If you wished to have piece of mind and relax at night, knowing your electricity and gas supplier will at least ensure you are never left cold in the dark, especially during winter and in a pandemic lockdown DO NOT SIGN WITH BRITISH GAS! Topped up my electricity meter 2 days ago. The money never showed on the screen. I am a key worker, so was at work all day today. Came back to a dark, freezing flat. Smart meter has two buttons. Small button was flashing red. Pressed it. Electricity came back on again. The meter screen showed I was using credit of £5 (that's as much as it is allowed to use, after that electricity is shut down and you can't turn it on). Tried to call British Gas emergency, was re diarected to UK Power Networks automatically. No email. So decided to try online chat (this was at 7pm). Waited 30 people on the que. The customer service agent told me she'll transfer me to top up meters team. Another 30 customers and it was my turn. The person had no idea what meter was top up smart meter and gave me copy paste instructions, which made no sense and nothing to deal with my meter. When I pointed out that the instructions are telling me to press buttons on the meter that are not there. There was silence. I started asking: "shall I try pressing longer the only big existing button on the meter", "shall I see if anything might be obstructing the cables connecting the meter" (I don't know, I am not an engineer) and etc. He replied I should try all I think is right and that he will transfer me to the smart meters team. Another 31 customers and it was my turn. The person read all my correspondence with his colleagues and said he'll transfer me to a team member from another department. After another 30 customers it was again finally my turn. The chat closed off and a survey regarding British Gas customer service popped out (that was at 9:30pm). No apologies, no explanation where are my money and what's wrong with the meter or their system. The meter is currently showing £3 and by tomorrow will be off again. However, this time there is no credit. I am at work all day. And it's extremely difficult to sit on the phone for two, three hours so I can speak with very very low level incompetent trainees. All of them are. There is no other explanation. The meterr is a smart meter, obviously functioning fine but their system didn't upload the money and none of their staff acknowledged that. There is not a single one that knows what an electricity meter is. I most likely will have to find alternative accomodation untill they sort out their system. Dispicable and discussing! Side note: My top up gas meter (not a smart meter) is chargeable only by a card which I can top up in a shop 16 minutes walk from my property (not even on my way back home from work but further down). Never been asked by British Gas to change it to a smart meter and when I questioned it at the begining when I moved in 2 years ago, they said they are not yet offering this service in my area, which is only 40 minutes walk from the Cambridge City Center. What an ancient, exhausting bpractice. My parents live 15 minutes walk from me and they have British Gas representatives/salesmen almost every month on their door. Strange isn't it?!