• Faulty Pay As You Go meters

  • From time to time, things don't always go to plan. If your gas or electricity Pay As You Go meter seems faulty, there are a few things you can do to find out what's wrong.

    The first thing to do is check that you have credit on your meter. If the word 'debt' is on the display, followed by an amount, your meter has run out of credit. You'll need to credit your meter with at least £2 more than the display shows to get back to normal.

    Information point

    To find out where your nearest PayPoint site is, take a look at the PayPoint finder. Or, to find out where your nearest Post Office is, take a look at the Post Office finder.

    Energy suppliers, including SSE, are currently contacting a number of customers who have been identified as having a faulty pre-payment gas meter. An estimated 1.5 million pre-payment gas meters have been over-collecting from customers across all suppliers since their manufacture in 2007. Read more about this problem and what we're doing about it.

  • If you're having trouble topping up your meter

    If the key, card or token has developed a fault, the credit won’t transfer onto your meter.

    If you think there’s a problem with your electricity key or gas card, then clean it by gently wiping it with a clean dry cloth and re-insert it into the meter. If this doesn’t work, please contact us and we’ll send out a replacement.

    If you’ve purchased a faulty token, we recommend you take it back to the shop you bought it from and they should replace it. We’re replacing all token meters, so please contact us if you still have one in your home.

  • If there's an error message on your electricity meter

    If you’ve got an error message on your display, take a look at what you need to do.

     

    Message on the meter

    What you need to do

    D1, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8 and D9 messages 

    Clean the key by gently wiping it with a clean dry cloth and re-insert it into the meter.

    If it’s still not working, you’ll need to contact us so we can send you a new key. Please contact us as there is a fault with your meter.
    E, D2 or any other messages 

    Write down your meter serial number (this is usually under the barcode on the meter, below the display) and contact us.

  • If you have no electricity supply

    If your meter display is blank, there may be a power cut in your area, or a fault with an appliance or the wiring in your home.

    If you have credit but your meter display is blank, check your trip switches. If one is down, you may have a faulty appliance or faulty wiring. Try unplugging any appliances that were in use when the power went off and resetting your trip switches.

    If you still don’t have any power, try to check to see if your neighbours have electricity. To report a power cut, contact your local emergency distributor.

    If there isn’t a power cut and you still have a problem, write down your meter serial number (this usually under barcode below the display). Make a note of any figures or messages showing on the display, then contact us.

  • If you have no gas supply

    If you don’t have any gas, you can check your meter to find out what’s happened.

    If your meter has switched off, then you may have run out of emergency credit. You’ll need to top up your gas card with enough credit to cover your emergency credit and any debt you owe before your gas supply can return to normal.

    If you have credit on your meter but no error message is displayed, turn off all your gas appliances and call the National Gas Emergencies number on 0800 111 999.

    If you have credit and you have an error message, then check our table below to see what you need to do:

    Message on the meter

    What you need to do
    • Call help
    • Battery
    • Battery fail
    • M*****
         		 Please contact us as there is a fault with your meter.
    • Card pass
    • Invalid card
    • Card not accepted
    • Card fail
    • Please wait
     

    Wipe your gas card with a clean dry cloth and re-insert it into your meter.

    Please contact us to let us know if the message disappears (this means there's a fault with your card) or if the message remains (this means there's a fault with your meter.

  • If we need to visit you

    If your gas or electricity supply is interrupted because your meter is faulty, then please contact us straight away.

    • If you contact us between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, we'll aim to be with you within three hours.
    • If you contact us at the weekend or bank holidays between 9am and 5pm, we'll aim to be with you within four hours. 
    • If you let us know that your meter is faulty outside of these times, we'll call before midday the following day.

    If we don't keep our promise and arrive outside of these times, we'll pay you £30. Sometimes this payment won't apply, for example, under exceptional circumstances and events beyond our control (like severe weather). To find out more about this, read our Guide to Service Standards. 

    Information point

    If we visit and find the fault has been caused by you (such as running out of credit), we'll charge you for our visit. If we call out of hours, it may cost you more.

    If we charge you for our visit, we'll normally add the money as a debt to your meter so it's easier for you to pay.