PAYG meter blank after power cut?

Hi @Blastoise186 thank you for replying.  Ive contacted OVO but as we do have electricity we are not an emergency,  I will try again tomorrow during ‘normal office hours’.  The eco 7 didn't kick in last night so we don't have any heating but thankfully we do not have any vulnerable people in the household to worry about.

Thank you for reassuring me that the my credit should be recovered 🤞 once the meter is sorted.

sammy

No worries. I’m here if you need me for anything else.

The reason for Free Vend Mode is basically to avoid you getting into a situation where you’re completely unable to top-up due to meter damage, or if the configs got corrupted by the power failure.

It’s ultimately better to just give the customer temporary unlimited credit until someone can swing by to fix things, than to cut them off for something beyond your reasonable control.

Just a follow up for anyone in the same position as me where a power cut has affected your electric meter and economy 7 no longer works.   
 

I contacted OVO (via web chat as could not get thru on the phone) on 15/01/24 and told them the situation.  I also said that I didn't have any heating because my off peak supply was not working therefore my storage heaters hadn't come on.  They arranged an appointment for an engineer to come out on 22/01/24, so I have had the last 10 days without heating just as temperatures took a turn for the worse 🥶

Anyway, an OVO engineer called in today and I have now had a smart meter installed.  However, he did say that because my off peak supply was not working I should have been made an emergency as I rely on that for heating my home.  He said I should have had an engineer out to me within 3 hours of reporting the problem not 7 days.

I kept screen shots of my web chat and I was asked ‘do you have supply to the property?’.  To which I replied ‘yes, but no heating’ as I assumed they meant do I have electricity which I did.  
 

So the moral of the story is, if you do not have your off peak supply working then you do NOT have supply to your property and should therefore get priority treatment.  
 

Have to say the engineer was lovely and Im now looking forward to waking up tomorrow to a much warmer house!

Thank you for pointing this out. I’m surprised that Support didn’t realize how critical heating is for all-electric customers at this time of year.

Not to alarm you, but we’ve recently seen several examples of new smart meters installed and set up for Economy 7 by the engineer where the heating didn’t come on the first night after all - my own included. So please check your meter readings before bed tonight: there will be two of them, probably called Rate 1 and Rate 2. Then, if you do wake up to a cold house tomorrow morning, note those readings again so you have some evidence for Support, who you’ll have to call again and tell that your heating didn’t come on. Don’t let them persuade you that ‘it will take some time to come right’ - it most probably won’t come right unless the metering team make a remote adjustment. 

If yours worked properly from day 1, please come back and say so! 

Hi @Firedog Im glad to say the economy 7 worked and we have woken up to a warm house!  

That’s brilliant! Thanks for telling us, and sorry to be such a pessimist 🙃

I’m not sure how significant this is - it depends a lot on the type of meter installed - but if it means that the installation fault several customers were seeing has been found and rectified, it’s really good news. 

Accidental post. Have edited

Had a power cut yesterday evening lasted about 2 hours, when  the power came on the display on the key meter I have was completely blank, tried all the solutions suggested (blue button, another top up etc) but nothing has worked. the power keeps going off  and on.  I had £108 credit on the meter.

telephoned OVO this morning and the person I spoke to who I could barely understand was of absolutly no help he was only interested in upgrading my meter !  I have the old style key meter. I explained my situation to him, I have a terminal illness, he told me OVO would only send an engineer out if the meter ran out of credit, there is no display its blank, so there is no way to know what the credit is. he stated that the earliest date for an upgrade. was the 11 May that's nearly 3 weeks away I don't want an upgrade I just want the meter fixed how hard can it be.

is there any way to escalate this.

Any help would be appreciated

Howdy ​@Old Smokie ,

It’s gone into Free Vend Mode as a safety measure, a type of Fail Safe so to speak. It will NEVER run out of credit until an engineer shows up. I’ll give ​@Ben_OVO a heads up so he can monitor this thread.

If you’re able to, I’d suggest using Live Chat for which the link is below - tell the agent the meter is in Free Vend Mode and requires replacement due to a blank screen meter fault. That usually gets the message through.

Your credit can be recovered by an engineer so don’t worry.

Unfortunately, the only solution these days is to replace the entire meter. I’d accept the earliest possible date as you will rack up a meter debt if the credit runs out as this is still being tracked - you just won’t get disconnected at this time.

Hi thanks for the reply, tried live chat it was as much use as a chocolate fireguard they told me nothing I don't know why they just can't send an engineer.

Anyone know if I can change supplier while this is going on

Unfortunately that’s not recommended either - you wouldn’t be able to register the key if the meter is dead.

Best I can think of is the Complaints Process via https://ovoenergy.com/feedback - I’ve also let the Forum Moderators know about this thread.

thanks, but I doubt it will make any differance

tried to get a new smart meter fitted 3 times a few years ago but the engineers that turned up would not fit one, because they claimed  asbestos was present complete nonsense, it was checked by the council 3 times and there was no asbestos present

How do I go about getting the supply disconnected by OVO

Good morning ​@Old Smokie.

I’m sorry to hear of the issue with the meter. This is something we see relatively often with traditional Pay As You Go meters, especially after power cuts. 

The reason we have offered a standard appointment date, and not an emergency appointment, is because the meter is on supply. If you had no power, then we would come out within three to four hours to change the meter. We only reserve these same day appointments for customers that have no power at all, as this is a safety risk. You’ve mentioned that the supply keeps going on and off. Was this following the main power cut? Is the supply still going on and off now? If so I’d recommend contacting your District Network Operator to see if they’re aware of outages in your area.

Once the meter is exchanged, information will be taken  from the internal memory of the old meter, including the remaining credit balance and readings. With this information, we’ll be able to ensure that your credit is put onto the new meter. If the credit balance and/or readings on the old meter can’t be seen, then we’ll estimate what was on the old meter, based upon your last top up and average usage. 

You’ll see other Forum members have had similar experiences:

It’s highly likely that our engineer will come to fit a smart meter in place of your current meter. If the council have confirmed that there’s no asbestos on site, then there should be no issue with the installation. It’ll be worth you sending over any confirmation you’ve received from the council that there’s no asbestos, to ensure we’re aware before the installation. You can email this over to hello@ovoenergy.com, and we’ll update our systems to outline that there’s no asbestos on site.

Lastly, regarding your illness, I’d recommend signing up to the Priority Services Register if you haven’t already. This is a free service with a number of benefits, the main one being that the Grid will contact you when possible to alert you of an incoming power outage and, if there’s a power cut, they’ll look to get your property back on supply with priority. You can sign up on our website here, and see more info in this Forum post:

When the new smart meter is installed, it might be worth considering switching to become a Pay Monthly customer, so that you’ll pay your bills by manual payment, or by Direct Debit, rather than topping up the meter. This means that there’s no risk of your meter running out of credit and you going off supply.

I hope this helps - please do let us know if you have any further questions.

Thanks for the reply and in answer to your questions. 

The supply is still going off and on mostly for a few seconds, why is that not a safety risk. What if a fire develops because of this issue. I have spoken to an electrician and they have told me the meter should have been checked because of the issue of power going off and on.

This only started happening after the power cut. I have contacted the district network operator and they have told me there are no outages in the area.

I know exactly what the credit balance was on the meter before the power cut I checked the meter in the morning and the balance was £48.15p in credit I then went to the shop and topped the meter up with £60 of credit which brought the total meter credit up to £108.15 before the power cut. I have kept the receipts for the top ups on Monday (20/04/2026) both £60 and the £10 top up which I tried after the power cut as I was advised to do.

I have sent copies of the report from the council regarding the asbestos issue to OVO on three separate occasions but that has made no difference when the engineers turn up.

I am on the priority service register but it makes no difference to me I have never been notified of outages or power cuts I have always had to phone. I don't want to pay monthly had DD before and it was nightmare monthly charge going up an down.

Upon checking the meter again last night I noticed that the so called dark grey asbestos board was missing ? the background board is now white see photo below, there is also writing on the cables. I don't know why I have not noticed this before, this must have been done either when I have been in hospital or on holiday, I have never been informed about this, is there any way to check who changed the back panel and when. The last check on the meter according to the sticker was 2013

quick update

had a phone call this afternoon from OVO asking me if I could get an electrician in to check things out and then the electrician would be able to tell me if the meter was faulty, but I would have to pay for it 😡 their having a laugh, the meter is OVO’s responsibility not mine, so I have decided to have the electric meter disconnected and removed its worth the £141 price tag then I won't have anything more to do with OVO, plenty other suppliers out there that offer a better service

You’ll end up paying over £300 for no benefit if you do that. £160 to disconnect the supply and another £160 to reconnect - and it WILL be a Smart Meter anyway. Why do that when you can just have OVO replace the current one for free? You’ll also be waiting for potentially several weeks with no supply. It’s not worth it, trust me.

If the electrician finds the meter is faulty, OVO might be able to reimburse that - keep the receipt/invoice. I’ll be able to ask the Forum Moderators for further advice in the morning but I’m currently travelling so can’t respond further.

This sounds very strange. Your picture shows three separate items: the backboard, the meter and the service head (the grey excrescence at the end of the black incoming cable). These items are the responsibility of the property owner, the electricity supplier and the DNO respectively. The backboard can only be replaced with the owner’s permission and with technicians from both the DNO and the supplier in attendance. If asbestos were involved, special training and equipment would be required.

Changing the backboard couldn’t have happened without your approval, unless of course you aren’t the property owner. I must say your picture doesn’t seem to show a new backboard.  

​@Old Smokie, ​@Blastoise186 is right. Having the meter disconnected is an incredibly expensive and unnecessary way to go about this. If you get an electrician out and they confirm it’s a problem with the meter, then we can reimburse the cost of the job if necessary. 

Regarding your previous top ups and balance, we’ll ensure you’re reimbursed accordingly, as per your receipts etc, so don’t worry about that side of things.

As for the removal of the asbestos board - I’m sorry but I’m not sure who would have done this. if you’re in a rental property then you should ask your Landlord or Agency / Association. If this is the case, then you should also ask them to send an electrician to check things over. 

Lastly - if you believe that you should have been served better by your DNO under the Priority Services Register, then you should contact them about this, and make sure that you’re definitely registered correctly with them.

The cost of the disconnection and removal of the meter is £141 as it is a single phase meter. There will be no charge for fitting a new meter, the energy suppliers I have contacted have told me it does not matter if there is a meter installed or not the installation will be free and the new meter can be fitted within a week or so

I was told by OVO that they would not pay for the electrical check I would have to pay myself. As to the electricians I spoke to several yesterday and was quoted between £100 and £200 for a check, after explaining the situation too them I was told that fault lies with meter and it is highly unlikely that there is a fault elsewhere they also said they would not come to do a check as OVO should be doing the checking themselves.

I was told yesterday by OVO that the top up balance may not be reimbursed even if I have the receipts it will be an estimate depending on if they can or cannot get the information off of the meter or not

I have contacted the council as its a council property and they have no record of anyone changing the back panel on the box, the only record they have is doing the inspection and testing of the panel for asbestos. They told me that it is normally the energy company that is responsible for doing that sort of thing. They said they will look into it. The council also told me I had an electrical check last year which passed, which I had forgotten about,. The last check of the meter itself was by OVO in 2013

Awaiting a call back from OVO about disconnection date

​@Old Smokie you’ve mentioned that you’ve been told we won’t pay for the electrician, however I’ve told you that we would look into this, if the electrician confirmed the fault is with the meter, as written in a job report. If the fault is not with the meter, and you have the meter removed and a new one installed by another supplier, and the fault remains, you’ll then need to pay for the electrician on top of the cost of the removal. What I’ve previously told you about being reimbursed for the remaining credit on the meter is true as well.

Ultimately, it’s up to you as to how you proceed - we can only try and help give you an idea of what we believe to be the best option for you.