My local area had its gas supply upgraded by northern gas from old pipes to new and when they did this they ran new gas pipes up to every property and capped them. If you used gas they attached your meter and everything was uncapped and back to normal.
We do not use any gas in our property so our supply is capped outside our property to an empty white box.
we still have the meter we always had inside the property but its not connected to a supply or any appliances (ie cooker, heating) it just sits there doing nothing.
i spoke to someone at Ovo and they wanted £80 to remove it even though it’s not connected to any supply, so we left it in as the standing charge is about the same.
We are at the end of our contract with OVO now and we will save money if we change supplier.
My questions are....do I still have to pay for both gas and electric with the new supplier?
Who does the redundant meter belong to when we do change?
Great question to ask about switching suppliers with a capped gas supply. Just for a bit of background info here’s a bit of a breakdown on who’s responsible for what in terms of your gas setup.
Can I switch with a capped supply?
You’re free to switch suppliers, even if your supply is capped. It’s worth bearing in mind that your new supplier will continue applying standing charges and take over responsibility for the maintenance of your meter. If you decide to get the meter removed after a switch your new supplier will be able to arrange this and the cost for this job may vary from supplier to supplier.
What is a 'capped meter'?
A capped meter refers to a gas supply that has been cut-off by inserting some sort of physical block into the ECV (Emergency Cutout Valve) or pipework leading to the meter. This doesn’t refer to a disconnection or dead supply. A capped supply can be uncapped, if safe to do so, by a gas safe engineer.
Can I remove a gas supply?
Even if your gas transporter has capped your supply, you’d still be listed as having an gas supply on the national database and as you’ve found are liable to continue paying a standing charge. In order to get the supply de-activated so you can stop paying this standing charge, you’ll need to contact our Support Team to schedule in a meter removal. As a non-essential maintenance job there is a charge for this however we charge these jobs at cost price and once removed you’ll no longer need to worry about the continued gas standing charges.
Morning @mikk and a warm welcome to the OVO Forum!
First thing to check - have you actually set up an account with us in your name, or is the account still in the name of ‘The Occupier’. If its an Occupier account then you’ll need to set up your account with us.
You’ll need to contact our Support Team to discuss the gas side of things. You’ll need to send them photos of the gas meter if it’s still there, or the space where it used to be if its been removed. Please note, if the gas meter is still in place you’ll still need to pay a standing charge for the gas supply. You can get the meter removed, however this does come at a cost (see the guide below).
Lastly, with the electricity smart meter, if it’s not communicating then our Support Team will be able to book an appointment for it to be replaced, free of charge. Below is a guide for diagnosing smart meter issues via your app and online account, and how to report these issues:
Please let us know how you get on with all this - we’re here to answer any more questions you may have.
Hi again Ben, sent OVO pic of the gas meter showing decommission date & person that did work. OVO ignored this & continue to bill me for estimated usage. They have now moved on to letters threatening debt collectors, any advice?
It sounds like this hasn’t been logged as a complaint - did you ask for it to be logged in this way? The fact you’ve received no response to your initial contact is now another shortfall to add to the existing complaint / the complaint once it’s actually raised.
Two options here - you could email back in at hello@ovoenergy.com, requesting that the complaint be raised. You should then receive an email back from an advisor who should raise the complaint, and provide you with a complaints reference number. They’ll also have to let you know what they’re doing to get everything fixed.
Second option - this might be slightly quicker - get in touch via Social Media, if you use it. You can reach us on Facebook and Twitter, and will receive a response on the same day. If the advisor you speak to can’t resolve it straight away, it’ll then be escalated to a Resolver (complaints handler) in that team.
Keep in touch and let me know how you get on - hopefully you’ll get a good response this time but, if not, I’ll see if I can get a colleague to check your account. Keep me posted please.
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