Traditional PAYG meter with blank screen

Hello Blastoise186,

Thanks ever so much for your reply. 

I’ve been basically pulling my hair out for the last day and a half. The idea of going out of electricity at night was doing my head in. 

And no, I won’t go power hungry ah ah. I’m actually very moderate with my expenditures anyway.

Thanks very much, you’ve helped me a lot. Cheers!

No worries, that’s what we’re here for! :D

Each of the volunteers here has specialities that they’re really good at. Mine is focused on metering related stuff and some of the tech that’s used by suppliers. Likewise, there’s others here who are very focused on new technologies that help you save energy.

If you ever need us again, feel free to stop by!

Hey Blastoise, just one more thing please.

Would you recommend me to go for a smart meter? They offered me one some time ago, but I thought it might be more expensive and said no.

What do you think? I mean, I did notice an increase in the price in the last few months, but I’m still not sure about the smart meter thing.

Thanks.

It’s definitely worth considering. I’m on OVO Pay Monthly myself so I can only give my experience from that side of the coin, but there’s benefits either way whether you’re PAYG or PAYM.

If you’re on PAYG, perhaps the biggest benefit is the ability to top-up from almost anywhere in the UK without needing to go to a shop - but you can still top-up in shops if you want to, giving you more options than you’d have on Traditional PAYG. The prices are the same regardless of Traditional/Smart. Being on PAYG means having a Smart Meter won’t cause your costs to increase or decrease because you’re always being billed to “actual” readings regardless of the meter type.

You’ll also avoid having to use Free Vend Mode, as Smart Meters are more capable at recovering from power cuts than Traditional PAYG Meters are.

The other big one is having an extra way to check your credit without having to go to the meter itself - the IHD you get with it shows you the balance in real-time.

Thanks mate. 

I will consider all of that. It’s even possible that on Friday, when the engineers come, they’ll  have to replace my meter for a smart one anyway, because it got damaged by the power cut. They did tell me that was a possibility over the phone.

Thanks very much! :D

And that’s exactly why Free Vend Mode exists! :P

It’s a fail-safe type safety feature designed to protect you from situations that are impossible to recover from, especially going off-supply and being completely unable to top-up because the motherboard or a critical component got fried, and credit being consumed incorrectly if the calibration goes out of line - both situations mean the meter cannot be trusted until an engineer has checked it again.

Yesterday someone came to install a smart meter but refused saying the wooden back board was not secure. Even so, the power had been cut and the meter had been worked on. After the old meter had been replaced and the engineer left , etc I noticed the meter screen was blank with no red light. I tried pressing the button and inserting the key but to no avail. I informed the Boost call centre but they refused to send anyone out until the credit expires, although initially they said they would book a maintenance visit. Surely it is better to avoid a complete power loss (and all the massive inconvenience this gives to the household) and install a new meter? This week I was on leave, their expectations are that I will take time off to their convenience or phone while at work - no understanding whatsoever of real life. Is this the correct procedure?

Hi @Sarah268 ,

Please try the Live Chat at https://boostpower.co.uk/help for this. They should get you sorted.

If that fails, please stop by again.

Thanks, I will try