Pay As You Go meters: how do they work?
07 January 2025 | OVO
Most people in the UK pay their energy bills monthly. But with a Pay As You Go meter, you pay for your gas or electricity in advance.
According to Ofgem, around 4 million people had a Pay As You Go electricity meter in the UK in 20231.
Are you already a Pay As You Go customer, or are you wondering if a Pay As You Go meter could be right for you? Read on to find out everything you need to know.
What is a Pay As You Go meter?
A Pay As You Go meter works in a similar way to a Pay As You Go phone contract. You top up the meter with credit to pay for your energy, and then, as you use the gas and electricity in your home, the credit goes down.
You can get both gas and electricity Pay As You Go meters. If you have a traditional meter, you’ll top it up using a card or key, which you take to your local Pay Point, Payzone or Post Office, to top up with credit.
As with pay monthly energy meters a lot of Pay As You Go customers now have smart meters installed. Smart meters are connected remotely to your energy supplier. This means you can easily top up online or on the OVO Energy Top-up app, and keep track of how much energy you’ve used.
How is Pay As You Go different from other payment methods?
If you’re on Pay As You Go, that means you pay for your energy use ahead of time. You top up your Pay As You Go electricity or gas meter, then use the credit you’ve paid for.
On other types of payment methods, you’ll be charged for your energy either every month or every 3 three months. This can be paid after you’ve used the energy and been sent a bill, or more often by setting up a monthly Direct Debit.
How do Pay As You Go energy meters work?
If you have a traditional Pay As You Go meter, you’ll usually need a key or card to top it up. You should be able to top up by taking the key or card (or, for some older meters, a token) to a Paypoint, Payzone or Post Office.
Pay Go You Go smart meters can make topping up a bit easier. You can download the OVO Energy Top-up App and top up your meter without needing to go to the shops. You can also set up notifications that let you know when you’re about to run out of credit.
Pay As You Go meters: Benefits and things to be aware of
Pay As You Go meters aren’t right for everyone.
Advantages of Pay As You Go energy meters
Here are some of the benefits to being a Pay As You Go energy customer:
- You pay in advance, which means you know how much you’re spending on energy.
- If you have a smart meter, you can top up anytime using the OVO Energy Top-up app.
- You can top up at over 50,000 top-up shops.
- If you have any debt on your energy account, you can pay it off slowly over time through your meter.
- You can top up from as little as £1.
- There is emergency credit on your meter to keep you going if you run out of credit and aren’t able to top up right away.
Disadvantages of Pay As You Go energy meters
There are a few things to keep in mind as a Pay As You Go energy customer. Here’s what to expect, and some ways to help it work best for you:
- You’ll need to regularly check your credit amount and keep your meter topped up.
- If you’re using more energy than usual, it won’t be possible to spread the cost over a longer period of time.
- If your credit is below £0, you might lose power until you can top up again. We’re here to support you and stop this from happening. Please get in touch if you can’t afford to top up. Get in touch by webchat, or call us on 0330 175 9669 Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm and 9am to 5pm on weekends.
How can you owe money on a Pay As You Go meter?
While you pay upfront for most of your energy with a Pay As You Go meter, it’s possible to have an outstanding balance. This could be for a few reasons:
- Debt repayment from Pay Monthly - If you switched to a Pay As You Go account with an outstanding balance on your Pay Monthly account, the debt would have moved over too. We'll work with you to set up an affordable repayment plan and you'll pay the debt back on your Pay As You Go meter.
- Additional support credit - If you've been in touch to ask for financial support, we might have applied additional support credit to your Pay As You Go meter. We’d have also set up an affordable repayment plan with you and that is what you could be repaying through your meter.
- Emergency credit use - You might have used the emergency credit in your meter to avoid losing power. This is then paid back from your next top-up. If that’s the case, try to top up enough to pay back the emergency credit, and still have credit left for your energy use.
- Standing charge - You pay a daily standing charge. If you’ve missed one because there wasn’t enough credit on your meter, it’ll be repaid from your next top up.
What if I lose my top-up key or card?
If you lose the key or card needed to top up your Pay As You Go meter, please get in touch with us by webchat or by calling 0330 175 9669. We can help by arranging for you to collect a new key or card from your local top-up shop. If you don’t need them urgently we can also send you a new set in the post.
Got a smart meter? You might be able to top-up without needing a new card by using the OVO Energy Top-up app – you can download it from Apple App Store or Google Play. For more info on what to do if you lose your key or card see this help page.
How to move to a Pay As You Go meter
If you’re an OVO pay monthly customer and you’d prefer to pay for your energy in advance you can contact us to ask to move to Pay As You Go. Any change to your prices would be explained before your move and confirmed in your Pay As You Go welcome letter.
This move does depend on the type of meter you have installed. With a smart meter, it might be possible to change the mode of your meter from pay monthly to Pay As You Go, without needing to change the meter or visit your home.
If you’ve got a traditional pay monthly meter, before we change your payment method we’d need to arrange for an engineer to visit your home to replace your meter. A smart Pay As You Go meter can be installed at no extra cost.