A GUIDE TO PREPAYMENT METERS What's in this guide? What are prepayment meters? Getting a prepayment meter installed Your Green Star Energy key or card How to read your meter Emergency credit Meter reads Home moves Changing to a credit meter What to do if there is a problem How to contact us Repaying your debt WWW.MYGREENSTARENERGY.COM
WHAT ARE PREPAYMENT METERS? Prepayment meters, otherwise known as electricity key meters or gas electronic tokens, let you buy credit for your gas and electricity in advance from a local retail outlet. You use the credit you have bought to top up your meter s credit levels. This means you can: Pay as you go for your gas and electric, as and when you need to; Always be in control of your energy costs, as long as you stay in credit; Keep track of exactly how much energy you ve used; and Pay back money you owe us more easily over a period of time. Prepayment meter charges are made up of: 1. 2. 3. A charge for each unit of gas or electricity you use; A fixed standing charge that you pay every day you re connected, even if you re not using energy; and A charge for any outstanding debt you may need to clear.
GETTING A PREPAYMENT METER INSTALLED If you don t already have a prepayment meter, you can have one installed by requesting one or we may install one to help you manage paying back any money you owe us. If we agree to install a prepayment meter, we will: Let you know the date and time that we intend to install your new meter; Contact you to let you know how much debt we have set on the meter if you owe us money; Provide you with information on how to use your meter (this guide and on our website); Make it clear how much we will charge you for energy (unit rates and standing charges); and Give you our contact details in case you need help. As soon as your prepayment meter is installed, we will send you a Green Star Energy electric key or gas card to your address within 3-4 working days. Green Star Energy electric key Green Star Energy gas card
YOUR GREEN STAR ENERGY KEY OR CARD 1. FIRST USE When you receive your electricity key or gas card, you must activate your new key or card by placing it into your meter for at least 60 seconds. This will ensure you will be charged at the correct unit rates and standing charge, also you won t be able to top up unless the card is activated first. 2. TOPPING UP Once you ve activated your electricity key or gas card, you can buy credit at PayPoint and Payzone outlets or at the Post Office to top up your meter. Only top up at an authorised outlet and never buy credit from anyone visiting your home or else you may end up having to pay twice. You can check online for your nearest outlet: www.payzone.co.uk/where www.paypoint.com/en-gb www.postoffice.co.uk/branch-finder The credit you buy will be added to your Green Star Energy key or card You can top up a minimum of 1 up to 49 on your card at a time, in whole pounds You can have up to 250 credit on your gas meter, and 250 credit on your electricity meter REMINDER: Top up your meter If you don t, your energy supply will stop when your credit runs out and your emergency credit is used up. You ll still accumulate any standing charge while your supply is off which you ll pay once your meter is back on supply.
3. HOW TO TRANSFER YOUR CREDIT TO YOUR METER Gas meters Simply insert your payment card into the slot in the meter and press the Red Button A to transfer your credit to your meter. If your meter display says OFF, you might need to open the safety valve to get your gas back on. The valve will close for safety reasons when your meter runs out of credit. 1. Make sure all your gas appliances are switched off. 2. Insert your card into your meter. 3. Press and hold the Red Button A. 4. You ll hear a beep. The safety valve will open and the meter display will change to ON. Your gas supply will now be back on and your credit will be on the meter. Electricity meters Insert your payment key into your meter. The screen will briefly show the amount of credit on your key. To make sure your credit is transferred onto your meter successfully, we recommend you leave your key in for at least 5 seconds. WARNING: Only use the Green Star Energy key or card If you have changed supplier, you may have your old supplier s key or card. We advise you to discard these in the recycle bin once your credit balance is nearly used and then switch to using the Green Star Energy key or card. If you don t do this and continue to use the old supplier s key and card, your energy will not be charged at Green Star Energy s tariffs and it may cost you more.
HOW TO READ YOUR METER Electricity meter Key meters have different displays to show you the settings and readings on the meter. The illustration below is an example of a typical one rate meter. Click on the Blue Button to scroll through the screens Key slot key is inserted to add top up credit, select emergency credit and to view debt screens The meter serial number is displayed under the bar code Click on the Blue Button to scroll through the screens below: Screen Display A B E F G H I J K Total current credit How much the meter requires to repay emergency credit (this screen is only displayed if the emergency credit has been used) Total amount of credit that has been put on the meter to date Standing charge amount per week Total meter reading (Kilowatts) Rate one meter reading (Kilowatts) Pence per unit cost for rate 1 (including VAT) Rate two meter reading (Kilowatts) applies to 2 rate meter only Pence per unit cost for rate 2 Night rate (including VAT) To view the below screens the key has to be inserted in the meter: R S T Emergency credit limit Total amount of debt the customer owes Total amount the meter will collect for debt for each week
GETTING A PREPAYMENT METER INSTALLED Gas Meter The illustration below is an example of a typical gas meter. The meter serial number is displayed above the bar code Click button A to scroll through the screens Card slot Card is inserted to add top up credit, emergency credit and view debt screens Click on the A Button to scroll through the screens below: Screen Display 00 How much credit you put on your meter on the last top up 01 Last amount of purchased credit used to pay for your debt 02 Last amount of purchased credit used to repay for emergency credit 03 Last amount allocated for gas use 17 Daily standing charge (taken weekly on Wednesday) 21 Amount of Credit available before you are offered emergency credit 22 Amount of emergency credit available to you To view the below screens the card has to be inserted in the meter: 25 Minimum weekly repayment rate you will be charged if you owe us money 26 Maximum weekly repayment rate you will be charged if you owe us money 27 Current total outstanding debt
EMERGENCY CREDIT Our prepayment meters are set up to always have 5 worth of Emergency Credit available to you if you can t top up for any reason. You ll need to repay this in full before your Emergency Credit is available to you again. To activate Emergency Credit: Electricity meters Gas meters Take out your key when your meter beeps to warn you that you have less than 3 credit left and re-insert it again. This will activate 5 Emergency Credit. Take out your card when the meter beeps to warn you that you have less than 3 credit left and insert it again. You then have to press the Red Button A to activate the 5 Emergency Credit. REMINDER: Pay back Emergency Credit If you have used your Emergency Credit, when you next top up you must add enough credit to pay back the emergency credit you owe, plus any standing charge you will have accumulated and your weekly debt repayment amount (if you owe us money).
REPAYING YOUR DEBT If you owe us money for unpaid bills, we ll agree a weekly repayment amount that you ll pay back to us until your debt is cleared. How it works Electricity meter Your meter will deduct a daily amount for debt you owe us. For example, if you owe us 7 per week, the meter will deduct 1 per day from the credit on your meter. You must top up with enough credit to cover your weekly repayment amount plus your energy use, every week. Gas meter Your meter will deduct a weekly amount for any debt you owe us. For example, if you owe us 7 per week and have topped up 10 during the week, the meter will deduct 7 from your credit at the start of each Wednesday. If you topped up with less than your weekly repayment amount, the meter will take 70% of your credit to pay your debt and leave 30% for energy use. What if I don t top up and miss a weekly payment? Electricity meter Your meter will build up any debt you missed that week and you ll need to pay it back. Once you ve run out of credit on your meter, your supply will disconnect and you ll need to add enough credit on your next top up to clear the accumulated debt in order to get your supply back on. Gas meter When your meter detects that no top up has been made for the past week, it will deduct one seventh of the weekly repayment amount on each consecutive night for the payment you missed the previous week. For example, if you owed us 7 last week, the meter will deduct 1 for the next seven nights from your credit balance until the full weekly repayment amount has been paid. If you don t have enough credit balance for the meter to deduct one seventh of your weekly repayment amount, the meter will build up the debt and will deduct a higher amount when you do add enough credit to your meter. REMINDER: Repaying debt Remember to top up each week with enough credit to pay back your repayment amount and your energy use. If you don t, the debt you owe will build up on your meter and the meter will deduct this from your meter s credit at a higher rate.
METER READS One of the benefits of having a prepayment meter is that you don t have to submit meter readings to us. We are automatically sent your meter readings every time you top up at an authorised outlet. HOME MOVES If you are moving out of your current home, we will need you to provide the following information: Your move date and your meter readings on that move date Your forwarding address in case we need to contact you You may want to leave your key or card behind for the next occupier to use REMINDER: Check your credit Make sure you have just enough credit on your meter up until your move date. If you have credit left over after your move date this will remain on the meter and cannot be transferred or refunded. If you are moving in to a property that already has a prepayment meter fitted, please let us know. We can provide you with supply, provide a key or card for you to use and clear the meter of any debt for you.
CHANGING TO A CREDIT METER Paying for energy via prepayment meter always puts you onto a variable tariff, which can be more expensive than our other credit meter tariffs as they may have better rates or discounts for paying by Direct Debit. We can change your prepayment meter to a credit meter if you have had no debt on your prepayment meter for a minimum of 12 months and you agree to pay a fee for the installation of the meter. You may need to get consent from your landlord if you are not the homeowner. What happens if we agree to install a credit meter? We ll let you know the date and time when we will come and install the meter Initially, you ll be charged on our Standard Variable Tariff from the date of the meter exchange, however you will be encouraged to switch to one of our cheaper fixed term tariffs We ll send you a pack containing your new account details and options to switch to other tariffs
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM I ve lost or damaged my key or card If you ve lost or damaged your electricity key, please call us and we will give you a special code that you can take to your nearest outlet after an hour of you calling us. The shop will then provide you with a replacement key that you will need to activate at your meter before returning to the outlet to top up. If you ve lost or damaged your gas card, please call us, we will arrange for a card to be sent to you by post, which should arrive within 3-5 working days. My top up is not showing on the meter If the payment is not showing, check: Is the card clean? Did you use the emergency credit and need to cover the 5 shortfall or any standing charges that have built up? Is there debt on your meter? Is there is an error code? If you are still experiencing problems, please contact us. I ve lost supply If your electric or gas supply goes off, first check the screen on your meter. If the meter is ON and there s credit on the meter but you have no supply to your electric or gas appliances, you should contact the National Gas Emergency Service immediately on 0800 111 999 for gas. For electricity you should contact your local electricity distribution company, take the time now to locate their contact details by searching online.
My meter is showing an error code If your meter is showing an error code or a blank display, please following the instructions below: Gas meter error codes Display What it means What you should do Card/card fail Card/card not recognised 04, 28, 35, 38 Card not accepted and M***** (M & 5 stars) Or Card not accepted and M- - - - - (M & 5 dashes) Blank display Battery low Battery fail Dashes appear on the screen Please wait There may be dust on your card, or you ve put it in the slot the wrong way round The card isn t accepted by your meter Your meter has a screen saver which will make the screen go blank when not in use to save your battery power Your battery is running low and will soon need to be replaced You are using emergency credit too much Your meter has develop a fault The meter is having trouble reading the card Clean the card with a dry cloth and try again Do not use any cleaning products. Blow into the card slot on the meter Try inserting the card, taking it out again and reinserting the card a few times Check that the card is inserted the correct way round If this does not work, please contact us for a new gas card Make sure that you re using the correct card, that it s clean and try again If your card is not accepted, please contact us for a new card Insert your card into the meter and press the red button A to reactivate the screen If your screen does not reactive, please contact us Please contact us, we need to arrange for an engineer to visit you Please contact us, we need to arrange for an engineer to visit you Please contact us, we need to arrange for an engineer to visit you Remove the card and wait 2-3 minutes be reinserting If the meter cannot read the card after reinserting it, please call us for a new gas card
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM Electric meter error codes Display What it means What you should do Error D1 Your meter is unable to read the information on your key and therefore cannot transfer credit from the key to the meter Check your key is inserted Clean with a dry cloth and try again Do not use any cleaning products Blow in the key slot on the meter Try inserting the key, taking it out again and reinserting the key a few times Check that the key is inserted the correct way round If this does not work, please contact us for a new key Error D2 Error 10, A4, B4 or D4 Error 6, B6, D6 Blank display Your meter can t read the information on your key so can t transfer the credit onto your meter Your key is programmed with the wrong meter serial number (MSN) This may have happened if you have had your meter changed A duplicate key has been inserted into the meter you may have inserted your old key from a previous supplier Your meter display is blank. Sleep mode saves battery power. Try putting the key into your meter again. If this doesn t work you ll need a new key Contact us with a note of your meter serial number (MSN), this is typically found on the left hand side of your meter about half way down. The MSN contains 9 characters Please also provide us with the following details which can be found on a label attached to your meter: Date of exchange The meter reading at date the old meter was removed The meter reading at the date the new meter was installed We will need to provide you with a new key. Check if you have more than one key. You should only use the Green Star Energy key in the meter If you have tried your Green Star Energy key and it still will not work, please contact us Insert your key into the meter and press the blue button to reactivate the screen. Hold the button down for 2-3 minutes. If your screen does not reactivate, contact us.
FIND OUT MORE More information on our prepayment meters and Pay As You Go tariff, including frequently asked questions, can be found on the Green Star Energy website. Please visit www.mygreenstarenergy.com. HOW TO CONTACT US Our opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm, and Saturday, 8am 6pm. Please note that outside our usual opening hours of 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, telephone lines for prepayment meters that are off supply will be operated by Lowri Beck. Call us on 0800 012 4510* or 0330 088 1619* from your mobile Email us at customerservice@mygreenstarenergy.com * Calls may be recorded and/or monitored for quality assurance and compliance purposes. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING GREEN STAR ENERGY.