I've got no power supply, national grid confirm it's not a power cut and nothing odd on fuse box - How can I get help from OVO on the weekend?

I have a tenant with a PAYG meter, her power is cutting out every 10-15 seconds. She’s been in contact with OVO as it seems clear there is an issue with the meter. OVO have advised to get an electrician out. Our electrician says its the meter so nothing he can do about it. What do we do next? I can’t leave my tenant without power, this has been going on for days

Hi @u09lec 

Sorry to hear that, I am just a customer like you.

Your tenants should be able to request an emergency meter replacement if the electrician has checked.

It is meant to be replaced within 3 to 4 hours

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/emergency-with-your-meter

If they refuse ask them to raise a complaint when speaking to them, but it really should not be necessary as that will slow things down.

There is more on the complaint process here.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

You could also contact your electricity DNO to check if there are any issues in your area or if they want to investigate the supply to the building or the main cut out fuse located near the meter.

https://www.energynetworks.org/customers/find-my-network-operator

It would help if you post how you get on as the ovo moderators will be around again in the morning and they may have some additional advice.

I assume you are sure there is credit on the meter.

Could you post a photo of the meter on the forum?

Did the electrician think it was a meter issue specifically?

Do you know if it is a smart or traditional pre payment meter?

Fingers crossed you make progress.

You mean her lights have been going on and off every 10-15 seconds for days? That sounds very uncomfortable, and equally unlikely. What are the precise symptoms she’s seeing?

I’m not saying that the meter’s not at fault, just querying the fault description.

That kind of behaviour sounds like the meter might be in a Load Limiting mode where the customer is only allowed to use so much power at once and/or per day. It’s not used much in the UK, but it does get used and is not the result of a faulty meter if it’s intentionally enabled by the supplier.

Load Limiting is only ever used as one of the more extreme last-resort debt management options. No-one ever uses it just because someone is say, one month behind but working with the supplier on a solution.

Your tenant should try reducing how much stuff they have on for a few hours to let the “credits” build back up - this may help both resolve the issue and prove/disprove my theory.

When enabled, should the power load be too high and all the Load Limiting credits get used up, the meter WILL disconnect you for about 15 seconds and you need to use that time to shut down all unimportant stuff. It’ll reconnect afterwards and remain on provided you remain within the limits - it’s usually enough to run a few lights and basic appliances.

The meter grants credits every few milliseconds and checks the balance of them roughly once every 15 seconds - reacting appropriately based on that check.

These Credits will build up if you’re below the limit and deplete if you’re above it.

You may be able to ask to have these limits removed if they’re currently enabled.

Hey @u09lec 

Sorry to hear about the issue your tenant is experiencing, but our volunteers have offered some good advice here.

Did they get in touch with Support again, and is the issue resolved?

I switched to OVO from another supplier and since yesterday I don’t have power supply. Agents was not at all helpful, kept transferring to different departments. An emergency engineer visit was booked for yesterday and they didn’t show up. Now after contacting customer support since morning today managed to get another emergency appointment booked and I am hopeless with any engineer visiting the property. I’m afraid I have to just live like this until the engineer chose to visit. 

Hi @RChandran ,

I need to ask a couple of things.

Are you Pay Monthly or Pay As You Go?

Do you have Smart Meters?

Can you post photos of the meter(s)?

Engineer visited just now, I hope the issue is sorted as I have power supply now. 

Hey @RChandran 

Glad to hear the engineer arrived and the supply was restored.

Always feel free to pop back to the Forum if you’ve ever got a question.