I’d like to understand my tariff / bill

What is a standing charge?

The “Standing Charge” covers the operational costs of providing heat and hot water to your property. This includes the costs for metering and billing services, customer service, the maintenance of the external system and ensuring engineers are available should something go wrong.  We do not set your tariff or standing charge.

 

How is my tariff calculated?

We do not set your tariff or standing charge. Your tariff is made up of two parts; Standing Charge, and Variable Unit Charge.

The “Standing Charge” covers the operational costs of providing heat and hot water to your property including ensuring engineers are available to make sure you continue to receive instanteous heating and hot water.

The “Variable Unit Charge” is the unit price for the energy you use.

For more information on how your tariff is calculated, please watch our video on 'Understanding your bill'.

How do I find my tariff and standing charge details?

You can find your tariff and standing charge information in your welcome letter, on the Glass app, on your in-home display if you have a meter or itemised on your bill.

Why are prices rising?

We have seen energy costs rise across the world. So far, the UK has remained well-supplied, however we are heavily reliant on gas imports from Europe and a cold winter has put pressure on supplies reducing the amount of gas stored. There are many factors influencing the rise in energy prices, the cold weather and instability in Europe. To remain in business, energy suppliers have no choice but to pass their increased costs on to customers.

Can I change energy supplier?

No. As the heat for your property is generated from a central source, you cannot switch suppliers.

However, we work with various support organisations to ensure you are protected and treated fairly.

Learn more about these organisations and charities here.

What is the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and how can it help me?

For information on how you can benefit from the Energy Bill Relief scheme, please contact your energy supplier directly as we simply provide metering and billing services on their behalf.

What is emergency credit?

Emergency Credit provides a temporary amount of credit, in case you are unable to top up and your credit is about to run out. You will not be able to activate Emergency Credit if your credit is below zero. If you are struggling to pay for your heating, please contact us.

How do I enable emergency credit?

A low credit audible alarm will sound when little or no credit is remaining on your meter. If you have an in-home display, the alert will also be shown here, please click on this alert and press OK to confirm that you accept the emergency credit.

How much emergency credit do I get?

The amount of emergency credit that is available is fixed and is set by your energy supplier.

What is friendly credit?

Friendly credit periods are specified times during each day (6pm – 9am), and specific days (e.g. weekends, bank holidays etc) you will continue to have heating and hot water even if your credit runs out during this period.

During the friendly credit period you will still be charged for your heat. When you next top up, you will pay for the friendly credit first.

Once the friendly credit period has finished and you have no credit, your heat supply will be stopped until you purchase enough credit to repay the friendly credit amount and be in a positive credit of at least £1.00.

Please note: You must be in credit prior to entering into a friendly credit period. Please see ‘What is emergency credit?’ if you are unable to top up and your credit is about to run out.
If you are struggling to pay for your heating, please contact us.

How do I enable friendly credit?

You don’t. Friendly credit is automatically enabled on your meter.

How do I repay my used emergency credit or friendly credit?

You repay your used emergency credit or friendly credit when you next top up your meter.

Although it is useful to have the convenience of ‘Emergency’ and ‘Friendly Credit’, prepayment smart metering works best when you keep your meter topped-up. As with all prepayment meters, if you run your credit down to zero and get disconnected, you will need to top-up, so you are in positive credit of at least £1.00, in order to get your supply back on

    Get in touch

    You can call our Customer Service team, Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm
    on 0800 138 4560, email us info@lighthouse-energy.co.uk or complete the form below:

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