Please find below answer to commonly asked questions. If you cannot find the answer to your query, please call our customer service team on 0808 208 0063 who will be happy to help you.
Who are Vital Energi?
Vital Energi is a renewable energy company who have been selected by your housing provider to provide metering, billing &/or maintenance services to your property. For over 30 years Vital Energi have helped to develop, deliver and expand the UK’s district heating infrastructure ensuring quality at every stage of development and delivery.
When is the Vital Energi Customer Services team available?
Our customer service team are available between 8am and 6pm Monday - Friday. Outside these hours you can send an e-mail enquiry which will be responded to within normal working hours or, in the case of an emergency, you can contact your housing provider’s out of hours team.
How can I contact the Vital Energi Customer Service Team?
You can contact our customer service team by telephone on 0808 208 0063 or by emailing billing@vitalenergi.co.uk.
What is vPro?
vPro Energy Metering System (vPro:ems) is a SMART heat metering solution that helps you to understand, budget and control your heat energy consumption. It may also be known as vPro 1 or vPro 2.
It connects to your energy supply to provide information directly to you through your vPro In-Home Display (vPro IHD). The vPro IHD provides key information, such as your current energy consumption, remaining balance and an estimation of the number of days until your top up runs out (this is based on your previous consumption).
What happens if I lose my pre-payment card?
If your vPro payment card is lost or stolen please call our Customer service team on 0808 208 0063. The team will arrange for a replacement card to be issued, but please be aware charges for replacement cards will apply. Each card is unique to your meter, so there is no risk of losing any credit.
Will I receive a bill?
The vPro system is a pay as you go (PAYG) prepayment system. You will add credit to your meter in order to use the utility.
What happens if I run out of credit?
For convenience, emergency credit and friendly credit can be provided, however, you should top up your meter to ensure a continued energy supply.
What if I have no heat and hot water but do have credit on my meter?
Please report the issue to your housing provider’s repair / maintenance team.
I am spending too much on my vPro Meter?
Check the following;
I'm struggling to top-up my meter
If you are struggling to pay for your heating and hot water, please contact our customer service team on 0808 208 0063 and they can discuss the options available to you or sign-post you to other support organisations.
Can I see how much Heat or Electricity I have consumed?
Your In-Home vPro display can show you information on how you have used heat in the past by tapping on “Usage History”. You will be able to see your consumption data for up to the last 12 months.
Can I see which tariff my meter is on?
Yes. To view your tariff details, simply tap on the Tariff button on your in home display. Details of your tariff will also be detailed in the “Welcome Pack” you received from your Housing Association.
Can I check my environmental impact?
By tapping “CO2' then 'Utility” on the menu screen on your in-home display you can see information about your carbon emissions. This will give you a range of data including your monthly and yearly CO2 missions.
How do I top-up my meter?
PAYPOINT
ONLINE
GLASS APP / PORTAL
TELEPHONE
DIRECT DEBIT
How much can I top up?
The minimum amount you can top up is £5. The maximum amount you can top up at any one time is £100.
How long will my top-up take to reach my vPro meter?
Top-ups usually arrive within 20 minutes. This may vary depending on the mobile signal around your property.
My credit has not arrived at my vPro meter
Your vend code is printed on your Paypoint receipt and you will be able to enter the code manually if you have the receipt. If you have lost your receipt you can find the vend code on the Glass app or portal. This is located on your home page, you will find these by clicking on the relevant payment under the Payment History section.
If your credit has not been added automatically to your vPro meter, then you can manually type in your vend code through your vPro In Home Display.
vPro 1 (200 account number) - Menu – Vend Codes – Enter Vend Code – Utility
vPro 2 (211 account number) - Menu – Account - Utility
When I type in my vend code, I get an error message?
After you have inputted your vend code manually, you will see one of the following messages:
Accepted - This means you credit has been added successfully.
Duplicate Token - The credit will already have been added to your meter.
Incorrect Token - You will have input the vend code incorrectly.
Please note: if your code is 60 digits it will appear on your Paypoint receipt on 3 lines. This is one complete vend code and you will have to input all 3 lines as one code.
I have run out of Electricity credit and my Top up is showing on my IHD but the electricity has still not resumed?
vPro 1 (200 account number) - You will be required to reset the Electricity meter by pressing and holding down the zero button on your electricity meter for approx 3-4 seconds.
vPro 2 (211 account number) - Via your IHD you will see a messaged asking you to restore your supply. If your IHD is not working you can reconnect your supply via the Electricity meter - activate the keypad - Press ‘A’ (blue) followed by ‘A’ again then press ‘B’ (red).
This will reinstate your electricity supply
If my account is a duel-fuel supply, will the same pre-payment card work for both my heat energy and electricity meters?
No, each card is unique to its own meter in order to make them secure, so top-ups cannot be made on one card and transferred to another.
How will I be charged and what will be included on my bill?
Within your home is a Hydraulic Interface Unit (HIU) and a heat meter which measure the amount of heat and hot water that you use. This meter is automatically read remotely at least once a month, and this information is sent straight to Vital Energi so we don’t need to enter your property, and it saves you from having to send us your monthly readings. These readings are then used to calculate your bill, making sure you only pay for the amount you have used. Please have a look at the tariffs document in your Welcome Pack for more information about how your tariff is calculated.
I'm struggling to pay for my heating and hot water
If you are struggling to pay for your heating and hot water, please contact our customer service team on 0808 208 0063 and they can discuss the options available to you or sign-post you to other support organisations.
What is Emergency Credit?
Emergency Credit provides a temporary amount of credit, in case you are unable to top up your meter and your credit is about to run out.
How do I enable my Emergency Credit?
A low credit alarm will sound from your meter when your credit is low. An alert is also shown on your in-home display. Click 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 heat/electricity supplier.
What is Friendly Credit?
Friendly Credit periods are specified times during each day (6pm – 9am), and specific days (e.g. weekends, bank holidays, New Year etc) where your meter will not stop your heat energy supply even if your credit runs out. During the friendly credit period you will still be charged for your heat. When you next top up your credit, your friendly credit will be paid first before any additional credit is applied. Once the friendly credit period has finished and you have no credit, your heat supply will be stopped until you purchase sufficient credit to pay for more than the friendly credit.
How do I enable Friendly Credit?
Friendly credit is automatically enabled to your meter and friendly credit periods are updated via your top up vend codes.
How do I repay my used Emergency Credit or Friendly Credit?
When you next top up your credit, your emergency credit fund will be topped up first so you will need to top up more than the emergency credit you have used.
Although it is useful to have the convenience of emergency and friendly credit, Pay As You Go (PAYG) smart metering works best when you keep your meters topped-up. As with all PAYG 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
Who will maintain and service the heat interface unit in my home?
The maintenance team selected by your housing provider, will maintain you heat interface unit. Details of who is responsible for maintenance at your site will be detailed in the Welcome Pack you received from your housing provider.
Can I turn the heating on and off when I want to?
Yes, the same as you can with a conventional boiler system.
Can I control the temperature, the same way as a convention boiler system?
Yes, you can control your system in exactly the same way, through a programmer, thermostats and/or radiator valves.
Am I spending too much on my heating?
If you are worried you are spending too much on your heating, please carry out the following checks before contacting your housing provider to arrange for an engineer to visit and check the efficiency of your system.
If you are struggling to pay for your heating and hot water, please contact our customer service team on 0808 208 0063 and they can discuss the options available to you or sign-post you to other support organisations.
The amount of energy you use can depend on a variety of reasons, including it being the 'heating season' (October - March) where we typically use more energy given the colder months.
If you are concerned, please carry out the following checks on your heating system before contacting your Housing Association/Services provider.
Following carrying out these checks, please contact your housing association, landlord or managing agent. If you own the property, please contact our team.
My in-home display (IHD) is not working
Lost hub or Lost Heat Meter message on in home display (IHD)
Error code 254/255 Zigbee network showing on in home display
Please report the issue to your housing provider’s repair / maintenance team.
Do I need to notify you when I move into my property?
Usually no, as your housing association or landlord will have notified us prior to you moving into the property.
Do I need to notify you when I move out of my property?
No, your housing association or landlord will notify us once you have moved out of the property in preparation of a new tenant moving in. It is advisable to take a photograph of the meter showing any positive balance you may wish to reclaim.
Do you need to read my meter?
If you have one of our vPro meters installed at your property, you do not have to take meter readings, this is done remotely by our system.
I have credit on my meter when I move out, how do I get a refund?
If you have a confirmation photo of your balance, we ask you to contact your housing association or landlord for this refund.
If you decide to rent your property to new tenants, and you would like us to send bills to the new tenant, you must notify us through our Glass App.
To request a New/Change of Tenancy Notification form, please log into the Glass App to complete the process. If you do not let us know that your property is being rented out, we will continue to address the bills to you.
If the New/Change of Tenancy Form is completed online through our Glass App, we will send a Welcome Pack to the new tenant (including a direct debit mandate) and will issue bills to them during the period of their tenancy. The Customer Supply Agreement between you and your provider remains in place, and you will continue to be responsible for all heat consumption and standing charges in the event your tenant does not pay their bill, or during any periods of non-occupancy.
Our preferred method of payment from a new tenant is direct debit, however, you may wish to have a pre-payment meter installed so that your tenant pays for all variable and standing charges through this system. Please be aware that there is a cost associated with this, and prices are available on request.
We recommend that you take independent legal advice from a solicitor when you put your tenancy agreement in place to enable you to recover sums relating to utility supplies from your tenant through your tenancy agreement.
Please note that if you are renting your property through a management or letting agent and you would like the agent to act on your behalf, you must provide their details to us by emailing billing@vitalenergi.co.uk, together with written confirmation from you that you authorise them to act on your behalf.
Can I change supplier?
No. Unfortunately, it is not possible for you to change suppliers for your heat and hot water. If you have any concerns or queries about this then please feel free to contact us.
We are developing the home customer area of our website and would really appreciate your feedback. If you need to speak to the team regarding a payment query or issue with your heating system please call 0808 208 0063.
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