I've just moved into a new home- It's PAYG & I want to change to PAYM?

I am in the process of purchasing a house that has prepaid/PAYG meters for the gas and electricity. What it the process to have these replaced for a standard/smart meter.

Hi @Lozza ,

Generally, the process is to sign up with the existing supplier first - you need to do this anyway even for Prepayment Meters.

Once that’s done, you can ask that supplier to move you to Pay Monthly by contacting their customer service team. They’ll do the rest - if the meters need to be replaced, the new meters WILL be Smart Meters by default.

Thank you for your quick reply. 

Hey @Lozza, 

Congratulations on your house purchase 🎉 I hope everything goes smoothly for you as I know how stressful it can be at times. We have a really useful article that I can share below that has plenty of useful information on what the move in process looks like! 

You can also follow this link to get a quote based on your new property: https://products.ovoenergy.com/energy/get-quote

@Blastoise186 is correct regarding the smart meter. If you have a traditional meters that use a key/card then once you choose a supplier they can arrange to have these meters exchanged for smart meters at your convenience. We don’t charge for this service so please keep that in mind. 

If you have any follow up questions then don’t hesitate to let us know. Keep us updated with your journey! 

Hi @ChristopherS_OVO 

One more question, I have attached a picture of pay as you go meter. When I was in the property I couldn't find any way of taking a meter reading. Is it possible to get a meter reading off the pay as you go meter? If so what is the procedure to do that? 

Thanks 

Lauren 

Push button 9.

This should answer most of your questions: 

Just a note that (as the full guide mentions), 9 will bring up the Total Import register as well as any Export reading. 
If the property is on Economy 7, then you will find the peak and off peak readings via button 6.

Sorry to confuse things but just being clear. 

Just so you know, you can’t submit manual readings to your supplier if they come from Prepayment Meters and Smart Meters in Prepayment Mode. They get submitted automatically whenever you top-up (for Key/Card Meters) or daily (for Smart Meters).

Taking manual readings will only be useful for your own records in such cases.

… Lauren is buying the property where this meter is located. It’s pretty important to take meter readings on takeover, to avoid having to pay any debt owed by the previous owner. 

This is an eight-year-old SMETS1 smart meter, which may or may not be behaving like a SMETS 2 meter. If it’s working properly, there should be no problem changing to credit mode; Support will be able to advise once she’s taken over the supply. If it is working, there’s no need to have it replaced yet; it has at least two years of life left, and probably quite a few more. 

Lauren should also make sure that the In-House Display (IHD) is in the property. It belongs to the supplier and should stay there on change of ownership.

I hope this advice helps @Lozza, If you have any other questions pop back anytime 😊

Hi ​@Mazzz ,

Please call 0330 175 9669 to get an account set up if you haven’t already. If you want to switch to Pay Monthly, you’ll be able to do that in the same call and have the Meter switched to Credit Mode by remote control - that Meter does not need to be replaced in order to action said migration.

You can also switch supplier freely if you wish, but you MUST register your own account with the Existing Supplier first - you cannot leave until you have done that.

SMETS stands for Smart Meter Engineering Technical Specifications, basically a long boring document that defines a standard for how Smart Meters work in the UK.

I am a tenant in an apartment and now wish to have a smart meter. I tried to go online but it seems the Landlord's name is listed as the account holder. How can I get a smart meter? 

Hi ​@Lordnelson01 ,

I’m guessing you fell into the trap of just using the existing Key/Card as-is without telling OVO you moved in. Would I be right in thinking that? If so, that really isn’t how this is meant to work - you need to create your own account as soon as you move in so that you have control of the supply! For anyone reading this, NEVER just blindly grab the existing key/card and assume it’ll just work fine without you telling the supplier - it won’t.

To fix this, please contact OVO Support and open an account. You can do this via Live Chat at https://ovoenergy.com/help where you can explain the situation and set yourself up properly with an account in your name.

You’ll be able to request Smart Meters and - if you wish - a migration to Pay Monthly at the same time.

Hope this helps!

And just to add that it is the tenant’s right to choose who supplies their energy, what tariff they have, and whether they want PAYG or credit metering (a smart meter can do either one).

The landlord cannot insist that the tenant uses any particular company. tariff, or metering type.

Hey ​@Lordnelson01, 

Some of our community members have stopped by with some really good advice so far. 

 I've created a guide that you might find helpful, and I'll leave it below:

Hopefully this helps!