Frequently Asked Questions

Who are topupmeters?

Topupmeters are a company specialising in remote prepayment smart meters for quick and easy meter top-ups using a credit or debit card from anywhere in the world.

Who can use topupmeters?

The topupmeters service is designed for landlords and property managers who require their tenants or licencees to pay for their energy consumption on a prepayment basis. For example a holiday home site that has several homes with their own electricity and gas supply. Or an apartment block with multiple dwellings where each of the tenants pays for their own electricity and gas usage.

How do I top-up my meter?

Start by visiting our secure website at www.topupmeters.co.uk. Simply follow the instructions to enter the meter serial number and PIN, then select the amount and enter your card details to make payment. After payment is accepted the top-up amount is instantly sent to the meter. The payment then goes to the owner’s account for paying their energy supplier.

How the top is up sent to the meter?

All topupmeters have a GPRS module with a network resilient SIM card that will scan for the strongest available network operator. This provides a reliable link to the meter for sending credit topups.

How can I manually top-up the meter?

In the event that the meter is unable to receive a topup due to poor signal quality it is possible to manually enter the 20 digit UTRN code using the 2 buttons on the front of the meter.

  1. Hold down on Emergency Credit for 5 seconds until the display shows 2 rows of zeros.
  2. Tap Emergency Credit to increment the first digit by 1 until the first number of the code is entered.
  3. Then press Cycle Display to move to the next digit until all numbers are entered.

If you need to go back a digit then hold down Cycle Display for 5 seconds until the previous number flashes and continue.

What are the advantages of the topupmeters sytem?

For landlords

  • Payments received instantly when a tenant adds credit to their meter. No more chasing debts or handling cash payments.
  • No need to engage with tenants in the event of a failed top-up as codes can be manually entered at the meter.
  • Online monitoring to keep track of energy consumption and billing history.
  • No vendor equipment needed, everything is web based.
  • Low running cost of the prepayment service and low meter cost compared to competitors.
  • Annualised costs can be recovered from the tenant via standing charges - No cost to operate the system for the landlord.

For tenants

  • Top-ups are made with credit or debit cards, no more finding the right change! .
  • Send credit to the meter anytime and from anywhere in the world! .
  • Manual entry from the meter interface in the event of failed remote top-up.
  • Topupmeters use Stripe to process card payments. When you select an amount to top-up we will add the Stripe charge fees on to the amount which gets charged to your credit or debit card. The service charge is 1.4% plus 20p. For example a top-up of £10 will add 34p for the service charge.



How do owners get paid from top-ups?

The topupmeters service uses Stripe to handle card payments. All owners will need to setup a merchant account with Stripe before payments can be received from customer top-ups. The merchant setup process only takes a couple days for activation.

What does the topupmeters system cost?

Smart Meter Pricing
Emlite Topupmeters EMA1.y GPRS Smart Meter £120.00 + VAT RRP
ATEX Gas Pulse Sender £80.00 + VAT RRP
Prepayment service - Electric Subscription Price Daily standing charge to tenant
Annual payment £66.00 + VAT 22p
Prepayment service - Dual Fuel Subscription Price Daily standing charge to tenant
Annual payment £76.00 + VAT 25p



The annual charges are calculated from the costs of payment transactions, cellular network charges and system costs. Volume price breaks are available upon request. Contact sales@topupmeters.co.uk