Prepayment meters consumer guidance

If your energy supplier is trying to move you onto prepayment

Energy suppliers must follow our rules before they can move you onto or install a prepayment meter in your home. Read the rules they must follow about installing a prepayment meter without household permission.

Prepayment meters and how they work

A prepayment meter also known as a ‘pay-as-you-go meter’ can be a helpful and effective way to manage budgets and amount spent on gas or electricity.

If you have a prepayment meter you will still pay standing charges.

It is important that you can get to your meter, if not you can ask your supplier to move it. It is illegal to move a meter yourself.

You can switch suppliers if you have a prepayment meter and if you have debt of less than £500.

Suppliers must offer different ways for you to pay back debt, moving to a prepayment meter is one option.

Your supplier can only install a prepayment meter to pay debt if it’s safe and you can easily use and access it.

Using your prepayment meter

If you have a prepayment meter you will still pay standing charges. You will also need credit to keep your appliances running as normal if you’re away.

It is important to have access to your meter. If not, you can ask your supplier to move it. It is illegal to move a meter yourself. You may be charged for moving it, but it’s free if you are registered with the Priority Services Register. Read the Citizens Advice guidance about how to move your gas or electricity meter or if you are having problems getting to or topping up your prepayment meter.

If your meter cannot be moved, it must be replaced with one that lets you pay for energy after you’ve used it. This applies if you have a disability or illness that makes it bad for your health if your energy were to be cut off or hard for you to top up, understand or use the meter.

Switching suppliers and tariffs

You can switch suppliers if you have a prepayment meter and if you have debt of less than £500. Read how you can switch supplier or energy tariffs.

If you cannot afford to top up your meter

You should contact your supplier straight away if you cannot afford to top up your meter. Our rules mean that they must offer support. This includes extra support credit if you’re in a vulnerable situation and have few options to pay and additional support credit while you work out ways to pay.

You’ll need to pay back the credit from your supplier when you next top up. Suppliers must work with you to agree on a payment plan you can afford.

You can ask for:

• a review of your payments and debt repayments
• payment breaks or reductions
• more time to pay
• access to hardship funds
• Priority Service registration – a free support service if you are in a vulnerable situation

You can get help if you cannot afford your bills. You can also get advice from Citizens Advice about getting temporary credit, what to do if you keep running out of credit, scams and how to speak to an energy adviser if you cannot afford to top up your prepayment meter.

Ofgem, Energy UK and Citizens Advice have set up guidelines for suppliers to help improve how they support people in vulnerable situations including debt this winter. Find which suppliers have signed up to the winter 2023 Vulnerability Debt Commitment.

Many suppliers have also signed up to the Energy UK vulnerability commitment. This means they will never knowingly disconnect your household energy supply if you:

• have children under the age of six staying at any time of the year
• have children under the age of 16 staying during winter (1 October to 31 March)
• cannot safeguard your welfare or the welfare of other members in your household because of your age, health, disability or severe financial insecurity

Breathing Space scheme

You could get up to 60 days' space from creditors to focus on getting debt advice and setting up a debt solution by applying to the Breathing Space, sometimes called the ‘Debt Respite Scheme’.

If your application is approved, all creditors are informed and must stop any collection or enforcement activity. You will still need to keep making your regular payments if you can afford to.

Get debt advice and apply for the Breathing Space scheme with the StepChange Debt Charity.

If you’re not happy about your supplier’s service or if they cannot fix the problem, you can complain about your supplier.

Prepayment meters for repaying debt

Suppliers must offer different ways for you to pay back debt, moving to a prepayment meter is one option.

Your supplier can only install a prepayment meter to pay debt if it’s safe and you can easily use and access it.

If the debt is repaid

After the debt has been repaid suppliers must contact you and assess if a prepayment meter is still the most suitable and preferred payment method. If you decide to move from a prepayment meter, the supplier must agree where you pass any required credit checks.

Installing a prepayment meter without household permission

The rules in gas and electricity licences say that suppliers must install prepayment meters without a household’s permission in a fair and responsible way, and that they should only be used as a last resort.

If you are struggling to pay for the energy you use, contact your supplier straight away. You should talk to them about your circumstances and tell them if there are older people or children living in the household and if they have any medical conditions.

Last year, we asked that installing prepayment meters without a household’s permission for paying back debt be paused. This was because of our concerns about the behaviour of suppliers installing them in households. There are new rules that have been moved into the standard gas and electricity licences. All energy suppliers have to follow them.

Rules that suppliers must follow

Before a prepayment meter can be involuntarily installed, suppliers must:

• make at least 10 attempts to contact a customer before a prepayment meter is installed
• carry out a site welfare visit before a prepayment meter is installed
• refrain from all involuntary installations for the highest risk customers including:
  • households which require a continuous supply for health reasons, including dependence on powered medical equipment
  • households with an older occupant aged 75 years and over (if there is no other support in the house)
  • households with children aged under 2 years old
  • households with residents with severe health issues including terminal illnesses or those with a medical dependency on a warm home (for example due to illness such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, sickle cell disease)
  • where there is no one within the household that has the ability to top up the meter due to physical or mental incapacity
• assess customers who may be struggling to pay their energy bill where children under 5 years old live in the household, or people living in the household have:
  • other serious medical or health conditions, for example neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntingdon's or Cerebral palsy, nutritional issues, such as Malnutrition and mobility limiting conditions such as Osteoporosis, Muscular Dystrophy or Multiple Sclerosis
  • serious mental or developmental health conditions, for example clinical depression, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, learning disabilities and difficulties or Schizophrenia
  • temporary situations, such as pregnancy or bereavement
• audio or body cameras must be worn by the lead supplier representative present on all warrant installations or site welfare visits to check for vulnerabilities ahead of an involuntary installation or remote mode switch. All audio and footage will be available for audit
• give a £30 credit per meter (or equivalent non-disconnection period) on all warrant installations and remote switches as a short-term credit or measure to remove the risk of customers going off supply at the point of prepayment meter installation
• re-assess the case once a customer has repaid debts owed.

Suppliers must do certain things before they can install a prepayment meter to get back debt owed to them without a household’s permission. They can only install prepayment meters if they have been checked and confirmed that they meet all the requirements in the rules. Check energy suppliers that can install prepayment meters without household permission.

A supplier can swap your meter by getting a warrant or by remotely switching your smart meter. They can only do this after they have taken all reasonable steps to agree payment with you. It should only be a last resort in order to avoid disconnecting your supply.

A warrant can cost up to £150 and can be added onto existing debt. People who are in certain vulnerable situations will not have to pay this.

A supplier must install a smart meter when fitting a prepayment meter. They will only install a traditional meter if there are technical reasons. Read about getting a smart meter.