Will my electricity run out at night?

Are you using a prepayment meter for the first time? Or maybe your income has gone down and you’re worried you might struggle to keep your meter topped up.

Either way, the prospect that your lights, fridge and other appliances might stop working overnight – or when you’re in the middle of a pile of ironing – can be alarming. In today’s post we’ve rounded up everything you need to know to keep looking on the light side.

 

Emergency credit

If your gas or electricity does run out, the first thing to do is hit the emergency credit button. That will give you a little boost of credit until you can get to the shops and buy more. Then the amount of emergency credit you’ve used will be deducted from the amount you’ve paid for. It’s like an energy overdraft.

Different energy providers deal with emergency credit differently. Many will just give you a few pounds’ worth of credit. Some will provide enough credit to keep you going for a few hours until the shops open.

 

How can I avoid getting into an emergency in the first place?

There’s no getting around it – prepaying for your gas or electricity means having to be a little more organised than paying by Direct Debit. You need to:

• budget a realistic amount for your energy costs
• keep an eye on your usage to make sure you top up before you run out.
• remember to leave enough credit to keep your fridge running if you’re going to be away from home for a few days. Or empty it before you leave!

But these are medium-term solutions. In the long term, the best ways to avoid running out of credit are to…

 

Switch to a different payment method

Prepayment meters are often more expensive than paying for gas or electricity with a Direct Debit.

You can usually switch to Direct Debit. Just bear in mind the following:

• Is your prepayment meter in arrears? You will almost certainly have to pay these off before you’re allowed to switch.
• Your energy provider might want to check your credit history before they allow you to switch. If you’ve had any credit problems within the last six years, such as defaults or a Country Court Judgement (CCJ), they might not let you change your payment method.
• Check whether your supplier will charge you to switch. Comparison websites such as MoneySupermarket or uSwitch can help you find a different supplier. Even if your current supplier doesn’t charge a fee to change your payment method, it’s worth visiting sites like this to see whether switching supplier could help you save money.
• If you’re renting your property you may need your landlord’s permission to switch.

Check if you’re entitled to help

Does your electricity run out a lot? Do you think you’d find it difficult to pay your bill if you switched to paying by Direct Debit?

There is help out there. Particularly if you’re over a certain age or otherwise vulnerable in some way, you could benefit from

• the Warm Home Discount on your energy bills
• the Winter Fuel Payment
• the Cold Weather Payment.

FWG and entitled to have created a benefits calculator. Visit it [here] to check if you could get additional help.

 

Prioritise your payments

Whether you’re paying by prepayment meter, Direct Debit or any other method, you must make sure you’ve budgeted for your energy bills before you think about paying off your loans, credit cards or any other unsecured debts. This is because of the serious consequences of failing to pay for your gas or electricity – i.e., having your supply disconnected.

So if you find yourself struggling to keep your gas and electricity topped up because of your debt repayments, it might be time to get help with your debts. Whatever your situation, there’s a debt solution for you. Look at our [debt solutions] page for an idea of your options – then give us a call. We can help you see a way forward.