Off gas supply with a ‘traditional’ PAYG meter with no top up card received?

Hi @juliesheshe ,

This sounds tricky. I’ve gone ahead and flagged this thread to the forum moderators as I think this might need a deeper look. I’m doing this as it sounds like you have young children, which puts you in a vulnerable position.

Please hang in there until the morning when they’ll be back. I can’t get anyone’s attention until then.

Hi @juliesheshe 

Your only alternative out of hours is to try public posting on the OVO Facebook and Twitter pages, and then sending a direct message on the OVO Facebook and Twitter pages. There are sometimes OVO  staff there out of hours 

https://www.facebook.com/ovoenergy

When sending a direct message rather than a public post, include your name, address, account number and date of birth to pass security, together with your message. You won't get an immediate response

Hey @juliesheshe,

Sorry for the issues you’re having, that sounds like a really stressful situation to be in. 

Did they install a smart meter? If so, you could request to get the functionality remotely changed to pay monthly. Or, you could wait until you are off supply and they can book in an emergency meter exchange for a pay monthly meter.

These are two short term solutions. If your meter is traditional you won’t be able to get a remote upgrade to PAYM but you could book in a smart meter exchange and then initiate the change to PAYM. 

As you have children, I’d advise getting added to our Priority Services Register.

Hope this helps, please keep us posted with how you get on.   

It @Emmanuelle_OVO 

It says a traditional’ PAYG meter was installed in the title not a smart meter so not all those options work. 

What’s the latest on this, @juliesheshe? I’m very surprised if we have fitted a non-smart meter, let alone a non-smart prepayment meter. If that’s what happened and you don’t have a means of topping up and you’re off supply, an emergency appointment is suited which ensures an engineer visit on the same day.

Calling OVO PAYG is the most affective way of booking that emergency appointment in: 0330 175 9669.  

I’m not sure that I’ve seen a traditional gas meter with a battery?

Hi @juliesheshe if you are still having issues, feel free to put some photos of your meters here and i am sure someone will have a look to see what sort of meters you have and whether they can offer some further advice 

It is really torturous and problem is still not resolved yet. Being a new immigrant to UK, we're not familiar with the procedure or practice under this circumstance.  Please kindly render all your help to my case.

With the wrongly installed PAYG meter, I have not received any top up card issued by OVO ever while I'm actually in credit mode. I have made direct debit and there’s credit on my account. Yet, I have no gas supply from OVO. 

I request for urgent gas card every day and OVO could not help. In the meantime, I have to call OVO for emergency credit every day once the credit drops below £1. 

Although a smart meter appointment has been scheduled on 13/3,  i still have to spend hours to call OVO for emergency credit top up in the coming 2 weeks.

Can OVO treat my case urgently and arrange an emergency meter exchange for me, please?

@Emmanuelle_OVO @Tim_OVO Does this help you give any further advice?

Given the Support Team seem to have refused an emergency meter exchange?

Can these sort of meters be remotely changed or do they need swapping? 

Is the process the customer simply has to phone up every day for emergency credit? I actually don't know what the process is. Perhaps that is it? 

Be good if we could give some general non account specific advice before they phone up again as they seem stuck in a daily loop with Support calls. 

Hi,

Does anyone know how I can request new key cards for my pay as you go account?

I have emailed two separate emails and havent received a response from either.

Thankyou

Hello. I need to top up credit but I don't have a 20-digit code. Previously I recharged through SSE energy with a 19-digit code, but now a 20-digit code is required. Can you help me with this problem? *edited by moderator* .Thank you very much. Sincerely

Hi Zdenko…hope someone can help you with the specifics, but in the meantime for peace of mind I’d remove at least your house number from your address in your post…just to be safe. You can edit by clicking on the three little green dots bottom right of your post, select “edit”, make your changes, and then click “save”.

All the best….

Hi,

Please use the OVO Energy Top-Up app or https://ovoenergypayments.paypoint.com for this. If you don’t have the account details, call 0330 175 9669 and someone will grab them for you.

What is the average queue time, the call states ‘more than 10mins’ i’ve been in the queue for 1.10hrs. I’m trying to assist a vulnerable customer who has been without gas for 7wks due to no pay as you top up card. He has recently had a triple heart bypass. All he wants is to top up his metre! He has a speech impediment and has gotten nowhere for 7wks! 

That sounds unusual, but it does vary a lot how long you have to wait.

I’d suggest you use one of the chat options to bypass the phone queue. If you make it clear that there’s vulnerability involved, with a severe medical condition to boot, and having no gas supply, the agents will usually act pretty swiftly. You can use the Facebook Messenger button at the foot of this page to get going, or if you prefer, the X team will be there as well until this evening: (1) OVO (@OVOEnergy) / X (twitter.com)  

Off gas supply for over 40 hours despite numerous calls and endless advisor’s apologies still no resolution.

i am a pensioner with no heating or hot water but no one seems to care one advisor suggested I call cadent who are closed at the weekend. Why is it so difficult for anyone to do the job they are paid for .

3 engineers apparently booked but no show and told by advisors that they are not responsible for the engineers surely Boosts contract with them comes with some responsibility’s.

Terrible customer service none of this would happen if new gas card had been sent.

Hi @suewaine ,

Forum Volunteer here.

Based on what you said, I think you seriously need to consider switching over to Pay Monthly or at very least getting a Smart Meter to help prevent these issues. OVO and Boost both a duty of care to their customers, and I would not be surprised if they urge you to migrate to one or both of these.

At least that way, you’d either never have to worry about running out of credit, or you’d be able to more quickly top-up even if the gas card went down the back of the sofa.

I will flag this to the Forum Moderators, they will return in the morning.

With that being said, the fire service in your area may also have winter warmer packs that can help in these situations, which they often give out during home visits. I’m a volunteer for one that does and I’ve got my demo kit next to me as I type this. The contents include:

• Hot water bottle - no longer included due to safety issues as a result of misuse
• Fleece blanket
• PIR LED Light
• Travel mug
• Woolly hat
• Insulated thermal socks
• Insulated thermal gloves

These are given out completely free of charge to those who are eligible during a Home Fire Safety Visit and you fall into that category. If you’d like to arrange a visit, this tool can help you do that. It’s not a tool that’s provided by OVO and neither myself nor OVO will see anything you enter into it - it goes direct to your local fire service. Likewise, I don’t get any commission or kickback for any advice or visits that the tool recommends.

If you’d rather not do it online, you can also call the Prevention Department of your local fire service and request a visit that way. They’ll ask some questions and take it from there.

Hey @suewaine,

I’m really sorry to hear this, what a frustrating experience.

Are you now back on supply? I agree with Blastoise, I think it would be beneficial for you to switch to pay monthly, that way you don’t have to worry about topping up or going off supply. 

We have a topic hub which may be helpful in future:

Join the Priority Services Register & we offer the following:

Give you notice if we know about a planned power cut which is especially important if you have medical equipment that needs powering.
Move your prepayment meter if possible, so that it’s easier to reach if you’re disabled or chronically sick.
Provide a free annual Gas Safety Check if you’re eligible to receive one. 

There is also the option to raise a complaint if you’re unhappy about the service you’ve received.

Hope this helps.  

Hello I've recently moved into a property which has a smart meter and you supply the electric, I don't have a top up card or key and desperately need electric I've used the emergency an now need to top up how can I doo this please thanks kind regards heather 

Hi ​@Heatherlouiseleach ,

There are no keys with Smart Meters and technically no cards either. It sounds like you’ve not set up an account yet - I strongly recommend you call 0330 175 9669 or Live Chat OVO Support immediately in order to get one - they can then help you top-up.

Otherwise, you’ll need to do it tomorrow morning.

Thanks for you help how do I message OVO live chat ? Kind regards heather 

You missed the opening hours for today.

Tomorrow morning at 9am, please call 0330 175 9669 or use the Live Chat. It’s the green speech bubble thing in the bottom right corner at https://www.ovoenergy.com/help

Thanks for your help much appreciated Blastoise186 , could I go to a shop and ask for a voucher and then type In The voucher code at all or do I need to speak to OVO ? Kind regards 

Vouchers from the shop won’t work if you don’t have an account - you need the PAN from OVO for that. The only way to get them is by setting up an account.