You’ll need to repay any Friendly Credit you use in full before you can use it again.

Using Emergency Credit and Friendly Credit on your smart prepayment meter

Your meter can have 3 different kinds of debt:

You’ll see any energy debt you’ve built up in your Octopus account, or on the meter itself. And depending on the type of debt, you’ll pay it back in different ways.

If there’s debt on your meter that isn’t yours, get in touch with us with proof of the date you moved into the property (eg. a tenancy agreement or contract). If we're connected to your meter, we’ll be able to double check your balance on the moving day, so you don't need to do anything else.

Paying back Emergency Credit and Friendly Credit

When your meter runs out of credit, there’s Emergency Credit (which can be used at any time) and Friendly Credit, which is available 4pm - 10am Monday - Friday, all weekend and Bank Holidays.

If you use up all £10 of your Emergency Credit, or if you use any Friendly Credit, your meter will start to build up debt. Your daily standing charge will also be added to this debt. 

You’ll have to pay back any Emergency Credit, Friendly Credit, and standing charge debt in full the next time you top up. Any top up that's left after the debt has been repaid will be added to your meter as credit.

If there’s debt on your meter from a previous supplier, or from a previous Direct Debit account with Octopus

If you’ve got debt that was transferred over to us from a previous supplier, you’ll pay this back at a default rate of £3.50 a week. If you'd like to change this amount, 

If we’ve transferred debt to your meter from a previous Direct Debit account held with Bulb, we’ll arrange a repayment plan with you individually. We’ll take an agreed amount off your meter balance every day until the total debt has been repaid.

If we’ve added discretionary (temporary) credit to your meter

We’ll take an amount off your meter balance every day until the discretionary credit debt has been repaid. This will be repaid at a default rate of £3.50 a week, unless we've agreed a different amount with you.

Smart Prepayment

Including any questions you have about your old supplier.

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