Does OVO have an out of hours emergency number?

What did you need an emergency electrician for @Maureen56 ?

It’s worth bearing in mind that anything NOT to do with the meter is beyond OVO’s control. Try 105 in the first instance.

I have uts a reconnecting of metre as I had it moved from inside to outside. UK PowerNetwork did the bit this morning. So just waiting for Ovo to move the metre and reconnect iu

Unsure why ovo would be sending an electrician.  If there is a generic power cut then they would be at the sub station by now I would have thought..

What was/is the issue?

Ah seen your reply now!

It's not a generic power cut my metre was disconnected by uk power network so they can put a nelew connect to the outside wall. Ovo are responsible for the metre and the reconnecting of it. They told me so themselves. A electrician was booked between 12 and 4 and didn't turn up. Now I've bee given an emergency appointment and still no one has turned up

Oh dear  that is not very good.  Hope they turn.up.soon for you.

Has anyone turned up? Have you managed to contact ovo if not?

There are not a lot of options out of hours. 

You could try a direct message via the ovo twitter or facebook page rather than a public post. 

Include your name, address, date of birth and account number to get passed security, along with your message. 

https://www.facebook.com/ovoenergy

Its 9:48 and still no engineer. Can't even get on contact with anybody

Please call us when you can to get that engineer visit today, @Maureen56: 0330 303 5063

If a visit yesterday was organised and missed you’ll be owed compensation which can also be arranged on the call. 

Who is responsible for reconnecting electricity meter when your engineer do not turn up. Its not 105 as stated on your website information. They have nothing to do with meter connection

Thank you for this information. I will be changing suppliers when this issue is resolved. I'm so disappointed with them.

Is it acceptable for OVO to make us run out of electricity before they will send an engineer out? We've been told that we have to wait for 3-5 days for a new key to arrive as the one we have won't work at all. We have £4 worth of electricity left in the prepayment meter and no way of accessing the emergency credit. £4 will not last for three days, let alone five, in a family household. All our fridge/freezer food gets ruined and we are told that , that's all "we" can do. I just can't comprehend the logic. Anyone?

It sounds here as if you may just need a new key rather than the engineer call out which will take a few more days. It would be worth calling customer services to see if they can do anything to help. For the future it may be worth looking at moving to a contract for your supply rather than pre-payment so you are not in a position of running out of electricity again.

I do not have pre-payment meters but I do support a friend who does. She lost her key. Her energy supplier (not OVO)then told her which local PayPoint outlets would have a new key. To be honest, although it is no help with your immediate problem, your best bet would be to request a smart meter that you can top up from the comfort of your own home.

Hello and thank you for the responses. To the first, yes we do need a new key, that's what we have to wait three days for, but our energy supply won't last three days. They said we have to run out of supply before they will send an engineer, which to me makes no sense as prevention is always better than the cure and won't cost us a tidy sum to re stock our fridge and freezer. But our loss doesn't matter to them, as they must be fine financially to be able to do that. We already struggle so I don't see that as acceptable as a customer of theirs. 

The lights shouldn’t go out when its not your fault. You’re apparently in the situation covered by ‘discretionary credit,’ so contact Support, explain the situation and ask for it. 

Thanks Firedog but the problem isn't our lack of funds. We manage financially, our problem is the lack of a key that allows us to top up. Ours doesn't work and we're told to wait 3-5 days for a new key. Our remaining supply won't last and they won't do anything to prevent us running out, they'll only send an engineer when we are actually sitting in the dark.

An update on this issue.

They have finally sent an email to my wife saying that they now won't make us run out of supply. Now, once our remaining supply runs out it will automatically go into debt mode and not switch off. 

Obviously this is great news, it just makes me wonder why they felt the need to stress my wife out and send her into panic mode, spending hours on the phone to be told categorically that there's nothing they can do until it runs out, when they could have just done this straight away. Seems unnecessarily cruel. 

But, that's how they want to operate and I am just relieved that it is now sorted.

Thanks for the advice.

Hi ​@Vincethecreator ,

This might be my only response this weekend as I’m currently away and I’ve pinched a random Library PC to write this, as I felt that responding to you at least once was critical.

That’d be Friendly Credit Mode - you will NOT go off supply until at least 9am Monday morning if you run out at weekends.

Your fridge/freezer can actually go for far longer than you might think without issue if there’s no power, so long as you do not constantly open/close them unnecessarily - the more you keep them closed, the longer the endurance will be without your food spoiling.

As for the previous advice… Out of Credit situations = Emergency Engineer within four hours. Other situations are standard appointments. This is why OVO needs your credit to run out first - it’s the only way to get max priority on the engineer visit. Otherwise, your replacement key should arrive in a few days - but I STRONGLY recommend you look at a Smart Meter to avoid this nightmare in future - not least because you can top-up via several methods and OVO could simply dump discretionary credit directly onto the meter for you (and give you a code to speed even that up).

My other thoughts are that PAYG might not be right for you. Please consider whether Pay Monthly may be a more suitable option as I’m picking up indicators you might be better served that way.

Please let me know if you have more questions. If I can answer them, I will (depending on internet access).

Sorry I can’t help with your issues with Key I don’t have a prepayment meter well not in nearly 40yrs We used 10p to feed it back then  

anyway my reason for contributing is should the lights go out  you’re fridge freezer are at risk You can help slow down any defrost by filling/packing the freezer so no air can circulate by filling in any gaps with clothing, maybe use towels, but anything you can put your hands on easily, and pack it tight  it will slow down any defrost considerably  

Make sure your phones are charged and any power packs before your meter turns off  

I hope this is helpful  

Do you have young children elderly or disabled living in household the sign up for Priority Services Register You get prioritised help if you have vulnerable person/ people living in property 

Hope you get sorted quickly 

New update. Our electricity supply has now gone off as they only agreed to let us not run out over the weekend. In a new twist, we are now told that they won't send an engineer to turn it back on again unless we let them put in a smart meter!

It's a massive joke of the unfunniest kind. OVO is a massive pile of unmentionable.

So we actually will be sitting in the dark with no light or heat until a new key may show up. Given royal mail's record for timely delivery at the moment I don't have much optimism.

That’s entirely your choice - 

You don’t have to sit in the dark.

You can have a shiny new meter in a few hours, or you can wait a few days for a card for your old meter.

And yes a new meter will be a smart meter, nobody makes ‘dumb’ meters anymore and all new meters are smart meters.
It’s the only type of new meter that engineers have on their vans to be fitted.

Your existing meter is going to need replacing anyway, when it’s certification runs out which will  probably be fairly soon, so why not do it now?

(Or to put it another way - Why freeze off your nose to spite ypur face?)

Yes, thanks Nukecad but you're kind of missing the point. 

I don't need a new meter, they are just trying to force us to have one rather than keeping our supply on. They CAN keep it on when they choose to, they CAN top it up from their end as they have done before during different circumstances, they CAN do many things rather than force us to have a meter we don't want. The constant problems I read and see from people who have them doesn't fill me with confidence that it's an 'upgrade'. 

So once again, thanks but I don't find you patronising me helpful. 

The point made is their refusal to help in ways they can, rather than ways they want.

Lastly, we do actually intend to get a smart meter when we are ready to do so. A company should not be forcing us to change rather than do what is in their means to do.

Actually, topping up a key meter is impossible to do remotely - an engineer has to be sent out with a Portable Support Unit and plugging it into the meter itself for that as it’s the only way.

You’re thinking of RTI (Remote Token Issue) Codes which are only useful if your key is working, which it is not. Sure, OVO could issue one, but with no working key you can’t use it.

Smart Meters are the only ones that can be topped up remotely.