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Find help and advice from Ecotricity’s customer support team and our contact details if you need to get in touch.
Price Change FAQs
Most popular FAQs
Struggling to pay?
If you’re worried about paying your energy bills and struggling to make ends meet, we’re here to help. We can discuss a variety of different options to pay and offer additional support – the most important thing is that you contact us as early as you can. The earlier we hear from you, the sooner we can work with you to help make paying your bill as easy as possible.
It’s easy to get in touch
If you're a domestic customer:
Just give us a call if you're struggling to pay, on 01453 761 350 or freephone 0800 917 9525. We're open from 8.30am – 6pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am - 5pm Friday and 9:30am - 1pm Saturday.
Send us an email at credit.support@ecotricity.co.uk
Or write to us at Collections Team, Ecotricity, Lion House, Rowcroft, Stroud, GL5 3BY or Collections Team, FREEPOST ECOTRICITY.
If you're a business customer:
Please contact us on 01453 790 255 or at BusinessCredit@ecotricity.co.uk
There are lots of ways we can help
We can set up an interest free payment plan that covers your ongoing monthly energy usage as well as putting something towards the debt. We’ll just need to ask you a few questions to understand your situation and work out something that’s affordable for you.
Switch your meter to Pay As You Go to help you budget and manage your energy usage. We can agree an affordable weekly amount with you to pay back the debt through the meter. Pay As You Go may not be right for you if you rely on energy for things like medical equipment or refrigerated medication.
You can pay your bills directly from your benefits under the Fuel Direct scheme. To find out more, please visit the Government website: Help paying bills using your benefits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
What will happen if I don’t pay, or I don’t contact you?
If you don’t pay or contact us, the action we may take include:
Escalating your account to a third-party debt collection agency – they’ll contact you on our behalf.
Home visits – we’ll visit you at home and any charges incurred will be passed on to you.
Fitting a Pay As You Go meter - we would obtain a warrant of entry to come and exchange your credit meter for a Pay As You Go meter (whether you’re there or not). There’ll be a charge that will be passed on to you.
Legal action – including obtaining a County Court Judgement which will impact your credit rating. Any charges incurred will be passed on to you. This may mean you will be less likely to be successful in applications for things like mortgages, loans, or mobile phones.
Sharing your data with credit reference agencies – which will impact your credit rating. This may mean you’ll be less likely to be successful in applications for things like mortgages, loans, or mobile phones.
This is why it’s really important that you get in touch – we’re here to help.
Frequently asked questions
Saving Energy
For energy advice which can help you to reduce your bills or help you be more energy efficient:
What if I can’t afford to pay my monthly energy usage?
There are still things we can do to help – please contact us so we can work together to come to a suitable resolution.
What if I can pay my monthly energy usage but I can’t afford to pay anything towards the debt?
Please continue to pay your monthly energy usage and contact us so that we can discuss options for your debt.
I’m no longer a customer of Ecotricity but I owe money on my final bill. What help is there for me?
If we no longer supply energy to you but you owe money on your final bill, we can set up an interest-free payment plan for you to pay the debt off in manageable instalments. We’ll just need to ask you a few questions to understand your situation and work out something that’s affordable for you.
What happens if my Direct Debit is returned unpaid?
We’ll always attempt a second collection, usually between 5 to 10 working days later. If the Direct Debit fails a second time, your direct debit will be automatically cancelled and no further payments will be taken. It’s important for you to contact us if you know you’re struggling and can’t pay your bill or arrangement. We can then discuss what to do and support you further.
What will you do with the information I provide?
Please read our Privacy Policy.
I’m a Pay As You Go customer and I’m struggling to top up
If you’re unable to top up due to financial difficulties, please call us on 01453 761350 or 0800 917 9525. We’ll need to ask you a few questions to understand your situation and work out your options.
If you’re using a food bank you may be given a fuel voucher. You can take the voucher to a shop with a PayPoint machine to top up your key/card – find your nearest shop here: Find your local PayPoint store. If you have a Pay As You Go Smart top up card, you’ll need to call us to use the voucher on 0345 812 4444 or freephone 0800 917 9525
Emergency credit on your Pay As You Go meter
There is an emergency credit of £10 that allows you to keep your power on even when your balance has run out.
How to use emergency credit on your Pay As You Go meter (Non-Smart)
If your meter runs out of credit, your electricity and gas will switch off. For this reason, we recommend you always keep a £10 float on your meter. For those rare times when it does happen, an emergency credit facility allows you to borrow £10 to see you through until you can get to a top up outlet to purchase more credit.
If you need emergency credit, just insert your key into the meter, press the meter display button and follow the instructions to activate your emergency credit. Once it’s activated, the meter will display an “E”. Using emergency credit regularly isn’t recommended – it should only be used in an emergency.
Debt repayment or standing charges are NOT collected from emergency credit. So, when you next top-up you’ll need to top-up the amount of emergency credit used, plus any outstanding debt or standing charges to get your meter back into credit. Display B will show you how much to top-up to clear what’s owed. If you don’t top-up enough after using your emergency credit, your electricity and gas will remain off.
How to use emergency credit on your PAYG Smart Meter
If you’ve got a Smart Meter you’ll have access to something called friendly credit during times we’re not open, or are closing soon – for more information, visit Help with Pay As You Go
Topping up in the summer to avoid standing charge build up
Please remember to keep topping up your meter during the summer months to avoid standing charge build up. Otherwise, if you only start topping up in the winter months, you’ll need to repay the amount that’s built up and this will impact the amount of energy you have available when you really need it.
Organisations that may be able to support you further
MoneyHelper
MoneyHelper provides access to free, confidential and independent advice straight away for customers who live in England and are not already in a debt solution.
You won’t need to pay for the advice you receive and speaking to them won’t affect your credit rating.
By contacting us, we can get you immediate telephone support with a Moneyhelper adviser following a call with one of the Ecotricity team on 01453 761350 or freephone 0800 917 9525.
If you’d prefer to submit your own details for an immediate or scheduled call-back from a debt adviser or to be connected with an online self-help tool, please visit https://adviser.moneyhelper.org.uk
Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
Your local CAB can give you advice about ways to manage your debts and other legal matters:
England & Scotland Consumer Service: 0808 223 1133
Wales Consumer Service Welsh Speaking: 0808 223 1144
The Citizens Advice website also has lots of great advice.
StepChange Debt Charity
StepChange is the UK’s largest debt charity, offering free, independent advice. Give them a call free on
0800 138 1111 or visit stepchange.org
National Debtline
The National Debtline charity also offers free, independent advice. Give them a call on 0808 808 4000 or visit nationaldebtline.org
Charis Grants
Call 01733 421021 or visit charisgrants.com to check that you’re getting everything you’re entitled to. They may be able to offer grants to help clear some of your debts too.
Turn2us
Turn2us is a national charity that helps people in financial hardship gain access to welfare benefits, charitable grants and support services. Visit their website at turn2us.org.uk.
Scope
Scope offer free energy advice to disabled people, helping them to manage their energy needs, as well as practical advice and emotional support through their helpline, online community and advice and support pages.
We are currently investigating taking part in the Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) for Winter 23/24. Further details will be published on our website as soon as we have them. DFS is the National Grid ESO scheme which incentivises customers to reduce their energy usage at times of peak use.
Smart meters
If you’ve made a payment on our automated phone line, the app, or the online account, then the credit can take up to 30 minutes to be added to your meter – although usually it happens straight away.
If you’ve been given a receipt it means that your payment has been successful. On the receipt you’ll see a 20-digit Vend Code which you can use to top up your meter manually.
If you’ve made a top up but your payment wasn’t taken, then you may need to check your bank account to ensure you had funds to cover it. If you were given an error message it may have been that our service was interrupted, and you just need to try again.
If you’re still having difficulty, then please contact us as we may be able to help.
Traditional meters
If you’ve topped up your electricity key or gas card, put it in your meter, but the credit hasn’t appeared there are a few reasons why this could be. If you’ve tried all of these things but your top up still isn’t being added to your meter, there’s no power or an error message is appearing, please get in touch with us. We may need to send out an engineer so please make sure you’re going to be in for the next few hours.
1. The key or card could need a quick clean. Use a soft cloth to wipe your key or card and try putting it back in the meter.
2. If that didn’t work, it could be that there’s something in the key or card slot. Try blowing gently into the slot to clear any dust.
3. If that still hasn’t worked, you should check to see if you topped up enough to allow the credit to come back on. If you’ve used the emergency credit on your meter, you need to pay that back in full before you can access it again. Your top up could have been added to your meter, but was used to pay back your emergency credit.
4. If you’ve not used any energy for a while, there could be a build-up of daily standing charge. The standing charge is a small payment collected from your meter every day which goes towards the cost of actually getting the energy from the grid into your home. As this is collected every day, you should keep your meter topped up for this payment to be collected from, even if you’re not using any energy. Your top up could have been added to your meter, but it was used to pay back the standing charge that had built up.
5. You can check the balance on your meter by pressing the A button. If it’s still below zero, you may need to top up some more.
If you’ve tried all of these things but your top up still isn’t being added to your meter, there’s no power or an error message is appearing, please get in touch with us. We may need to send out an engineer so please make sure you’re going to be in for the next few hours.
If you’re not sure what some of the things on your bill are, take a look at this guide on how to read your bill. If you still don’t think your bill is correct there are several things it could be. Here are the more common ones:
1. Did you give us a meter reading?
• If we don’t receive a reading, then we estimate your usage. We could’ve over or underestimated how much energy you’ve used.
• If you give us a reading now, we’ll be able to use it for your next bill to ensure that it’s more accurate.
• If you’re not sure how to then we’ve got some handy guides on how to read your meter, and how and when to give us a reading.
• If you’d like us to revise your current bill please get in touch with an accurate reading.
2. Did you give us an incorrect meter reading?
• If you’ve sent us a reading and it isn’t the right one, then we’ll change our records for your account. We’ll need you to send us a photo of the meter so that we can double check your meter reading and send you an accurate bill.
3. Is your meter reading higher than you think it should be?
• We’ve got some great advice on how to save money on your energy bills which you may want to look at to be more efficient at home.
• If you’re already careful about how much energy you use and still feel that your bill isn’t right, then please get in touch so that we can look into it.
4. Is the balance of your bill higher than usual?
• It might be that we’ve been estimating your usage for a while and have now had an accurate reading from you which was higher than our estimates. It’s really important that we get accurate readings from you to stop this happening as it can be hard to make a larger payment sometimes.
• If your bill is higher than usual and you’d like to discuss some ways that we can work together to help you pay the bill, please get in touch.
5. Are the dates on your bill wrong?
• Maybe you’ve moved in or out of your home and haven’t told us yet. In that case we’ll need to revise your bill for you. To amend the dates on your account we’ll need to see a copy of your tenancy agreement or a document showing your completion date.
• Please send it to us and we’ll correct the bill – don’t worry, just a photo will do – we don’t need the original!
6. Have you been billed on the incorrect tariff?
• If that’s the case, then we’d really like to know so that we can put you on the right tariff. If you’d like to change your tariff, all we need from you is a meter reading and to know which tariff you’d like to be on.
• Please remember that some meters will only support certain tariffs, and so if you’d like to switch to one that your meter won’t support you’ll need to talk to us about changing your meter.
7. Have you only been billed for one fuel?
• There could be a lot of reasons for that, especially if you’ve only just switched to us. Please get in touch and let us know if this is the case – it’s helpful if you can send us a photo of the meter that we’ve not billed you for, to help us look into this for you.
Once you’ve taken your meter reading, you need to send it to us so we can produce an accurate bill for you. The best way to send us your readings is through your online account or through our app. We’ll send you an email when we need a meter reading from you, and you’ll have five days to send us your reading. If we don’t receive a meter reading in that time, we’ll estimate your bill.
1. Go to online.ecotricity.co.uk or open the app on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Using the menu bar press Enter Reading.
3. Using the boxes provided enter the numbers from your meter. If you’re unsure how to read your meter, see the sections below on How to read your traditional meter or How to read your smart meter. If you have more than one meter, on the app you’ll need to scroll down to enter readings for your other meters, and on the desktop version you’ll need to go to the other tab.
4. Once you’ve put the readings in, press Submit and you’ll be asked to confirm them. Please double check your meter readings because we’ll use them to produce your bill!
Further support
If for reasons of health you are unable to read your meter, we can arrange to help you. Please call us on 0345 555 7 100 for further information.
How to submit a meter reading in the Ecotricity app
If you’d like to pay by card but don’t have internet access, then we’ve set up an automated card payment line that you can use. It’s really handy and stops you having to wait to speak to one of our agents if we’re particularly busy when you need to call us.
Just ring 01453 488101 and follow the instructions.
Click here to find out more about our Demand Flexibility Service.
The Warm Home Discount Scheme is a programme run by the government and large energy suppliers to help households living in or at risk of fuel poverty. Please bear in mind that the energy company that was supplying your electricity on 13/08/2023 will be responsible for making any warm home discount payments.
If you’re eligible for Core Group 1 or Core Group 2 in England and Wales or the Core Group in Scotland, you’ll automatically receive Warm Home Discount Scheme credit on your bill to help with the cost of heating and powering your home. It won’t affect your Cold Weather Payment or Winter Fuel Payment.
For our customers in England and Wales
In England and Wales, we can provide the Warm Home Discount for the following two groups of people:
Core Group 1: Customers who receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit.
Core Group 2: Customers on low income who receive certain means-tested benefits or Tax Credits, and have high energy costs who do not fall into Core Group 1. (Core Group 2 used to be called the ‘Broader Group’ in England and Wales.) The means-tested benefits that provide eligibility include:
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment & Support Allowance
Housing Benefit
Universal Credit
Child Tax Credit
Working Tax Credits
Pension Credit Savings Credit (PCSC)
To find out if you are eligible for either core group, check out the Government’s DWP Warm Home Discount Scheme website.
If you are eligible, the DWP will tell us and you’ll receive the payment automatically on your bill by the end of March 2024, as long as you’re named on the energy account.
If you think you’re eligible, but the DWP haven’t sent you a letter by the end of December, please call the government’s Warm Home Discount helpline – you can find more information here. Please be advised we can only provide the Warm Home Discount to we’re notified to by the DWP – we’re not able to accept direct requests.
For our customers in Scotland:
Core Group 1: Customers who receive the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit. The DWP will tell us if you’re eligible and we’ll apply the payment automatically to your bill by March 2024.
Please be advised we can only provide the Warm Home Discount to Core Group customers if we’re notified by the DWP – we’re not able to accept direct requests. If you think you’re eligible, you can find more information here.
Broader Group: Customers who receive one of these means-tested benefits:
Income Support.
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (IR ESA) which includes a support component.
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (IR ESA) where you’re a member of the work-related activity group.
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Housing Benefit.
Universal Credit where your monthly income was less than £1,418 in one or more months since 1 October 2021
Child Tax Credit awarded based on an annual household income of less than £17,005
Application Closed
We have now reached our allocated applications for this scheme. If we have further allocation once the current applications have been processed, we will re-open the application form and provide updates here in the Warm Home Discount FAQ.
All received applications are currently being processed with payments being provided before the end of March 2024. We will endeavour to ensure all customers are kept informed of the status of their applications.
How to get help if you’re struggling to pay your energy bills
If you’re finding it difficult to pay your energy bills, the best thing to do is to get in touch with us as early as you can on 01453 761 350 and 0800 917 9525. We’ll do everything we can to make paying your bill as easy as possible for you.
BT Text Relay Service
So that we can offer the best customer service to our customers with hearing or speech impairments, we’re implementing BT Text Relay Service which offers text-to-speech and speech-to-text translation service as part of our overall commitment to supporting those customers who need extra support.
How do I access the BT Text Relay Service?
This service can be used on your (smart) mobile phone or tablet. You just need to download the app on the Apple App Store (for iPhone or iPad) and at Google Play (for Android devices)
You can also download the app to your computer here.
We are also able to offer an accessible IHD
AIHDs include features such as larger, tactile buttons and a bigger screen, so the information can be displayed in a larger font. There is a speaker so that information can be played rather than read. The accessible IHDs have been developed in partnership with RNIB. (Royal National Institute for the Blind)
If you would like to request one, please email: metering@ecotricity.co.uk
Scope
We’re committed to offering the best customer service to all our disabled customers, so we’ve partnered with Scope, the disability equality charity. Scope offers Disability Energy Support, a free energy and water support service. It’s for disabled people and their families across the UK and Wales.
Their expert advisers can help with a wide range of issues. These include:
managing energy and water debt,
switching tariffs or supplier,
changing your meter,
energy and water efficiency,
free fuel vouchers (conditions apply),
contacting or complaining to your supplier,
understanding how to use your heating systems
Get free and impartial advice. Visit Disability Energy Support or call 0808 801 0828.
Scope also provide practical advice and emotional support through their helpline, online community and advice and support pages.
You can find all our domestic tariff details below.
Please note: our new rates below are inclusive of the Government Energy Price Guarantee which reduces unit rates.
If you have any questions about our tariffs, please get in touch.
You can find our Principal Terms and Conditions here.
Our Principal Terms can be found here.
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