More about Quantum gas prepayment meters

What to do if you smell gas

If you think you can smell gas or you're worried about a gas leak or something doesn't seem safe please call National Grid on 0800 111 999.

Get ready for winter

If you use the emergency credit on your gas meter too often, it may automatically turn your gas supply off, so it's best to save it for real emergencies. Your meter does this for safety reasons, by closing the valve that lets your gas through. If it happens, you'll need to let us know so we can send an engineer to turn your gas back on.

So, it's a good idea to keep your meter topped-up, especially in winter when you're likely to use more gas.

How to use your emergency credit

Quantum meters come with £5 of emergency credit. Once you've used this credit, you'll need to pay it back before you can use it again.

You can only use your emergency credit when you've got less than £2 left on your meter. To turn it on, put your Quantum card in the meter and if it asks you to, press button A. The screen will show you that your emergency credit is now on and how much money you've got left on the meter.

If you're paying back a debt through your meter

If you owe us some money and you're paying it back through your meter, it'll take 70% each time you top up. This will go towards paying off your debt and any emergency credit you've used.

For instance, if you've used £5 of emergency credit and then top up your meter by £5, the meter will use £3.50 to 'pay back' your emergency credit (70%) and you'll have £1.50 of credit left on your meter for gas. Remember, you won't be able to use your emergency credit again until it's paid back in full.

If you're paying off a debt, you'll need to top up your meter weekly, as we'll collect it every week (usually on a Wednesday).

If you don't owe us anything, all the money you top up will be credited to your meter for gas.

What do the settings on my meter mean?

• You'll be able to check your meter at any time to find out more about your top ups and what you're paying for gas. 
• To go through all the information on your meter (settings), press and hold button A until you hear a beep. 
• You'll see the first information display on the screen. Each time you press button A, a new display will appear. 
• If you don't press button A for a few seconds, your screen will go back to normal. 
• If you flick through the different displays by pressing button A, you'll notice a number in the bottom right of your screen. This number changes depending on what information display you're looking at. 
• When you get to display 24, you'll need to put your card in the meter if you want to carry on going through the displays (as well as pushing button A).

What to do if you see an error message

If the word 'Battery' appears on your screen, it means we need to replace your meter battery. Please call us and we'll sort it out for you.

If it says 'Call Help' and your gas supply is off, please let us know and we'll arrange for an engineer to call round and turn it back on again.

If you see 'Card Not Accepted' and 5 dashes please get in touch and we'll sort out the problem for you. This message could also mean that your gas supply is off. 

You can read more about prepayment meters in our help and support section