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What is emergency credit?

It’s a bit of credit to keep the lights and heating on when you can’t top up or get to a PayPoint. After all, no-one wants to run out of credit mid-shower!


Your emergency credit will tide you over until you can top up again. It’s not free money, though – you still have to pay it all back when you next top up.

With Traditional PAYG and Smart PAYG standard, you get £15 for each meter.

How do I get my emergency credit?

For Smart PAYG standard (when you don’t use the Boost Power app),  you can activate emergency credit on your IHD.

An alert will pop up if your gas or electricity credit is getting low.

Tap the ‘E-Credit’ button.

Once you’ve started using your emergency credit, the balance on your screen will count down to zero. That should give you time to get to a PayPoint before it runs out.

If you don’t top up, you’ll run out of credit and see this screen. That means you're now ‘off supply’ and you’ll need to top up to get your power back.

For Traditional PAYG, put your card or key into the meter when your credit has dropped below £1 in your electricity meter – or £2 in your gas meter. You might need to remove the card or key and re-insert it to activate the emergency credit.

For your gas meter, you should insert your card and press the red ‘A’ button to accept the offer of emergency credit.

What happens to my standing charge when I’m using my emergency credit?

For Traditional PAYG, we stop taking your daily standing charge, so it builds up as debt. Then when you next top up, we take back enough to pay off your emergency credit – and the standing charge debt.

You won’t be able to use your emergency credit again until you’ve paid off your standing charge debt.

What happens if I use up all my emergency credit?

Your electricity or gas will cut off, and your home will go ‘off supply’. Now it’s really time to top-up.

You’ll need to add enough credit to cover what you spent whilst in emergency credit – plus any standing charges or agreed debt you pay back on a daily basis.

For Smart PAYG standard (when you don’t use the Boost Power app), find out what you owe on your IHD.

For Traditional PAYG, just look at screen ‘B’ on your electricity meter and ‘A’ on your gas meter to find what you owe.

How do I pay back my emergency credit?

Easy-peasy – just top up and we’ll knock it off your credit. Just add enough to cover what you spent whilst in emergency credit, plus any standing charges (if you don’t have smart meter) or agreed debt you pay back on a daily basis.

Are there any times when my power won’t cut off?

Yes:

  • During the night – between 6pm and 9am, Monday to Saturday.
  • Saturday from 4pm through until Monday morning at 9am.
  • All day Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and Easter Sunday.

Why can’t I access my emergency credit?

It sounds like you might have used it already and not paid it all back yet.

If you want to use your emergency credit again, you need to pay it back – plus any standing charge debt.

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