I am asking this question for my neighbour who uses a top up key for her electricity and a top up card for her gas, today I put £40 on each for her, she has credit on her meters at the moment, does she have to top up immediately or can she wait a while until she does so, will the money on the key/card stay there until she does, if so how long for?
Thank you
Best answer by Blastoise186
Updated on 12/08/25 by Ben_OVO
Whenever you top up at a PayPoint, we recommend you always keep your receipts. This way, if anything goes wrong, eg you lose the key with credit on it, or there’s a fault with the meter then we can check your receipt and apply the top up for you if there’s any issue. Our Support team would ask for a photo of the receipt, and our contact details can be found here:
Howdy
I’d recommend putting that credit onto the meter as soon as you can - you can do it immediately even if the meter is currently in credit as it’ll just get added to the existing balance.
For example (to keep this easy I’m using round numbers):
Your meter currently has £10 credit balance
You pop to the shop and top-up the key with £50
You transfer that credit to the meter immediately
Your PAYG credit balance on the meter becomes £10 + £50 = £60
You’ll have £60 on the meter ready to go.
The credit will stay on the key/card until it’s transferred - but it’s vulnerable to being lost if the key/card breaks so it’s definitely worth getting onto the meter quickly.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you’re still unsure.
+1Updated on 12/08/25 by Ben_OVO
Whenever you top up at a PayPoint, we recommend you always keep your receipts. This way, if anything goes wrong, eg you lose the key with credit on it, or there’s a fault with the meter then we can check your receipt and apply the top up for you if there’s any issue. Our Support team would ask for a photo of the receipt, and our contact details can be found here:
Howdy
I’d recommend putting that credit onto the meter as soon as you can - you can do it immediately even if the meter is currently in credit as it’ll just get added to the existing balance.
For example (to keep this easy I’m using round numbers):
Your meter currently has £10 credit balance
You pop to the shop and top-up the key with £50
You transfer that credit to the meter immediately
Your PAYG credit balance on the meter becomes £10 + £50 = £60
You’ll have £60 on the meter ready to go.
The credit will stay on the key/card until it’s transferred - but it’s vulnerable to being lost if the key/card breaks so it’s definitely worth getting onto the meter quickly.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you’re still unsure.
Thank you for your response, it all stems from Saturday when she ran out of credit on her gas, I went and got some for her and suggested that she add some more to her card/key today and just keep an eye on how much is left and when it gets to about £10 on each then add what is on the card/key and add more the next time she goes to the shops, I will let her know what you have said, once again, thanks
Hey
Welcome to the OVO online community,
The following topic hub may be helpful to you in future:
It might be beneficial for your neighbor to get a smart meter installed, so that they don’t have to go to the shop to top up. Or to get a pay monthly meter installed so that they don’t have to worry about going off supply.
Got a question about your Pay As You Go energy use, top-ups, keys, cards, or anything else? Why not see if you can find the answers in our dedicated PAYG Forum category.
There are also tons of helpful resources and information available on our OVO Help pages.
If you or anyone in your household is vulnerable, or just needs a little extra assistance at a difficult time in your lives, our Priority Services Register is a free support service you might find useful.
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