First of all, let’s check that there really is debt on your meter.

Smart PAYG Standard

You’ll be able to see your debt balance on your IHD, along with your repayment rates per day/week. Just press ‘Main Menu’ then ‘Account’ then ‘Debt’.

Traditional PAYG

On your electricity meter:

• Put in your payment key.
• Press the blue button several times until you see screen ‘S’. This will tell you how much debt is left on the meter, if any.
• Press the blue button again to see screen 'T'. This will tell you the repayment rate – so it would say '5.00' if you’re paying back £5 a week.

On your gas meter:

• Put your card into the meter.
• Press and hold the red display button until it beeps.
• Press the red button several times until you come to screen 27. This will tell you how much debt is left, if any. Screens 25 and 26 will tell you the minimum and maximum repayment rate.

By the way, screen 27 isn’t actually the 27th screen – it will say ‘27’.

Why would there be debt on my meter?

1. Debt from a previous resident

You might have recently moved into a new home and the meter already has a debt. This isn’t your debt, so we’ll need to wipe it.

Just give us a call on 0330 102 7517 and we’ll go through the meter screens with you. This will tell us exactly how to wipe it off, so we can refund you for anything you’ve paid towards it.

If the debt on the meter is over £50, you’ll need to contact us on webChat with:

• Scanned copies of your signed mortgage agreement or signed tenancy agreement.
• Photos of meter screens clearly showing the debt amount (if possible).
• Your address.
• Your Boost account number.

2. Debt from standing charge

We take a daily standing charge from the credit in your meter. But you might not be topping up enough to cover it – and your energy use.

You can find out your daily standing charge in your Boost welcome letter. Or scroll through the screens on your electricity meter until you get to screen ‘F’ or ‘4’ – or screen 17 on your gas meter.

3. Debt from emergency credit

When you’re using your emergency credit, the meter doesn’t take your daily standing charge, so it builds up as debt until you next top up and are back in credit.

4. Debt from emergency meter exchange

We always add a bit of credit after an emergency meter exchange. This is to make sure you don’t go off supply when you’re waiting for a new card.

You then need to pay this credit back, so we’ll take it from your meter at a rate of £0.75 per day.

5. Missed an appointment

If you miss an appointment, we’ll charge you. We always tell you about charges before you book.

Unless you told us you wanted to pay the charge as a lump sum, or at a different rate, we add this charge to your meters (split equally between gas and electricity). You then pay it back at a rate of £7 a week for electricity, and 20% per top-up for gas.

6. Debt

Did your previous supplier install prepayment meters to help you pay off a debt? Then it might still be on your meters. However, you don’t owe this money to Boost, so we’ll need to wipe it off your meters.

Contact us on webChat with:

• How much you owe.
• Photos of the meter screens (if possible).

You’ll also need to get in touch with your previous supplier to pay off your old debt.

*The £25 credit added to your meter by the engineer will need to be repaid, so we’ll take it from your meter at a rate of £0.75 per day.