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Traditional PAYG electric meter- Top up not going on the meter

  • 25 January 2024
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I have a traditional PAYG electric meter. When the display disappeared I contacted OVO and eventually an engineer put in a new traditional meter.  He inserted the existing key, showed balance, all looked ok. I topped up  later in week, meter did not record top up.  After several hours spent on successive days on Chat, 2 days of phones, one new key and at least half a dozen “codes”, the problem remains.  I topped up again today, my Paypoint receipt clearly shows my correct account number and correct serial number of new meter.  My new key works and meter shows balance etc but will not show how much the top up is, or key in the new balance.  I am desperate, I simply cannot face talking to OVO anymore on Chat or phone and I certainly do not want any more useless codes.  I just need my supply to work.  Please help.  Patricia B

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Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 26 January 2024, 11:41

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Blastoise186
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You need a replacement key by the sounds of things. If that fails, you’ll need a meter swap again - ideally to a Smart Meter.

Please try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback for this one. I’m sorry, but you have to talk to OVO again to solve this.

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Hi,

Not sure this helps, and I am not affected by this issue. 

You are Not alone, I was in a local Newsagent the other day and the gentleman in front of me was struggling together with the shop owner to get the terminal to accept his payment and recognise his account, the Conversation went similar to your experience, He apparently had had a replacement meter and two new keys and the system was still not crediting his account and cutting off his power, He claimed to have been without power for a day or more. As he left the shop he said that OVO were the worst company he had ever dealt with.

Come on OVO step up to the plate and deal with customers issues,  It doesn’t maatter that certain customers view this Forum as a place for ideas and interests only, There will be more of these type of issues raised via this Forum if OVO do not get a handle on their customer relations and the Forum will only go downhill from here on.

My suggestion to you madam is make a complaint to the highest level in OVO, I currently understand you do this by contacting the chief executives office, if this does not ellicit a response within 8 weeks then you will have to, as I have for my own issues involve the ombudsman. 

Perhaps if enough customers do this then OVO might start to take notice and action.

I wish you luck It might be helpful to others if you can post if you get a resolution any time soon!  

CW

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @BayleyP,

 

Sorry to hear this,

 

If you’ve tried to top up a traditional meter but the credit hasn’t gone on, you may need to use the UTRN Code on the receipt to put the top-up through the meter manually. 

 

 

If you go off supply and are unable to top up the support team will need to book in an emergency meter exchange, you should be able to request a smart meter.

 

How to get in contact about my OVO Pay As You Go account

 

  • The best way to get in touch with us is via chat here. Just click the green chat icon on the bottom right of your screen. We’re here to help anytime from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.
  • Or call us on 0330 175 9669 during the same times.

 

If you’re with Boost

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Where would I find the UTRN code on receipts?  How would I key this in on traditional meter? Would I have to do this every time?  I would add that I am 78, partially deaf, cataracts, and am supposed to be on the Priority Register and I thought I would get more help.  Last week I was told take code to shop, come home and put in meter for few minutes, go back down shop and top up, come home and try key.  I had this advice 3 times to no avail.  If anyone has answers to the questions regarding this UTRN code, thank you. Patricia B

Blastoise186
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You won’t have UTRN Codes unless you’re on Smart Meters. They don’t work with key/card meters.

I think you’ll be best off having the entire meter(s) replaced with Smart. That way, OVO can more easily help you out if you have top-up related issues. You could still, of course, pay by cash at PayPoint shops and that’s totally supported with Smart Meters on Pay As You Go, but it’d mean the credit gets sent directly to the meter automatically after your payment is made, rather than fumbling about with keys and cards.

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Well thanks for the comments.  I understand now I do not have UTRN codes unless I have a smart meter.  This does not help my current situation but at least I have more info.  I think I will try and change providers and hope someone can sort things out afresh.  I do know that I do not want a smart meter, ever.  Thanks anyway. 

Blastoise186
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Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to get one eventually. Meters only last 10 years and the type you’ve got now don’t get installed anymore. If it gets replaced, it’ll be a 100% chance of it being a Smart Meter.

Leaving OVO won’t escape that either - pretty much no supplier has stocks of Traditional Prepayment Meters anymore.

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Hi  again,

Despite what others have said here and yes,we may all have to have Smart meters eventually    (due to the governments net zero desires, incentivising suppliers, and fining them if they don’t meet targets).  They are not the solution for everyone.

In an effort to remain neutral you do have to option to swap suppliers and I understand Octopus and  some others are not currently forcing customers to prematurely change their meters.

 You do have a right to refuse a smart meter and you should seek advice from Citizens advice bureau, They say that suppliers may be able to withold some tarriffs if you do not have a smart meter but in my opinion this ammounts to unfair practice and a coersive practise that should be resisted.

I wish you luck with  your endeavours!

juliamc
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@Colin Wheeler but some tariffs are impossible without smart meters !! 

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Impossible is a very subjective word, A solution can usually be found if all parties are willing!

Blastoise186
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Yup, the best tariffs on the market going forwards will require you to either have a Smart Meter, or be willing to get one. And by impossible, @juliamc really does mean impossible. No ifs, no buts, no exceptions and no subjectiveness and this is non-negotiable. There’ll be no way for the best future tariffs to work without Smart Meters. Period. There are already tariffs on the market which come under that banner. If you refuse to go Smart, you will be 100% guaranteed to be locked out of them.

The words above ultimately came from one of my industry contacts who prefers to remain anonymous. I’m sorry if you have been told otherwise somewhere, but that’s just how it is.

It’s not so much coercion, and more a thing that the new stuff won’t work with old stuff. Nobody back in the 1880’s - and definitely not Thomas Edison - ever thought about the future or that someday we might need fancier meters than ones which just spin a dial and therefore never designed them to do anything more than just have a thing that span a few dials. But alas, that time is now.

Put it this way. If you’re on a Half-Hourly Time-of-Use Tariff, unless you want some gigantic Traditional Meter with like, 10,000 registers on it that you’ve have to submit manual readings for every single day without fail… How exactly do you expect such a tariff to work without Smart Meters? I challenge you to come up with a solution for that which fits your desire.

Or a Type of Use Tariff like OVO’s Charge Anytime and Heat Pump Plus, where specific things get discounted green juice. How would that work with Traditional Meters without the risk of a customer acting fraudulently and fudging the numbers? And more realistically… What if the customer got more stuff (or got rid of stuff) that qualifies for these discounts? Do you really expect them to get tons of re-wiring done and yet another meter swap for all that? It’d quickly become massively impractical.

But with Smart Meters, that’s easy. Just set them to Half-Hourly Mode, pull the data each day and do the number crunching from there.

Also, the opt-out thing does exist, however that is NOT a 100% Guaranteed To Totally You Opt-Out Of Smart Meters Forever Promise. The opt-outs apply solely to the marketing and promotions of them, nothing else.

The following circumstances allow all suppliers to bypass and override opt-outs and by extension, fit Smart Meters, without requiring your consent. Once fitted, there is also no going back either.

The reasons include but are NOT limited to:

  • Changing between Pay Monthly <-> Pay As You Go - whether voluntarily or otherwise
  • Recertification at the end of the current meter service life - usually every 10 years*
  • Tampering - if you or someone else at the property has been known to tamper with any meters, Smart Meters may be used to enforce the suppliers rights and detect future tampering more easily - it’s likely that they’ll be force-fit as part of the repairs. Oh, and you’d also be billed for that too (along with being billed for all the stolen energy)!
  • If the legacy key/card based PAYG infrastructure shuts down (PAYG Customers only)
  • The existing meters fail/blow up/break down/become inaccurate/(insert failure reason here)
  • You deliberately break the meters by smashing them up with a hammer - this has actually happened before and we’ve seen at least one case on the Forum! Then again… Being forced onto Smart Meters would probably be the least of your problems if you pulled off a stunt like that...
  • RTS Meters - the only path forwards with any of these is Smart Meters. No-one makes the old local timeswitch meters anymore.

All of the above are completely legitimate reasons for a Supplier to bypass your opt-out, because they are all necessary to continue operating the services being supplied to you.

*Failure to swap the meter out on-time can cause the existing meter to become inaccurate and screw up your bills over time. The longer you leave it, the worse it gets.

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Blastoise186
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Still... Could be worse...

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juliamc
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Colin, you said previously “…  suppliers may be able to withold some tarriffs if you do not have a smart meter but in my opinion this ammounts to unfair practice and a coersive practise that should be resisted.” As Blastoise describes, some tariffs are designed around half hourly readings being sent by the meter and the costs changing for each half hour. Octopus Agile is an example. If a customer doesn’t have a smart meter it is impossible for them to get on that tariff. It’s not coercion or unfair. The more people that are on those kinds of tariffs (and changing their behaviour to benefit from the cheaper slots) the less chance of power outages.  

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hi juliamc,

But you see I have a so called non Smart half hour remotely reading 3 phase meter which SSE before Ovo and I am told other suppliers can read and therefor offer certain tarriffs for, It is Intransigence on Ovo’s part that they as they have said “do not want to integrate  “Non Smart” meters into their system  why is this when I am a good relativel high (in the winter ) paying customer and a supplier of Good green Energy for around 2/3rds of the year?

The U/K does not have enough generation capacity and the needs are going to grow if we keep pushing the net zero nonsense so outages are innevitable.

regards CW

Jeffus
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hi juliamc,

But you see I have a so called non Smart half hour remotely reading 3 phase meter which SSE before Ovo and I am told other suppliers can read and therefor offer certain tarriffs for, It is Intransigence on Ovo’s part that they as they have said “do not want to integrate  “Non Smart” meters into their system  why is this when I am a good relativel high (in the winter ) paying customer and a supplier of Good green Energy for around 2/3rds of the year?

The U/K does not have enough generation capacity and the needs are going to grow if we keep pushing the net zero nonsense so outages are innevitable.

regards CW

Hi @Colin Wheeler 

Am sure what you have found will help other customers. Thanks for the update on AMR meters.

1. Who told you about these other suppliers?

2. Can you post the names and links of those suppliers who you and other domestic customers can switch to with AMR meters?

3. Also links or the actual names of the tariff they are offering for AMR meters?

4. Are any of them time of use tariff using 30 min readings? 

When are you going to switch to one of these suppliers now you have found them?

 

 

Blastoise186
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Installation of AMR Meters is at supplier discretion. But that doesn't mean you can access ToU tariffs. It's more likely that you might not be able to access them.

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 Hi Blastoise,

As you say Currently TOU Tarriffs are not available to Customers with AMR meters, but this in my opinion is a shame! As a winter high use customer I could make a real contribution to moving my usage to outside of the grid high demand period, and already do so as it suits my lifestyle.

As to wanting a ToU tarrif to say charge an EV or Batterys, I can achievesavings by using a reverse flow detector on my solar arrays and not exporting surplus green energy to OVO for them to sell on at a large profit. Perhaps not seen as very ethical as I am being paid to generate power in the form of FITs but Fit’s were and are an incentive to get people to invest in solar and my investment was not insignificant so my conscience is clear.

regards CW   

Jeffus
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 Hi Blastoise,

As you say Currently TOU Tarriffs are not available to Customers with AMR meters, but this in my opinion is a shame! As a winter high use customer I could make a real contribution to moving my usage to outside of the grid high demand period, and already do so as it suits my lifestyle.

As to wanting a ToU tarrif to say charge an EV or Batterys, I can achievesavings by using a reverse flow detector on my solar arrays and not exporting surplus green energy to OVO for them to sell on at a large profit. Perhaps not seen as very ethical as I am being paid to generate power in the form of FITs but Fit’s were and are an incentive to get people to invest in solar and my investment was not insignificant so my conscience is clear.

regards CW   

FIT was an incentive but I think it is important to point out for new customers that it is no longer available for new solar installations 

There are various export tariff, battery setups or EV setups that new solar investments can make use of.

There is nothing stopping you shifting usage now for the common benefit. We shift our usage and donate all our Demand Flexibility Scheme payments to a fuel charity.

You could try asking ofgem the regulator if you haven't already about any supplier obligations regarding AMR meters, including reading then, tariff options and the National Grid Demand Flexibility Scheme.

consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk

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