YOUR GUIDEPREPAYMENT METERS

This quick guide provides you with lots of useful information about prepayment meters:

All You Need to Know About Prepayment Meters

Getting Started

Your Annual Summary and Meter Readings

What’s Emergency Credit?

Paying a Debt Through Your Meter

How to Read Your Meter

Common Problems – Quick Solutions

We're Here to Help

How to Contact Us

CONTENTS

If you’d still like some help or if there’s something you’re not sure about

please visit out prepayment section in our website’s Help Centre or call

us on 0800 520 02 02. Our Customer Service Advisors will be happy to

help you.

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All You Need to Know About Prepayment Meters

A Prepayment meter allows you to pay for your gas and electricity as you use it. You simply buy credit at an authorised outlet using your electricity key or gas card and then add the credit to your meter.

It’s a payment method that can give you greater control over your energy costs.

As we aim to provide you with the best service to match your needs, we encourage you to weigh up all the features of the meter and decide if it’s right for you.

The Pros of Prepayment Meters:

• Pay as you go for your gas or electricity as and when you need it.

• Pay back any money you owe in an easy and affordable way.

• You’ll have full control over how much money you spend on your energy supply.

Things to be aware of:

• The cost of your energy may be more expensive in comparison with one of our others tariffs which may have better rates or discounts.

• Topping up your meter may be inconvenient, as you can only do it through selected outlets.

• If you don’t top up your meter, your energy supply could stop once your credit, including any emergency credit, is used up.

• If you’re not using gas or electricity, the daily standing charge will still accrue on your meter. For this reason, it is important that you keep the meter topped up even when you’re not using it – such as during summer.

What are the Prepayment Costs made up of?

• A charge for each unit of gas and electricity you use.

• A fixed Standing Charge – That’s a fixed amount that you pay every day you’re connected, even if you’re not using energy.

• Any existing debt you may need to clear.

If you would like to have a prepayment meter installed, providing you meet our eligibility criteria, you can have one installed by requesting one from us. Once you agree to do so, please contact us so we can provide you with information on how to use a prepayment meter and agree on a date for the installation.

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We will also confirm the daily standing charge and unit price, where you can buy credit and how we set a debt on the meter if you owe us money.

As soon as we agree your request and your prepayment meter is installed, you will receive your Green Network Energy electric key or gas card to your address within a few days of your supply start date or installation of your new prepayment meter.

What Green Network Energy electricity keys and gas cards look like:

Getting Started

To get started all you need to do is:

1. Pop your key and/or card into your meter for about 60 seconds before you go to an outlet to buy credit. It is very important that you register your key/card before purchasing credit for the first time, as it ensures that you will be charged on the correct tariff.

2. Please note if you have any remaining available credit on the electricity or gas meter, we recommend you use this up first before registering your new key/card as we are not able to refund it.

3. Once you have activated your electricity key or gas card, adding credit to your meter is simple. You can buy credit at the following outlets:

For Electricity – any outlet where you see the Payzone or PayPoint signs.

For Gas – any outlet where you see the Payzone or PayPoint signs and at the Post Office

You’ll find a list of your nearest outlets in the letter we sent with your key or card. You can also check online, just type your postcode into the following websites:

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• Payzone - http://bit.ly/2hQ9DDv

• Paypoint - http://bit.ly/2uMSc87

• Post Office - http://bit.ly/2uwuLR3

Outlets sell credit in whole pounds and some are open 24 hours. Keep in mind that you have the choice to top up whenever you wish this can include weekly, monthly or daily, whatever you prefer.

You can top up a minimum of £1 (whole pounds only) and a maximum of £49 per top up. Your electricity meter can hold a maximum of £255.99 and the gas meter will only show up to a three-digit number (e.g. £999).

Transfer Credit to the Meter

Electricity Meters

Just insert your topped-up key into your meter. The screen will rapidly show the amount of credit you have paid.

We strongly recommend waiting a couple of seconds, to ensure all the correct information is transferred to your meter. The meter will then make a bleeping sound, and then the screen flash with your new credit balance.

Gas Meters

Simply insert your topped-up gas card into the meter, when doing this, ensure that the gold coloured chip on the card faces towards the meter display or to the top of the meter depending on the meter model type.

To transfer your credit to the meter, just press and hold the Red Button. Once the credit has been transferred the meter screen will update with the new credit balance.

Your meter may ask you to check if your gas appliances are switched off – this is just a safety feature.

If the meter display is off, just insert your card and follow the on screen prompt. "Hold A for Gas" then release when prompted to do so. There might be a slight noise which is the valve opening and the meter screen will change to "ON" and you gas supply will return.

Following this, the meter will also display how much credit you have available, for your gas supply.

Always buy your credit with your Green Network Energy electricity key or gas card, to ensure that you’re charged on our tariff rates and not your previous supplier’s rates which, could cost you more.

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Tips to have complete control over your prepayment meter:

• Check your credit levels regularly – Make a note to check the balance on your meter before topping-up, so you can credit it with the right amount to cover your energy usage and any outstanding amount, this might include emergency credit used or debt repayments.

• Don’t let the meter run out of credit – Keep in mind that the meter uses the credit to cover the fixed daily standing charge, unit charge as well as debt repayments. If your credit runs out, you will start to build a debt even if you’re not using gas or electricity.

• Check you nearest outlets and their respective opening times.

• Keep an eye on your top-ups - this will help you manage your energy consumption.

Your Annual Summary and Meter Readings

To help you keep an eye on things, you’ll get an Annual Summary that will show how much energy you’ve used. It will provide details of our cheapest overall tariff and will also provide information on how you can switch tariff or switch to another supplier. *

You will receive this on an annual basis shortly after the anniversary date of when you came on supply with us.

With prepayment meters, every time you top-up your meter, we’ll also receive an automatic meter reading via your key/card. It registers the reading from the time when you last topped up. So, you don’t need to provide regular meter readings.

*Changing your tariff may involve changing to materially different terms and conditions. The tariffs shown may be subject to eligibility criteria, limited availability and may only be available for a limited

period.

What's Emergency Credit?

If you run out of credit and you can’t get to a shop to buy a top-up, don’t panic.

At Green Network Energy, we provide £5 of emergency credit to tide you over for a while. However, keep in mind that Emergency Credit must be repaid back in full when you top up next.

You can only use the emergency credit once the credit balance on your electricity/gas meter has reached £3.

To activate your emergency credit, on your electricity meter, you need to remove the key and re-insert it – the letter E will be displayed on the screen.

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On your gas meter, when the emergency credit is required, just put your card in the meter and press the red button – your meter will display “EMCR IN USE”.

If you have used all your emergency credit, make sure you add enough credit the next time you top up, to cover:

• The emergency credit you owe.

• Any standing charge you’ve accumulated and debt repayment owed. Plus, the electricity or gas energy you need until your next top-up.

Paying a Debt Through Your Meter

With a prepayment meter, you can pay off any outstanding debt you have with us, as the outstanding amount can be applied to the meter. Your meter will collect any unpaid balances at the rate agreed between us when the meter is installed.

• Your electricity meter will deduct the outstanding debt first, so you must ensure you top-up with enough credit to cover your weekly repayment amount, your energy use, plus the standing charges and any emergency credit if used.

• Your gas meter will take a weekly amount of any debt you owe us. The meter will take 70% of your credit to pay your debt and leave 30% for energy use. Which means that you will always be guaranteed some gas from the credit purchased, regardless of the amount of debt owed.

Therefore, you should try to top up enough credit to pay your agreed weekly debt repayment amount and your energy consumption.

Keeping Track

The meter screens can help you keep track of how much you’ve paid towards your outstanding bill and how much is left to pay.

Track your debt on your electricity meter

Screen S – will always indicate the total amount of the debt you owe. If you have no debt, the display will show zero. The meter will only show a debt balance up to £255.99, however, the meter can hold larger amounts.

Screen T - Indicates the agreed weekly amount you need to pay towards your debt.

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Track your debt on your gas meter

Press the Red Button A – it will display your debt. This is the debt which the meter has accumulated through a combination of accrued standing charges and emergency credit debt. The gas debt, which we apply to your meter is shown on screen 27 of the meter.

Screen 25 - Minimum debt repayment the meter will take each week.

Screen 26 - Maximum debt repayment the meter will take.

When crediting your meter keep in mind that the meter will take 70% of your top up credit to recover any debt that you might have and 30% is for your energy consumption. Any remaining credit is used to repay emergency credit and/or standing charge debt.

Depending on the amount owed, the emergency credit and/or standing charge may not be repaid in full – this will then have to be recovered at a later date.

If you don’t top-up and miss a weekly payment:

• Your electricity meter will build up any debt and you’ll need to pay it back. Once you’ve run out of credit on your meter, your supply will be switched off and you’ll need to make sure you add enough credit to get your supply back.

• Your gas meter will build up the debt and will deduct a higher amount when you don't add enough credit to your meter. Which means that if you don’t keep up the agreed repayment schedule, you fall into what’s known as ‘Time Based Recovery’ . So, when your gas meter detects that no top up has been made:

• If you fall behind 1 weeks’ worth of payments the meter will take one seventh (1/7) of your weekly payments at 2 am between the Wednesday and the following Tuesday.

• 2 weeks behind meter will take two-sevenths (2/7) at 2 am on Wednesday and the following Tuesday

• This will continue until you have caught up with your weekly payments.

If you have problems paying for your energy supply, please get in touch with our customer services team as quickly as possible, so we can help you.

At any stage in the process it is easy to get independent advice about your energy. The Citizens Advice consumer service gives free, confidential and impartial advice. You can get in touch with them for advice at any time or during the complaints process.

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Visit: http://bit.ly/2fv2XtQ or call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline 03454 04 05 06 (text phone 18001 03454 04 05 06) or submit a query online.

The Ombudsman Services can also help in providing information and advice about any complaints if there is no resolution after 8 weeks or a deadlock/ final position letter has been issued. They offer free and impartial advice.

Their website is http://bit.ly/2wA51oz and phone number 0330 440 1624.

You can also find further help and advice at the following usual links:

• https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/• https://www.stepchange.org/• http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/• https://www.cse.org.uk/advice• https://www.energyhelpline.com

Moving Home

If you’re moving home, it’s important you let us know so that you don’t end up paying for someone else’s energy. For this reason, on your moving day, its essential to follow these simple steps:

1. Take a meter reading the day you move and make note of it.

2. Get in touch with us and provide this information, as well as your address in case we need to contact you.

3. You may want to leave your key or card behind for the next occupier to use.

Keep in mind that if you have credit left over after your move date this will remain on the meter and cannot be transferred or refunded – for this reason, its advised that you use it before moving.

If you are moving into a property that already has a prepayment meter fitted, please let us know – so we can provide a new key or card and clear any existing debt for you.

How to Read Your Meter

Key and Card meters have different displays to show you the settings and readings on the meter. For this reason, we’ve put together a table guide with some useful information and the screen meaning.

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Electricity Meter

To switch through each of the displays on your meter:

• Insert the electricity key into the meter.

• Press the blue button and release it when the letter ‘A’ is displayed on the screen.

• Use the blue button to move through the different screens.

• The screen letter will show in the bottom left-hand corner.

Screen Meaning

A Total Current Credit

ETotal Amount of Credit – which has been trans-ferred to the meter via the key token to date

FTotal Weekly Charge – how much standing charge and debt (if applicable) your meter will collect each week

GTotal Meter Reading (kWh) – this gives the total consumption in all rates

H Your Meter Reading (kWh)

IPence per Unit for rate 1 – Your price per unit of electricity

JPence per Unit for rate 2 – Your price per unit electricity – applies to 2 rate meter only.

REmergency Credit Limit – how much emergency credit your meter will let you have if you need it (your key will need to be in your meter)

SThe Total Amount of Debt the Customer Owes (your key will need to be in your meter)

TDebt Recovery Rate – the total amount the meter will collect for debt for each week (your key will need to be in your meter)

Display Screen

Meter Serial Number

Blue button press to display different screens

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Gas Meter

To switch through each of the displays on your meter:

• Insert your gas card into the meter.

• Press the Red Button A until you hear a bleep, after you release the button – screen “00” will be displayed.

• Keep pressing the button A to move through the screens.

• The screen number will show in the bottom right-hand corner.

Screen Meaning

00Last Card Credit – how much purchased credit you last put into the meter

01Last Amount for Debt – how much of your last top up was used to pay any outstanding debt on your meter

02Last Amount for Emergency Credit – how much of your last top up was taken to repay any emergency credit you’ve used

03Last Amount for Gas – Amount paid towards gas supply

17 Daily Standing Charge

21Emergency Credit Available – When credit drops to this level emergency credit will be offered

22Emergency Credit – Current amount offered when you choose to use emergency credit

24Gas Debt Recovery Rate – Percentage of credit used to pay off a debt

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Gas Debt – Total amount owed for debt, which we apply to your meter if you have any debt weekly repayment - this will go down if you add enough credit to the meter

31

Non-Gas Debt – Total amount owed for non-gas debt, which is the generated debt from a combination of accrued standing charges and emergency credit.

Red button press to check if you owe anythingpress to display different screens

Meter Serial Number

Display Screen

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The following screens are only found on Libra meters:

32Registered Gas Card Number – Last 6 characters from you Customer Reference Number

33Last Credit Adjustment – Most recent entry in Credit Adjustment Log

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Common Problems – Quick Solutions

Troubleshooting

Sometimes your meter screen might display an error message, here are some of the most common errors, to help you fix them easily and quickly.

Electricity Meter Error Codes

Screen Meaning What you should do

D1

Your meter is unable to read the information on your key and therefore cannot transfer credit from key to meter

Check if your key is inserted properly. Try wiping softly the chip on your key with a clean and dry cloth – do not use any cleaning products. Or blow in the key slot on the meter. After re-insert the key in the meter, if it doesn’t work please contact us.

D2

Your meter can’t read the information on your key so can’t transfer the credit onto your meter

Try to reinsert the key in the meter. If it doesn’t work you’ll need a new key, please contact us.

D4/B6A duplicated key has

been inserted into the

meter

Check if you have

more than one key. You

should only use the

Green Network Energy

key in the meter. If you

are using our key and

it still does not work,

please contact us.

Gas Meter Error Codes

Screen Meaning What you should do

Call HelpYour meter has a fault which we’ll need to look into.

Please contact us.

Card Fail / Error 35 The meter has a fault.

Softly clean your card with a clean and dry cloth, wait a few seconds and re-insert it again. Do not use any cleaning products. Ensure the gold chip is not damaged (scratched/ indenta-tions). If it still doesn’t work, please contact us.

Card not AcceptedPossible Gas card

number mismatch. Please contact us.

Battery LowYour battery is running

low and will soon need

to be replaced.

Please contact us.

Battery FailBattery has reached the

end of its life.Please contact us.

Blank Screen

A screen saver is on

your meter which will

make the meter screen

go blank when not in

use, to save the battery

power.

If your card is inserted

and it is still blank,

your meter has a fault.

Please contact us.

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Please WaitYour meter is having a

problem reading the

card.

Remove the card

and wait 2-3 minutes

before re-inserting it. If

it doesn’t work, please

contact us.

M and 5 dashes The meter has a fault. Please contact us.

Meter isn’t working

If you still can’t get your prepayment meter to work, please call our Customer Services Team on 0800 520 02 02 and we will try to help you.

We may need to arrange for an engineer to come out and visit you, if this is the case, we will arrange with you a suitable time and whether we will need to charge you.

Lost or Damaged Key or Card

Don’t worry, if you’ve lost your electricity key or gas card, just give us a call and we’ll make sure we send one out to you as soon as possible. Contact our Customer Services Team on 0800 520 02 02 and speak to one of our advisors.

There may be a small charge for any replacement or broken keys or cards.

What to do if your payment doesn’t show up on the meter?

If your meter is not displaying the correct topped up amount, please check if:

• The card/key is in a good condition (please wipe it, if it needs a clean).

• The meter screen is displaying any error codes.• You used the emergency credit and you need to

repay it.• There is any debt you need to repay.• There are accumulated daily standing charges that

you need to repay.

If you are still experiencing problems, please refer to our Help Centre at http://bit.ly/2wxIAjZ – where you can find lots of useful information or contact our Customer Services Team on 0800 520 02 02. You can also email us at care@greennetworkenergy.co.uk.

Off Supply

If you use up all your emergency credit and don’t top up your meter you will be ‘off supply’. To reconnect your meter, you’ll need to go to an outlet as soon as possible, to top up your key/card.

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Keep in mind that you’ll need to credit enough money to cover your energy usage, the emergency credit, the daily standing charges you’ve built up and any existing debt.

Your electricity meter will reconnect automatically when you top up enough credit. However, your gas meter may ask you to check if all gas appliances are off, before pressing the Red Button “A”, for safety reasons. However, if the meter is “ON” and there’s credit on the meter but you have no supply to your electric or gas appliances, please contact us, as soon as possible.

For any emergency or out of hours emergency support, you’ll need to contact the National Gas Emergency Service for gas and/or your local electricity distribution company, as soon as possible. For Gas, call National Grid on. 0800 111 999

Details of your local electricity distributor can be found at http://bit.ly/2wL69om

You can find more frequently asked questions at http://bit.ly/2vltm2E

If National Grid or your local Electricity Distributor find no fault with the meter it may be a problem with another appliance within the property. If this is the case, we advise contacting a gas safety engineer or a qualified electrician.

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We’re Here to Help

Here is some useful information, you might need to know:

Complaints

Green Network Energy is committed to excellent customer service and aims to get things right the first time. Sometimes despite these efforts, things go wrong but it’s our goal to fix things as soon and quickly as possible when they do.

If you have a complaint, we’re really sorry you’re not happy. We want to sort things out for you quickly, so

please contact us on 0800 520 02 02 or email us at complaints@greennetworkenergy.co.uk.

To find out how we handle complaints visit http://bit.ly/2vHDvbd

How to Contact Us

Website: visit our website at www.greennetworkenergy.co.uk and click on “Contact Us” and Message Us.

Phone - Customer Services are available Monday to Friday 08:00 – 18:30 and Saturday 09:00 – 13:00 Give us a call on 0800 520 02 02.

Email/Write - us at care@greennetworkenergy.co.uk or if you want to write to us, please send your letter to our Address: Po Box 73948, London, EC4P 4HQ

Update: August 2017

Find out more visit :

www.greennetworkenergy.co.uk/prepayment-meters

Green Network Energy LtdPO Box 73948, London, EC4P 4HQ

Registered Office: New Kings Court, Tollgate, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh. SO53 3LG

Incorporated in England & Wales No: 09523066VAT Registration Number: GB 235 7034 20