[JuliePhillips]

I currently have less than £1 of emergency electric left & I don't get paid until Wednesday night.
I use roughly £1.60p electric per day, so my electric wont last until i'm paid.

As far as I understand i can't get a Power Up loan because i'm at the £50 limit.
I'm assuming there's nothing else I can do to tide my electric over until I get paid? (I'm on the priority list if that helps)

When i am able to buy credit i know I'll have to buy more than £15 of electric to repay the emergency.
20% of my top-ups go towards paying back my previous Power Up, so does that mean I need to buy at least £18 ? (Which is £15 +20%)
Does it make any difference if i top up while I'm still on emergency credit Or if i've run out completely?

[Dean]

@JuliePhillips

I am sorry to hear that your are running low on credit,


You’re right that if you’ve already reached the £50 Power Up limit, you won’t be able to get another one right now.

However because you’re on the Priority Services Register though, it’s still really worth getting in touch with Us directly
We can sometimes look at extra support depending on your situation, especially if you’re at risk of losing supply.


With your credit, you’ve got the right idea. The emergency credit (around £15) gets paid back first, then 20% of any top-up goes toward your existing Power Up.

• So if you topped up £18, £15 would clear the emergency, leaving £3 — then 20% of that (£0.60) goes to your Power Up, so you’d only have about £2.40 usable. That’s why you usually need a bit more than £15 to actually see any positive balance after.

It doesn’t really make a difference whether you top up before or after it runs out in terms of cost, but it’s definitely better to do it while you’ve still got emergency credit so you don’t lose supply.


At this point your best option is to contact Us on the phone or our Live chat as soon as you can, explain you’ve got less than £1 left, you don’t get paid until Wednesday, and you’re already at your Power Up limit they may be able to help further because you’re on the priority list and if your eligible.


Hope you can get something sorted quickly 🤞